South America

South America is bordered by the Pacific Ocean in the west, by the Atlantic Ocean in the east, North America in the north and the Caribbean Sea to the northwest.

The continent includes twelve sovereign states. These are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It also include the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and French Guiana.

It has an area of around 17,840,000 square kilometers and an estimated population of more than 434 million. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with almost half of the continent’s population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela and Peru. Most of the population lives near the continent’s western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. South America is dominated by the Andes mountains with the eastern regions having both highland and lowland regions where rivers such as the Amazon, Orinoco and Paraná can be found.

The majority of South Americans speak Spanish or Portuguese.

High rates of violent crime remain a concern in some South America countries.

South America is home to the world’s highest uninterrupted waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela; the highest single-drop waterfall Kaieteur Falls in Guyana; the largest river by volume, the Amazon River; the longest mountain range, the Andes; the driest non-polar place on earth, the Atacama Desert; the wettest place on earth, López de Micay in Colombia; the largest rainforest, the Amazon rainforest; the highest capital city, La Paz, Bolivia; the highest commercially navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca; and the world’s southern-most permanently inhabited community, Puerto Toro, Chile.