Hansen/Curtis, 1/e, Ch



World History in Today's World: Pharmaceutical Riches of Amazonia

This activity corresponds to the "World History in Today's World: Pharmaceutical Riches of Amazonia" feature in your textbook. Once you have answered the Comprehension questions, submit your answers and move on to the subsequent questions included in the Analysis and Outside Sources sections. Each section is designed to build upon the one before it, taking you progressively deeper into the subject you are studying. After you have answered all of the questions, you will have the option of emailing your responses to your instructor.

Introduction

For much its post-independence history, Latin America has depended on exports for its economic health. Those exports have traditionally taken the form of either mineral resources or agricultural products sold to markets in Europe and North America. However, dependence on commodities left Latin American economies extremely vulnerable to swings in markets. As you know from your reading, during the late nineteenth century, a slump in global coffee and rubber prices devastated the Brazilian economy. Since World War II, however, many Latin American countries have worked to break their dependence on export commodities. Some have developed manufacturing industries, while others have explored new approaches to sustainable agriculture. One of these is Brazil's budding pharmaceutical industry that seeks to develop new medicines from the plants and animals of the Amazon rainforest. Use the links and questions below to learn more about this industry and obstacles confronting it.

Comprehension

1. From what Latin American product was quinine derived?

2. What do members of the Katukina people hope to develop?

3. In the 1970s, what did a major pharmaceutical company develop from the venom of an Amazonian snake?

Analysis

1. In what ways is Project Kambô an extension of Latin America's traditional export agriculture economy?

2. In ways is the project a reaction against that economy?

3. To what extent does Project Kambô represent a shift in the traditional relations between Amerindians and people of European and mixed-race descent in Latin America?

Outside Sources

1. Long before pharmaceuticals, coffee was the predominant product of Brazil. Go to and read the discussion of a Brazilian coffee fazenda or village. What are the physical characteristics of the fazenda? What way have the fazenda laborers found to participate more fully in the agricultural economy of Brazil?

2. At , you can get a sense of Brazil's broad economic plan for the Amazon. What other products and industries, in addition to pharmaceuticals, is Brazil developing in the region?

3. Go to and read the recent news article. What obstacles must Brazil overcome if it is to develop pharmaceuticals from the Amazon rain forest?

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