Overview: South America

We’ve made it to South America on our world tour, one of the most geographically and culturally diverse continents in the world.

South America is made up of twelve countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela
Over 371 million people live there; Brazil is by far the largest and most populous country, covering over 8.5 million square kilometres and being home to over 200 million people
The largest city in South America is São Paulo, in Brazil, home to over eleven million people
The Andes is the longest continental mountain range in the world, stretching for 7,000 kilometres down the western coast of South America through seven countries
The famous Amazon River flows from the Andes through Peru, Colombia and Brazil
It is officially the world’s second longest river, behind the Nile, but is the largest in terms of water flow and the size of the drainage basin
In the wet season, the Amazon can grow to 30 miles wide in some sections
The Amazon rainforest is the largest in the world, covering 1.4 billion acres. It is said to produce more than 20% of the world’s oxygen
It is estimated that there are as many as 50 tribes in the Amazon Rainforest who have never had contact with the outside world
Angle Falls, in Venezuela, is the highest waterfall in the world, at nearly one kilometre high
Spanish and Portuguese are the most widely spoken languages in South America. When the two countries jointly colonized the continent in the late 1400s, they signed a treaty agreeing to split the land
Many indigenous languages are also spoken throughout South America; there are thought to be over 60 such languages still used today
The Atacama Desert in Chile is said to be the driest place on earth
Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca site in the Peruvian mountains, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South America