Global Environment.com

South America

South America occupies 12% of the earth's land surface - 6.9 million sq miles. Structurally it has three parts - the Andes, the river basins and plains, and the ancient eastern highlands. The Andes run the full length of the continent for about 5,000 miles. Glaciers and snowfields grace many of the peaks, some of which rise to over 21,000 ft. Aconcagua (22,830 ft) is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere.

The vast river basins lie to the east of the Andes; they are the Ilanos of Venezuela drained by the Orinoco, the Amazon basin (occupying 40% of the continent). and the great Paraguay - Parana - Uruguay basin that empties into the River Plate.

The highlands are the rolling Guiana highlands to the north, and the more extensive Brazilian plateau that fills and gives shape to South America's eastern bulge. Both are hard crystalline rock, geographically much older than the Andes, and their presence helps to explain the wanderings and meanderings of the great river systems.

South America has a great climatic variety, due partly to the wide latitudinal extent but also to the great range in altitude. 80% of it falls into the tropics, but height may temper the tropical climate considerably - for example in the Altiplano of Bolivia (a high, rolling plateau 12,000 ft above sea-level). The natural flora and fauna of the country are equally varied. Long isolation from the rest of the world allowed a great variety of plants and animals to evolve, and this natural variety has not yet been reduced significantly by human pressures. Electric eels, carnivorous piranha fish, manatees and river dolphins, amphibious boa constrictors, sloth's, ant-eaters, armadillos, several kind of marsupials, camel-like guanacos and llamas, rheas, Andean condors and humming birds are some of the many interesting animals indigenous to South America. Many of the plants found useful to man - potato, cassava, quinoa, squashes, cacao, sweet potato, pineapple and rubber, for example - were originally South American, and the vast forests of the Amazon and the Andes may yet contain more. Pressures on the natural flora and fauna are growing, however, in a continent where ideas on conservation are shallow-rooted.

South America is prodigal too, with mineral wealth. Silver and gold were the first attractions but petroleum, iron, copper and tin are also plentiful.

Iguacu Falls, borders Brazil & Argentina

Amazon River, Brazil