South America Landmarks, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, with articles about landmarks, wildlife, famous historical monuments, places of interest, and society. South America is a continent that is mostly in the Southern Hemisphere and has a small part in the Northern Hemisphere. It is in the Western Hemisphere, which is in the western part of the world. It is also sometimes called the southern part of the continent of America.
The Pacific Ocean is to the west of South America, and the Atlantic Ocean is to the north and east. North America and the Caribbean Sea are to the northwest. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela are all sovereign states.
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Dependent territories include the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands. French Guiana is a part of France. South America may also include the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which may include the Ascension Islands, which are part of Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory; Bouvet Island (which is part of Norway); Panama; and Trinidad and Tobago.
The size of South America is 17,840,000 square kilometers (6,890,000 sq mi). It is thought that by 2021, there will be more than 434 million people living there. South America is the fourth largest continent in terms of land area, after Asia, Africa, and North America. It has the fifth most people, after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.
Brazil has a lot more people than any other country in South America. It is home to more than half of the people on the continent. The countries with the next highest populations are Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, and Peru. In the last few decades, Brazil has also been responsible for half of the continent’s GDP and has become the first regional power on the continent.
Most people live near the western or eastern coasts of the continent, while the interior and the far south have few people. In the west, the Andes mountains make up most of the landscape. In the east, however, there are both highlands and vast lowlands where rivers like the Amazon, Orinoco, and Paraná flow. Most of the continent is in the tropics, but the middle latitudes cover a large part of the southern cone.
The cultural and ethnic outlook of the continent comes from the interactions between native people and European conquerors, immigrants, and, closer to home, African slaves. Due to a long history of colonialism, most South Americans speak Spanish or Portuguese, and their societies and states are full of Western traditions. Compared to Europe, Asia, and Africa, South America in the 20th century was a peaceful place with few wars.
Angel Falls in Venezuela is the highest waterfall with a single drop. Kaieteur Falls in Guyana, which is the highest waterfall with just one drop. The Amazon River has more water than any other river in the world. The Andes are the largest mountain range in the world. At 6,962 m, Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in the Andes (22,841 ft). The place on Earth with the least amount of water is the Atacama Desert in Chile. Lopez de Micay in Colombia.
Gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and oil are South America’s most important minerals. South American countries have made a lot of money from these resources, especially during wars or when other industrialized countries’ economies grew quickly. But putting all of an economy’s efforts into making one big export has often made it harder for the economy to grow and become more diverse.
In the past, changes in the prices of commodities on international markets caused the economies of South American states to go through big ups and downs, which often led to a lot of political instability. This is making people work to diversify production so that economies don’t just rely on one big export.
Brazil is the largest South American country. It has about half of the continent’s population and a little less than half of the continent’s land area. The rest of the countries and territories are divided into four subregions: the Andean states, the Caribbean South America, the Guianas, and the Southern Cone.