South America

How is the land laid out?

South America is shaped like a bulb with a tapered stem. Along its western side is the Andes Mountain system. This begins with six branches in Colombia and Venezuela, but further south is at most three branches--Western (Occidental), Central and Eastern (Oriental). Sometimes there are deep river valleys between these ranges--like the Magdalena--and sometimes the High Plain (Altiplano). The highest peak, Aconcagua--reaches almost 7,000 meters. The continent's two largest lakes are surrounded by these mountains: Maracaibo¹ in northern Venezuela and Titicaca in the Altiplano of Perú and Bolivia.² The continent's largest island, Tierra del Fuego,³ is at the southern terminus of the Andes.

The continent's other important raised relief areas are the Guiana Highlands in the north, east of the end of the Andes, the Central Highlands of Brasil (Brazil),⁴ and the coastal range of central Chile, which demarcates a fertile central valley. Besides coastal plains,⁵ there are three important lowlands: the Orinoco Basin of Venezuela,⁶ the Amazonas (Amazon) Basin⁷ shared by several countries, most importantly Brazil,⁸ and a part of Paraguay and nearby Brazil called either the Patanal, where marshy, or the Gran Chaco, where drier.

Intermediate ground is in Argentina and Uruguay. In the north, pampas (grassy plains) slope eastward.⁹ Further south ar arid, irregular, steppes.

The Amazonas River begins in Peru when the Ucayali and Marañón join, and flows to the Atlantic in a delta it shares with the Pará-Tocatins.¹⁰ The Marajó Island in this delta is the continent's second largest. Four of South America's top ten rivers are tributaries of the Amazon: the Japurá and Negro¹¹ on the left, and the Purus and Madeira on the right. Another left bank tributary is dammed to form the Balbina Reservoir, one the continent's largest lakes.

South America's second longest river is the Paraná,¹² which shares the Rio de la Plata¹³ estuary with the Uruguay. This drains the western central Highlands, and--with its tributary, the Paraguay,¹⁴ also drains the Patanal and parts of the Bolivian and northern Argentine Andes. One of the Paraná's two headwaters is dammed to form the Furnas Reservoir.¹⁵

The other important river is the Sáo Francisco,¹⁶ which flows behind the high eastern edge of Brazil's Central Highlands. It is dammed to form the vast Sabradinho Resevoir.¹⁷

Many geographies divide Chile's islands between Oceania (Easter Island; Sala and Gómez) and South America. I include them all in South America for convenience.

While Trinidad and Tobago and parts of the Netherlands Antilles are near this continent, they are considered part of North America.

Colombia's San Andrés y Providencia (Saint Andrew and Providence) Islands are off Nicaragua's coast, and are part of North America.

The Galapagos Islands, west of Ecuador, are part of South America. So are the Brazilian islands of Martin Vaz, Fernando do Naronha and Peter and Paul Rocks.

Most geographies include the Falklands with South America. I have also included--for convenience--South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, the South Orkney Islands and the South Shetland Islands. Other geographies include some or all of them with Antarctica.

Who lives there?

More then 300 million people live on the continent. Spanish predominates in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Perú and Bolivia. Portuguese predominates in Brazil. In the southern high center of Perú and the eastern part of highland Bolivia, Quechua is the majority first language, though most learn Spanish. In La Paz Department¹⁸ of Bolivia, Aymara is the birth tongue. but Spanish and Quechua are often learned.

In Paraguay, most speak Guarani as their first language, Spanish second. In Guyana it is Guyanese Creole English. There is no majority in Suriname; Dutch and several forms of Creole English are important there.¹⁹

Everywhere but Suriname the majority is Christian.²¹ Everywhere but Suriname and Guyana²¹ the overwhelming majority are Roman Catholics. Syncretism--borrowing from West African or indiginous religions--is common in northeast Brazil and the Andes.

South America has many cities of over one million, including the national capitals of Caracas, Bogotá, Brasília, Quito, Lima,²² La Paz, Asunción,²³ Santiago,²⁴ Buenos Aires²⁵ and Montevideo. The metropolitan areas of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro both exceed ten million. See the tables of cities for the Southeast Region and for the rest of Brasil. Other non-Brazilian cities include Barranquilla, Cali, Córdoba, Medellín, Mendoza Rosario and Santa Cruz.

Nations

Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Ecuador
Guyana
Paraguay
Perú
Surinam
Uruguay
Venezuela

Parts of Nations

Possessions

Footnotes

1. It is connected to the sea.
2. Lake Poopo is a top ten lake, in Bolivia's Altiplano. 3. Translates from Spanish as Land of Fire.
4. They extend into Paraguay and Misiones Province, Argentina.
5. The coastal plains include one of the continent's top ten lakes: Lagoa dos Patos (Two Duck Lagoon).
6. The Orinoco is the continent's tenth longest river.
7. The Amazonas is the continent's longest river, the world's second longest. It is called the Amazon in English. The basin connects to the Orinoco basin. In fact the upper Orinoco splits, with some of its water, as the Casiquiare, flowing to the Amazonas.
8. Brasil is the modern, official spelling, but it is still called Brazil in English.
9. In the very north of Argentina, these transition to the Gran Chaco. Beyond Uruguay the flat extends as Brazil's coastal plain.
10. South America's sixth or seventh longest river. It is dammed to form the Tucurui Reservoir, one of the top ten lakes.
11. Translates from Spanish as 'Black.'
12. The world's ninth longest.
13. Translates from Spanish as River of Silver.
14. The continent's eight longest.
15. Another of the continent's top ten lakes.
16. South America's fifth longest.
17. The only top ten lake not mentioned is Mar Chiquita, a salt lake in the Argentina pampas.
18. Translates from Spanish as The Peace.
19. All of which are Germanic languages.
20. In Surinam, Christians are a plurality, followed by Hindus and Moslems.
21. Protestants are more common than Catholics in Guyana, but all Christians together are but a slim majority there.
22. It is said to translate from an indiginous language as 'Speaker.'
23. Translates from Spanish as Assumption, a Roman Catholic Christian term.
24. Translates from Spanish as Saint James.
25. Translates from Spanish as Good Winds.