South America

South America as seen from space. You can see the snow-covered Andes in the west and the green rain forest.

South America is the south part of the Americas. It is connected to North America by a small piece of land. To the west of South America lies the Pacific Ocean and to the east, it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean to the north of South America is the Caribbean Sea.

A small part of South America lies north of the equator, but the bigger part of South America lies south of the equator. The southernmost point of South America, Tierra del Fuego, reaches all the way to the Antarctic. Because of big differences in landscape there are big differences in the weather. Some places are very hot, for example, the rain forest or the desert, other places are very cold, for example, the mountains.

The Andes mountain range reaches all the way from the north to the south point of the continent, all along the west coast. They are the highest mountains in South America and the second-highest mountains in the world just behind Mount Everest. The Andes reach a height of 6961 meters above sea level. In the Andes, there are a lot of volcanoes, some of which are covered with ice throughout the whole year, especially the ones in the south. The surface of the glacier is 11 times the size of the glaciers in the Alps.

The biggest river in South America is the Amazon, it is also the biggest river in the world. In the mountains, forests, and deserts, there are a lot of different types of animals and plants. One of the most famous bird species is the condor, a very large bird. Another well-known animal is the llama which is part of the camel family. People use llamas to carry things and also keep them for their milk and fur.