South America

South America is a continent in Western Hemisphere, connected to North America through the isthmus of Panama, and having coastlines along the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and is the closest continent to Antarctica. It covers a broad variety of environments and terrains, ranging from the alpine glaciers and steep mountains of the Andes and tropical rain forests of the Amazon to the arid deserts, grasslands, and more and steppes of Central Asia, to the tropical rain forests of India and southeast Asia.

Many parts of South America have a long history of human settlement, with indigenous tribes covering many parts of the continent. Some of these groups created vast empires, like the Inca. In ancient times, the interdimensional beings settled at Akator, and shared their technological developments with the different people of the New World.

In the late 1400s and early 1500s, European voyagers began exploring and claiming the lands of South America for their home countries. Spain conquered the Incan empire, and claimed much of the continent. Portugal claimed the eastern part of the continent, and began settling Brazil. France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom managed to claim small colonies along the northern coast, east of Venezuela.

Seizing the gold and other riches for the home countries, explorers searched for fabled hidden treasure cities, like El Dorado. In a succession in the early 1800s, the colonies of South America had declared themselves independent, with the former Spanish colonies fighting against Spain, and a peaceful formation of Brazil from Portugal.

The people of South America are a mix of mestizos, the descendants of European settlers, African slaves, indigenous populations, and later immigrants.

During the Cold War, the countries of South America were pushed by the United States of America to avoid Communism, and the US backed military dictatorships that promised to maintain capitalism.

For archaeologists, South America contains a trove of many different sites from different cultures, some of which were undiscovered until modern exploration in the twentieth century.

Adventures in South America
Indiana Jones journeyed to South America many times in his life, especially for archaeology.

In 1936, he traveled to the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors to recover a fertility idol, but lost it to his rival, Belloq. With Hovitos chasing him, Jones escaped in Jock Lindsay's airplane.

In 1941, he went to Peru to excavate an Incan Shrine, but was forced to flee from the authorities, and was captured when trying to escape through Ecuador.

In 1957, Jones and Mutt Williams went to Nazca in search of Harold Oxley and the Crystal Skull of Akator, before being captured by Irina Spalko and her Soviet forces, who had also turned George McHale and captured Marion Ravenwood. Jones and his allies managed to escape, reach Akator before the Soviets, and prevented the Soviets from harnessing the secrets of Akator's interdimensional beings.

Countries in South America

 * Peru
 * Brazil
 * Argentina
 * Ecuador

Indigenous groups of South America

 * Ugha
 * Inca
 * Chachapoyan
 * Hovitos

Appearances

 * Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull