South America has become a must see travel destination, thinking about a South America Adventure or just an escape from the ordinary, you will find a wide range of natural and man made wonders. The continent has almost everything for the adventure seeking traveler. South America travel will take you to some of the most diverse and spectacular places on Earth. Exotic beaches, far reaching jungles or magnificent cities new and old are waiting to be explored.
South America is home to the largest tropical rain forest in the world, as well as some of the worlds largest mountains, the Andes Mountains, stretch the entire length of the continent, along with some of the most diverse and spectacular land forms on the planet. The worlds highest waterfall, Angel Falls is located in Venezuela. Iguazu Falls in northern Argentina are second in size to South Africa’s Victoria Falls. The worlds driest desert, the Atacama Desert is located in the southern portion of Peru and the northern portion of Chile. Bolivia is home to the highest commercially navigable lake, Lake Titicaca, and also the highest capital in the world, La Paz. Located off the west coast of Ecuadoris the Galapagos Islands world famous for the large amounts of endemic species.
Located in the Southern Hemisphere the continent is also considered as part of the Western Hemisphere. The continent ofis the 4th largest land mass behind Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Caribbean to the north, the continent is considered to be separated from North America by the Isthmus of Panamaconnecting to Colombia. Cape Horn is the southern most point of Chile as well as the continent and is bordered by the turbulent waters of the Straits of Magellan.
Population as of 2005, the continent had a total population of 371 million people placing it fifth in world population behind the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America The largest city is Sao Paulo, located in Brazil, the city has an estimated population of 20 million people followed by Buenos Aires population of 13 million.
Portuguese and Spanish make up wards of 90% of the languages spoken on the continent. Brazil, the largest country with 50% of the population of the 13 countries, speaks Portuguese. French, Quechua, Aymara, English and German are also spoken through out the continent .