Encyclopædia Britannica Films Inc., EB Films for short, produced educational films from the 1940s through the 1990s. This black-and-white film was originally released on December 19th, 1944. The educational film covers raw materials, production, import and export, and agriculture within the region focusing on Colombia and Venezuela. It was the third film covering The Caribbean Region, and it was produced in collaboration with L. S. Rowe, Ph.D., William Manger, Ph.D., and the Pan-American Union. Given the release date, it appears likely that this film was at least partially funded by the U.S. Government as part of the WWII “Good Neighbor Program”, promoting political ties between North and South America.

The film begins with a map showing Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and the most northern countries of South America (00:15). The Andean mountains in Colombia (00:30). A map illustrating the division of the Andean Mountain into three ranges, Llanos and Orinoco River in Guiana, and the Caribbean lowlands (00:35). Aboriginal people of the region farming (01:01). A local village market (01:14). An illustration mapping out the Spanish colonization of the area in the 16th century (01:20). A statue of Simon Bolivar, the South American General who freed Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador from the Spanish colonizers (02:06). South American children (02:18). Slaves working in the coastal areas (02:25). A map showing the areas, where gold is mined (02:37). A gold mining factory in the Andes Mountain Range worked mainly by slaves (02:41). Coffee is harvested and laid out to dry by local women on a small farm (02:50). A much larger coffee farm (03:13). Donkeys transporting coffee sacks along the mountains (03:28). Cacao trees growing in the Cauca Valley in Colombia (03:37). Sugar cane fields also have a place in South America’s diverse agriculture (03:48). Bananas are harvested in lower valleys of the region (03:59). Cotton fields are harvested using modern tools attached to horses (04:13). A tobacco field (04:20). The Magdalena River valley (04:36). An outlet port in the river for import and export of production transported by ship (04:41). The main seaports of the area portrayed on a map (04:56). Llano’s grasslands are used for stock raising (05:26). A cattleman is driving his herd of cattle to the city to be sold for meat and hides (05:34). Cattle are transported on boats down the Orinoco River for slaughter in coastal cities (05:48). The lower valleys of the Llanos are flooded due to the tropical climate (05:58). In the Guiana highlands mahogany woods is used to produce Balata, a gummy substance to insulate electrical work (06:25). Other products of the highlands are Iron, Bauxite, and Diamonds (06:39). The principal port of the Orinoco River in Ciudad Bolívar (06:45). A map illustration the strategies of growing certain crops on lowlands and certain ones on the highlands (06:56). Oil is found in abundance around Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, in Trinidad, and Colombia (07:07). A summary of the products, productions, imports and exports, and geological diversities of the entire Northern region of South America around the Caribbean Sea (07:43). Inland cities function as manufacturing points for processing the raw materials sourced and farmed in the region (08:13). A cotton factory (08:18). Saddles made from cowhide (08:31). Ships sailing up the rivers (08:35), trucks driving on mountain highways (08:47), railway lines transporting freight (08:49), and lastly and most recently; air transportation (08:54). A map illustrating the lines of import and export through different means of transportation (09:07). Bogota capital of Colombia (09:35). Caracas capital of Venezuela (09:44). A seaport city of the Caribbean (09:57). “Bring the World to the Classroom” production company slogan (10:21).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com