WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SOUTH AMERICA South America is the fourth largest continent It contains 12 countries and is surrounded by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans as well as the Caribbean Sea South America is connected to North America by a strip of land only about 50 miles 82 kilometers wide at its most narrow point SOUTH AMERICA
Mount Aconcagua The land connecting South and North America shown here in a photo taken high in the air is called the Isthmus of Panama South America by the Numbers Population 423 million Size 6 89 million square miles or 17 8 million square kilometers Highest Point Aconcagua 22,841 feet or 6,962 meters
INCREDIBLE LAND INCREDIBLE LIFE South America is full of amazing sights The Atacama Desert in the country of Chile is one of the driest deserts on Earth The Andes mountains make up one of the world’s longest mountain ranges In each of these different places are plants and animals unlike anyplace else The Andes mountain range has different environments including grasslands and volcanoes The Atacama Desert has an average rainfall of 0 6 inches about 15 mm a year
South America has been home to many different forms of life throughout history including over 200 kinds of dinosaurs The scientist Pablo Gallina and his team discovered a new dinosaur in the country of Argentina the Bajadasaurus In 2017 scientist Tom Dillehay and his team discovered signs of humans from about 15,000 years ago A huge dirt mound in the country of Peru held stone tools bones and other evidence of some of the earliest Americans ever found Scientists are not sure why the Bajadasaurus had such large spikes on its neck Recovered History The oldest human fossil found in South America was discovered in the country of Brazil Archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire discovered the woman named Luzia in a cave Scientists made a model of what she might have looked like shown here
