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SOUTH AMERICA
Total area -6,878,000 square miles (17,814,000
square kilometres),
The fourth largest of the world's continents, the
continent is compact and roughly triangular in shape, being broad
in the north and tapering to a point--Cape Horn, Chile--in the south.
South America is bounded by the Caribbean Sea to
the northwest and north, the Atlantic Ocean to the northeast, east,
and southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. In the northwest
it is joined to North America by the Isthmus of Panama. Drake Passage,
south of Cape Horn, separates South America from Antarctica.
The name America is derived from that of the Italian
merchant and navigator Amerigo Vespucci, one of the earliest European
explorers of the New World. The term America originally was applied
only to South America, but the designation soon was applied to the
entire landmass. Because Mexico and Central America share an Iberian
heritage with nearly all of South America, this entire region frequently
is grouped under the name Latin America.
Geologic structure
South America consists of two dissymmetric parts. In the larger,
eastern portion are found a number of stable shields forming highland
regions, separated by large basins (including the vast Amazon basin).
The western portion is occupied almost entirely by the Andes Mountains.
The Andes--formed as the South American Plate moved westward and
forced the oceanic plate to the west under it--constitute a gigantic
backbone along the entire Pacific coast of the continent. The basins
east of the Andes and between the eastern highlands have been filled
with immense quantities of sediment washed down by the continent's
great rivers and their tributaries.
The great range in elevation produces an unrivaled diversity of
climatic and ecological zones, which is probably the most prominent
characteristic of South American geography.
Climate
Temperature: Warm
Most of South America is in warm for most of the year. In most areas,
it is tropical weather. It never gets too cold and is usually warm.
However, there are areas of South America where it does get cold
and the temperature drops below freezing. The Andes Mountain region
has cold temperatures.
Weather: Mostly wet
Most of South America receives plenty of rain. There are areas that
receive downpours and seem to be constantly wet, like the rain forest.
However, there are also areas that receive little or no rain. In
fact, there are some areas that are just about the driest areas
on Earth!
Animal life
South American animal life is very rich and well diversified.
Freshwater fishes are numerous, with about 2,700 species. The Amazonian
fishes may approach 1,500 species in number. Among the dominant
groups are characins , which include the flesh-eating piranha; gymnotids,
South American cyprinoid fishes that include the electric eel;catfishes;
cyprinodonts, a large family of small scaly-headed soft-finned fishes;
and cichlids, a family consisting chiefly of fishes that somewhat
resemble sunfish.
Birds are represented by 89 families and some 3,000
species--a much higher figure than in Africa or Asia, which justifies
the application of the name bird continent to South America. Unique
birds include rheas (large, tall, flightless birds that resemble
ostriches), curassows (large arboreal birds distantly related to
the domestic fowl), hoatzins (a brownish crested bird, having claws
on the digits of the wing when young), oilbirds, motmots (bright-coloured
birds related to kingfishers), jacamars (small, bright-coloured
birds), and many passerine (perching) birds. Hummingbirds are also
found aplenty with more than 120 species in Ecuador alone.
Click
here to know more about South American wildlife.
Festivals:
Holidays, fiestas and festivals, whether religious or secular, hold
a favored place here. Enjoy!
People
The original inhabitants of South America are believed to have descended
from the same Asiatic peoples who migrated to North America from
Siberia during the most recent (Wisconsin) ice age. Few of these
peoples, however, survived the arrival of Europeans after 1500,
most succumbing to disease or mixing with people of European and
(especially in Brazil) African origin. Some parts of the continent
are now industrialized, with modern cities, but the people of most
regions still follow an agricultural way of life. The wealth of
mineral products and renewable resources is considerable, yet economic
development in most of the continent lags behind the more industrially
advanced regions of the world. Nonetheless, considerable concern
has arisen about the rapidly increasing and often destructive exploitation
of these resources.
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