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South America

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South America

BACKGROUND

Information: A continent.

South America is a continent in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America, and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest.

The continent's cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the overwhelming majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish, and societies and states reflect Western traditions.

In 1917 Brazil declared war on the Central Powers and join the allied side in the World War I, sending a small fleet to the Mediterranean Sea and some troops to be integrated with the British and French troops. Brazil was the only South American country that fought in WWI. Also in this period the first naval battle of World War II was fought on the continent, in the River Plate, between British forces and German submarines. The Germans still made numerous attacks on Brazilian ships on the coast, causing Brazil to declare war on the Axis powers in 1942, being the only South American country to fight in this war, too.

Languages: Predominantly Spanish, Portuguese, with some indigenous South American languages

Religion: Predominantly Roman Catholic

COUNTRIES

ALSO CONSIDERED PART OF SOUTH AMERICA

DANCES

Michael Herman Folk Dancer LP MH004

Michael Herman Folk Dancer LP MH005.

The Paraguayan had the most interesting music, and I'd especially like to pick up those numbers. I'm pretty certain that there were notes at one time for "Polka," since I found a listing in the card catalogue a University of Pacific (Stockton, California). That is where I first ran across Nelda Drury's name. Unfortunately, someone had made off with the notes that had been on file. There it was listed as "Llegada Polka." When I spoke to Nelda, there was a faint recognition of the title "Llegada Polka," but she doesn't think she has the notes any longer. She did mention that the dance might have gone under other spellings. I would think "Polka" (as noted above – of course there are probably hundreds of dances by that name), "Paraguayan Polka," "Llegada Polka," "Legada Polka," "Yegada Polka," or even "Yyegada Polka" might be possibilities – the last two on account of pronunciation.

DOCUMENTS

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