Images from Americas
Here are my images from the American continent. Please click on the title or the image to take you to the other pages. (Still under construction....)
Argentina
Argentina is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.
Argentina has abundant natural resources, a well-educated population, an export-oriented agricultural sector and a relatively diversified industrial base.
Agriculture, including processed goods, provided 54% of export earnings in 2010 while industrial manufactures accounted for 35% (energy staples and metal ores were most of the remainder).
Its culture has significant European influences which can be seen in its capital Buenos Aires. The country also has the influence of indigenous American traditions.
The most interesting thing to observe in Argentina is its political development, especially the break of impunity for those responsible for crimes against humanity (murders, kidnappings and torture) during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
Canada
I visited Canada quite a long time ago, in mid 1990s. I visited Vancouver and Toronto.
Chile
Chile is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.The shape of Chile is a distinctive ribbon of land 4,300 kilometres long and on average 175 kilometres wide. Its climate varies, ranging from the world's driest desert – the Atacama – in the north, through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, to a rainy temperate climate in the south.
The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, especially copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center of the country. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.
After the coup toward socialist President Salvador Allende in 1973, Chile endured 17-year long military dictatorship (1973–1990) of Augusto Pinochet that left more than 3,000 people dead or missing.
Besides Andean and Mapuche cultures, Chile was also influenced by Spanish and other European cultures, especially from England, France and Germany. The Bavarian style influenced rural architecture and cuisine in the south of Chile in cities such as Valdivia, Temuco, Pucón and Puerto Montt.
It is interesting to note that in Chile, native musical forms were associated with political activities with activists /reformers such as Violetta Parra, Victor Jara and Inti-Illimani.
Chileans call their country país de poetas-country of poets. Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American to win a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945. Chile's most famous poet, Pablo Neruda, also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971 and is world-renowned for his extensive library of works on romance, nature, and politics. I have been to two of his three highly personalized homes, located in Isla Negra, Santiago and Valparaíso.
(Photo here by Alejandro Wagner)
Peru
Peru is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures, spanning from the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America.
The earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 9,000 years BCE.The oldest known complex society in Peru, the Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BCE.These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures such as Cupisnique, Chavin, Paracas, Mochica, Nazca, Wari, and Chimú. In the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America.
In 1532, a group of conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro defeated and captured Inca Emperor Atahualpa. Ten years later, the Spanish Crown established the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included most of its South American colonies.
Uruguay
Uruguay is a country in the southeastern part of South America. Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lies the Uruguay River and the estuary of the Río de la Plata to the southwest. To the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean.
Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the country, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold.
Uruguay's best-known contemporary writer is Eduardo Galeano, author of Las venas abiertas de América Latina (1971; "Open Veins of Latin America") and the trilogy Memoria del fuego (1982–87; "Memory of Fire").
USA
I have visited several cities in the US but I really love New York City. There are many things I learned when I visited the US, including when we presented our film 'Terlena - Breaking of a Nation' at Columbia University and Cornell University. I met among others Prof. Benedict Anderson at Columbia who introducing our film to the audience, and I also met Prof. Mark Selden at Cornell who arranged the screening of the film there.