Image gallery

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  Satellite images of the Southern Cone month by month.
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  The extensive temperate prairies of the Pampas in the center of Argentina.
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  Located in Argentina, Aconcagua, almost 7000 meters high, is the highest mountain on Earth outside the Himalayas, and continues to rise.
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  Landforms in the Monte Desert at Ischigualasto, Argentina. Much of the southern cone is covered by the Arid Diagonal of which Monte Desert is part.
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  Autumn in Bariloche, Argentina.
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  Snow in the winter of the Planalto Serrano mountain range of the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil.
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  Snow in the winter in Curarrehue, Chile.
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  Jacarandas in bloom in Buenos Aires, Argentina during spring.

Brazil

Köppen climate classification of South Brazil and São Paulo.

Southern Brazil has a temperate climate with annual average temperatures varying between 12 °C (53.6 °F) and 22 °C (71.6 °F). During the months of June, July and August, high-altitude areas in the South Region can receive snowfall. The state of São Paulo has seven distinct climatic types. The mountainous areas of the state have a subtropical climate (Cfa). In areas of high altitude, the average temperature is below 18 °C (64 °F). Oceanic (Cfb and Cwb) on the coast, the climate is of a super-humid tropical type (Af), without a dry season. The tropical climate of altitude (Cwa), predominant in the state territory, specifically in the center, is characterized by a temperature above 22 °C (72 °F) in the hottest month of the year. The occurrence of snow is rare, but has been recorded in Campos do Jordão and there are also reports that the phenomenon has occurred in several parts of the south.

Planisphere of moderate latitudes in which the equivalent location of most of the Southern Cone can be observed as if it was in the Northern Hemisphere. The highest latitudes of the Southern Cone overlap among others with Southeast Alaska in North America, Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Northern Germany, Poland and Belarus in Europe, and the Altai Mountains and Lake Baikal, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in Asia.

Native American languages

Some Native American groups, especially in rural areas, continue to speak autochthonous languages, including Mapudungun (also known as Mapuche), Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani. The first is primarily spoken in Araucanía and adjacent areas of Patagonia, in southern Argentina and Chile. Guarani is the official language of Paraguay, the most widely spoken language in that country, and in 2010, the city of Tacuru, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, adopted Guarani as the official language, besides Portuguese. It is also a co-official language in the northeastern Argentine provinces of Corrientes and Misiones.^[8]

Non-Iberian immigrant languages

English is spoken in the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory (disputed by Argentina), and by descendants of British settlers in Argentina and Chile. Welsh is spoken by descendants of immigrants in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

Italian (mostly its Northern dialects, such as Venetian), is spoken in rural communities across Argentina, Southern Brazil, and São Paulo where immigrants had settled. German, in various dialects, is mostly spoken in Southern Chile and Southern Brazil. It is the second most spoken mother tongue in Brazil.^[9][10][11] Polish, Dutch and Ukrainian are also spoken in Southern Brazil. Dutch is spoken in Chile as well, and Ukrainian is used in Argentina as well. Croatian and other Slavic languages are also spoken in the southernmost areas of Chilean Patagonia, reflecting patterns of immigration and settlement.

Yiddish can be heard mainly in Buenos Aires, Argentina and São Paulo, Brazil.

In Brazil, Japanese is spoken by immigrant communities in the states of São Paulo and Paraná.

Selected words in the dialects of Southern Cone countries

Below there are selected words to show the similarities in vocabulary in the dialects of the countries of the Southern Cone.

Below there are selected words to show vocabulary in the dialects of the countries of the Southern Cone and other Spanish-speaking countries in South America and the dialect of Portuguese spoken in Brazil.

Brazil

Brazil, being a country of continental dimensions, presents great internal regional differences. While its 4 southernmost states (Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo) share characteristics with Argentina, Chile and Uruguay (high standard of living, subtropical and temperate climate, high levels of industrialization and strong European ethnic component due to immigration), the other states are more similar to the other South American countries in these issues.

In relation to latitudes the 4 southernmost Brazilian states are located in latitudes in the southern hemisphere that would correspond in the northern hemisphere to northern Mexico, the American state of Florida and the coastal regions of the other southern states of the United States, North Africa, the Arabian peninsula, southern Iran, northern India and the southern China.

For these reasons, Brazil is included in some meanings when speaking in Southern Cone, but excluded in others.

When the definition is not limited to entire countries, the states of the South Region and the state of São Paulo are generally included.

State	Area (km2)[22]	Population (2019)[22]	Population density (per km2)	HDI (2017)[21]	Capital
Paraná	199,314	11.434.000	59.80	0.796 (high)	Curitiba
Rio Grande do Sul	291,748	11.378.000	39.10	0.792 (high)	Porto Alegre
Santa Catarina	95,346	7.165.000	71.18	0.808 (very high)	Florianópolis
São Paulo	248,222	45,920,000	95.83	0.826 (very high)	São Paulo
Total	834,630	75.897.000	90.35	0.806 (very high)

Paraguay

Due to the geographical proximity, common history, geography and political cycles, Paraguay is usually included in what is meant by Southern Cone. However, it contrasts strongly with other countries given the strong influence of Guarani culture and due to the fact that it has not received a comparable amount of European immigration and foreign investment, though in the last few years this seems to be changing partly due to the political and macro-economical stability the country has experienced since the early 2000s.

Ethnicity

The population of the Southern Cone has been strongly influenced by waves of immigration from Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. People of European descent, make up 85% of the total population of Argentina, 88% of total population of Uruguay and 52% of the total population of Chile.^{[23][24][25][26]} In São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina self-identified white people are 61.3%; 70.0%; 82.3%; and 86.8% of the population respectively, with people of Italian,Polish and German ancestry predominating.^[27][28][29]

Italians started to emigrate to the Southern Cone as early as the second half of the 17th century,^[30] and it became a mass phenomenon between 1880 and 1920 when Italy was facing social and economic disturbances.^[31] As a consequence of mass Italian immigration, the Southern Cone has the largest Italian diaspora in the world,^[28] with people of Italian descent being the majority in many places, with the highest percentage being in Argentina (62.5% Italian),^[32] and in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (60% Italian).^[33] Among all Italians who immigrated to Brazil, 70% went to the State of São Paulo. In consequence, the State of São Paulo has more people with Italian ancestry than any region of Italy itself,^[34] with São Paulo city being the most populous city with Italian ancestry in the world,^[35] of the 10 million inhabitants of São Paulo city, 60% (6 million people) have full or partial Italian ancestry (the largest city of Italy is Rome, with 2.5 million inhabitants).^[36][37] Small towns, such as Nova Veneza, have as much as 95% of their population of Italian descent.^[38]

The region also has a large German diaspora (second largest after the United States),^[39] with People of German descent being 25% of the population of Rio Grande do Sul and 35% of the population of Santa Catarina.^[40][41]

Mestizos make up 15.8% of the population and are a majority in Paraguay. Native Americans make up 3% of the population, most live in Chile. Mulattoes (people of European and African ancestry) mostly in Uruguay (0.2%), and Asians (1.0%), mostly in Argentina, the remaining 1.2%.^[42]

There is also a strong Arab presence in the Southern Cone, with people of full or at least partial Arab ancestry being 5% of the population of Uruguay and Chile, 9.8% of the population of Brazil, and 11% of the population of Argentina.^{[43][44][45][46]} Brazil has the largest number of Arabs outside the Middle East, with 20 million Brazilians being descendants of Arabs,^[45][47] while the Palestinian community in Chile is considered the largest outside the Arab world.^[48]

Genetic and historical roots

Since interethnic marriages are widespread in Latin America, complex ethnic classifications emerged, including more than a dozen of "racial" categories created in 18th century Hispanic America, with notorious examples being castizo, morisco and cambujo. In Brazil, about 190 "racial" categories were detected by the Census of 1976.^[49]

Blacks made up 25% of the population of Buenos Aires in 1810, 1822 and 1838. In 1887, the government decided to cease asking Argentine citizens about their race. According to Laura López, it was a way to "hide" the Black population, not only from the Census, but also from public opinion.^[50][51] Chile does not ask its citizens about race, but a study from the University of Chile concluded that Whites make 60% of the Chilean population,^[52] while the CIA World Factbook described 88.4% of the population as white and mestizo.^[53]

A study conducted on 218 individuals in 2010 by the Argentine geneticist Daniel Corach, has established that the genetic map of Argentina is composed of 79% different European ethnicities (mainly Spanish and Italian ethnicities), 18% of different indigenous ethnicities, and 4.3% of African ethnic groups, in which 63.6% of the tested group had at least one ancestor who was Indigenous.^[54][55] An autosomal DNA study from 2009 found the composition of the Argentine population to be 78.5% European, 17.3% Amerindian, and 4.2% Sub-Saharan African (SSA).^[54]

A DNA study from 2009, published in the American Journal of Human Biology, showed the genetical composition of Uruguay to be mainly European, but with Native American (which varies from 1% to 20% in different parts of the country) and also SSA (7% to 15% in different parts of the country).^[56]

An autosomal DNA study from 2014 found the Chilean population to be 44.34% (± 3.9%) Native American, 51.85% (± 5.44%) European and 3.81% (± 0.45%) African.^[57]

In the case of Chile,"The use of mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome" test results show the following: The European component is predominant (91.0%, versus 9.0% of the aboriginal one) in the Chilean upper class,^[58] the middle classes, 66.8%-62.3% European component^[58][59] and 37.7%-33.2 of mixed aboriginal^[58][60] and lower classes at 55–52.9% European component^[58][59] and 47.1%-45% mix of Aboriginal.^[58][59]

Similar to the rest of Latin America, the genetic ancestry of the population of the Southern Cone reflects the history of the continent: the Iberian colonizers were mostly men who arrived without women. In consequence, they had children with the local Indigenous or enslaved African women. European immigration to this part of the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (massive in Argentina, Uruguay, and south and southeastern Brazil, modest in the rest of Brazil, Chile and Paraguay)^[24][61][62] brought more European and Middle Eastern components to the local population – mainly Spaniards in Chile, Italians and Spaniards in Argentina and Uruguay, Italians in São Paulo, and Italians, Germans and Poles in southern Brazil.^[63]

Governments

Timeline of presidents