Important Facts About South America

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The world’s largest river as per water volume and the second longest (6440 km) — the Amazon — is in South America.
This continent houses the world’s highest waterfalls — the Angel Falls.

The highest volcanoes of the world — Mt. Cotopaxi and Mt. Chimborazo — are found on this continent.
Brazil, the country which is the largest coffee producer in the world, is in South America.
The major languages spoken on this continent are Portuguese and Spanish.
The largest salt lake in the world — Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni salt flats) — is in South America
The world’s highest lake (3800 m) and South America’s largest is Lake Titicaca.
After the Himalayas, the Andes form the second highest mountain range in the world. These young-fold mountains are located in South America. Mt. Aconcagua (7,021 m) is the highest peak in the Andes.

South America’s three southern countries-Argentina, Chile and Uruguay – constitute a region sometimes referred to as the Southern Cone because of its pointed, ice-cream-cone like shaped.
The coastline of South America is smooth with very few inlets except in the extreme south-west where there are fiords and many small islands.
Fjords are deep inlets of the sea into mountains land.
Being a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, there are many volcanoes and frequent earthquakes along this region.
Mount Cotopaxi and Mount Chimborazo are active volcano peak, is the highest peak in south America.
Total number of countries are 12 in South America.
Valdes Peninsula is the lowest point of South America.
Tierra del Fuego is the largest Island of South America.

Mountain Ranges: Facts About South America

The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world. It is running in north-south direction from Isthmus of Panama to strait of Magellan.
Aconcagua is the highest peak of South America lies in Andes Range.

The Galapagos Islands near Central Chile are in the Pacific Ocean.
The Tierra del Fuego is in the Southern Ocean and the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The Islands of Trinidad is near Venezuela in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish tidal bay in Venezuela and an “inlet of the Caribbean Sea”. It is sometimes considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon.
Lake Titicaca is a large, deep, freshwater lake in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Peru, often called the “highest navigable lake” in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, it is the largest lake in South America. (Lake Maracaibo has a larger surface area, but it is a tidal bay, not a lake.)

Patagonian Desert: the largest desert of South America by area located in Argentina.
Atacama: is located in Chile and it is the driest place on Earth.
La Guajira Desert: in Colombia and Venezuela.
Monte Desert: in Argentina.

Amazon: World’s second longest after Nile and has the greatest volume. Madeira is the largest tributary of the Amazon river.
River Paraguay, River Parana and the River Uruguay forms the basin of Rio de Plata second in size to that of Amazon.
The world’s highest waterfall Angel is situated on river Churun which is a tributary of river caroni which is further a tributary of river Orinoco.

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