Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-04-14
SOUTH AMERICA LEAST Known
More Exploration TO Be pon. /.
Continent Than in Any other. "'

|
| When we recall that the sphn,aras
lcfossed South America from sea(ta ssa
more than three Centuries aga aa& ,ia !
nearly every city on it's eaas,s wa :
foundede in the age Of the Co,n,, ~ 10. .
explorers IT. seems strange that Koda,,
our Southern neighbor is the No.
known of all the continents. There e 20
not SO many big white spaces on the
map of Africa as on that OF so,ith
america. If we study the history az
Sodth American exploration we AKA
some surprising facts, One ,sethat NJ,
to 1875 not single government In tbas
continent had sent out ann exne,iit,ons
" spent any money to explore the Una
known parts of their territories. un-I
III within the past few years nearls'
all the exploration of this century in
that continent. excepting in Argentina
and Chilli, has been the result 81 nri.
waite enterprise. FEW explorers from,
North America and many more from
Europe have made most Of this CEN
tury's addition to our geaEis,phical
knowledge of South America. excepr
in the southern part of the continent.
thus it hapbens that none of the Cor
dilleran states from Venezuela to Chill
mas as yet emerged from the stage of
rough pioneer exploration. A consid.
cradle part of their territory, as In the
southeastern part of Columbia, IA still
almost wholly unknown, Some az
them. like Bolivia, have made no at.
tempt whatever, except In small dis
tricts around their chief towns. to carr
~ out official surveys. They have to
thank foreign explorers for most they
themselves know of their own eoan-
tries. 1t is Conway, who recently !
his work in the Bolivian Andes, that |
is supplying the Bolivians with very
good maps of their own part of the |
Cordilleras. He Is doing for Bolivia |
what other explorers, chiefly German,
have done Tor Ecuadorian ranges.
The same condition of affairs is to be |
observed among the Atlantic States as
far south as Uruguay. The Guianas,
except for narrow strip along the
coasts. are still on the threshold Of the
beginnings of exploration. Brazil, with
territory nearly as large as our own,
mas not single establishment like our
geological or coast and geodetic sur
'eys to make a careful geographical
study of any part of its vast domain.
All the official explorations that have
'een made in any part of Brazil are
he work of some of the individual
tates. Scarcely a traveller has crossed
my of the northeastern states from
Aaranhao to Pernambuco, and much
II the Interior except along the river
is still quite unknown. The
vide wildernesses between the large
tributaries of the Amazon are COM
'letely terra incognita.
In Argentina, however, very satisfac-
ory progress has been made in explo-
alton in the past quarter of a CEN
ury. 1t was in 1882 that the first COL
ected results of the governments ac-
ivity in this direction were seen in the {
arge atlas of the country prepared I'M
er the direction of the geographer,
eelstrang. Argentina has the advan-
age of geological and meteorological
and foreign scientific
nen in the service of the state and the
Universities, whose labors have largely
the value of all official geo. :
raphical work. The systematic study
'hlch both Argentina and Chilli have Z
or some years given to the ranges :
long theft common frontier have made
his the best-known part of the South ,
Lnerican Cordilleras.
just as sportsmen travel thousands |
miles to reach the big game of Cen
raj Africa, India and Manchuria, SO !
Explorers will turn. in the next CEN '
lry, to the large, untraversed areas &
South America as the best fields the I
'orld has now to offer for original, :
foneer research in the way of geo.
raphical discovery.