ABSTRACT
The tropical-forest region of South America includes much of Brazil and parts of at least eight other countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela. It encompasses the Amazon and Orinoco river basins and much of the Guyana shield, extends to the coast of the Guyanas, Surinam, and eastern Venezuela, and reaches into the foothills of the Andes Mountains and toward the savannas of central and southern Brazil. It is huge, with a complex history of indigenous settlement and later, of colonization and economic transformation.
