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Facts on South America

Population: 370+ Million

World's population: 6%

Countries: 15

Largest City: Sao Paulo
(10.3 million - Brazil)

Official Languages: Aymara, Dutch, English, Guarani, Portuguese, Quechua, Spanish

South America is a big continent with both hot and cold areas that is right in our backyard. I say right in our backyard because the country Columbia for example, might seem like some crazy South American country a world away, but it's actually closer to my house in Virginia than California is!

Many people also underestimate South America's size even though this may not be their fault. A lot of wall maps, for whatever reason, blow up the northern part of the world which makes South America appear much smaller than it really is when compared to North America. The country Brazil is actually about the same size as the entire continental US. The distance from tropical Key West Florida to the capital of Canada might seem comparable to the length of South America. Actually you need to take the distance from Key West to Ottawa Canada and multiple it three times to get the proper length.

Another assumption is that because a country is in South America it's automatically hot and tropical and can't be too far from the equator. You might be surprised to know that the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, is the same distance away from the equator as Little Rock, Arkansas is! The lower parts of Chile and Argentina are about the same distance away from the equator as the southern parts of Alaska are, and they both have cold weather. To sum it all up; South America is a huge continent with much more to it than just hot tropical rainforests.

Facts on South America

Size: 17.8 million sq km

Lowest Point: Bahia Blanca
-42 meters, -138 feet

Highest Point: Aconcagua
6962 meters, 22,841 feet

Lowest Temperature
-33, -27.4F - Argentina

Highest Temperature
48.9C, 120F - Argentina

South America also has the:
world's highest waterfall
world's largest river
world's driest place
world's largest rainforest

Galapagos Ecuador Peru Bolivia Chile Argentina Uruguay