However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid economic growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. South America's major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. South America is home to the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela the highest single drop waterfall Kaieteur Falls in Guyana the largest river by volume, the Amazon River the longest mountain range, the Andes (whose highest mountain is Aconcagua at 6,962 m or 22,841 ft) the driest non-polar place on earth, the Atacama Desert the wettest place on earth, López de Micay in Colombia the largest rainforest, the Amazon rainforest the highest capital city, La Paz, Bolivia the highest commercially navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca and, excluding research stations in Antarctica, the world's southernmost permanently inhabited community, Puerto Toro, Chile. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate. Geopolitically and geographically, all of Panama – including the segment east of the Panama Canal in the isthmus – is typically included in North America alone and among the countries of Central America. The continent is generally delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border, although some may consider the border instead to be the Panama Canal. South America occupies the southern portion of the Americas. Ĭontemporary political map of South America Relative to Europe, Asia and Africa, 20th-century South America has been a peaceful continent with few wars. Given a long history of colonialism, the overwhelming majority of South Americans speak Spanish or Portuguese, and societies and states reflect Western traditions. The continent's cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of the Southern Cone located in the middle latitudes. The geography of western South America is dominated by the Andes mountains in contrast, the eastern part contains both highland regions and vast lowlands where rivers such as the Amazon, Orinoco, São Francisco and Paraná flow. Most of the population lives near the continent's western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. In recent decades, Brazil has also generated half of the continent's GDP and has become the continent's first regional power. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the continent's population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela and Peru. South America ranks fourth in area (after Asia, Africa, and North America) and fifth in population (after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America).
Its population as of 2018 has been estimated at more than 423 million. South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers (6,890,000 sq mi). In addition, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ascension Island (dependency of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory), Bouvet Island ( dependency of Norway), Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago may also be considered parts of South America. The continent generally includes twelve sovereign states: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela two dependent territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and one internal territory: French Guiana.
South America is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. The reference to South America instead of other cultural or geographical regions (such as Latin America or the Southern Cone) has increased in recent decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics (in particular, the rise of Brazil). It can also be described as the southern subregion of a single continent called America (see the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas). South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. Map of South America showing physical, political, and population characteristics, as per 2018