History of coca leaves: Coca farming in the Andes Mountains When did coca plants evolve? Like potatoes, tomatoes, and tobacco, coca plants grow wild in the Andes Mountains of South America. They probably evolved around the same time as the other flowering plants, around 120 million years ago, in the Cretaceous Period. (More about the Cretaceous period) Coca plants [...]
Norte Chico building: Stepped platform at Caral (ca. 2200 BC) When did people first reach Peru? People probably first arrived in Peru about 13,000 BC. They were following the Pacific coast south from North America. More about Native Americans More South America articles Like the people who settled Brazil, on the other side of South America, around [...]
Changos whale hunt, El Madano, ca. 1000 AD There were probably people living in Chile (a narrow strip of land in South America between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean) by around 12,000 BC. They came south with their dogs along the coast of South America, either walking or in small boats. Like most other people in South [...]
A Chavin carving By around 900 BC, the Norte Chico people of northern Peru developed into the Chavin culture. Like the earlier Norte Chico people, the Chavin people used irrigation to farm potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts, and hot chili peppers. They also farmed corn, but they really ate mostly potatoes and quinoa, which grow better high in the Andes mountains. They hunted deer with spears [...]
A llama in Bolivia Llamas evolved from camels. Camels evolved in North America about 45 million years ago. They lived in the Rocky Mountains and all across the southern part of North America. While they were still in North America, some camels evolved into llamas. Llamas spread from there south into South America about 3 million years ago. [...]
The Andes mountains run down the Pacific side of South America South America is a long, narrow continent running from the equator down nearly to the South Pole. So the north part of South America, near the equator, is generally hot and wet. In the south part of South America, near the South Pole, [...]
Up in the Alps in Switzerland Which mountains are the highest in the world? Practice graphing and see how much higher some mountain chains are than others. The highest peaks of each mountain range are below: Appalachian Mountains: 2037 meters above sea level Alps: 4810 meters Rocky Mountains: 4399 meters Himalaya Mountains: 8850 [...]
The Andes mountains run down the Pacific side of South America When did the Andes form? About 199 million years ago, near the beginning of the Jurassic period, was the time of the dinosaurs. That's when the supercontinent of Pangaea broke up and the pieces began to float away from each other. The [...]
A dinosaur skeleton When the Jurassic period began, about 199 million years ago, a lot of animals had just become extinct in the catastrophe that ended the Triassic period. This left room for the dinosaurs to have a lot of baby dinosaurs. Soon all different kinds of dinosaurs were living all over the [...]
History of tomatoes: Wild tomatoes Wild tomatoes in the Andes The earliest tomatoes were little sour berries. They grew on low bushes in dry, sunny places in the Andes mountains in South America, beginning about 350 million years ago. Tomato plants are related to nightshade, which is poisonous. So the leaves and stems [...]
