South America

South America, South America or South America is the southern subcontinent of America, or also considered by many, one of the continents that make up the supercontinent of America. It is crossed by the equator line at its northern end, thus leaving most of its territory within the southern hemisphere.

It is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, which delimit the eastern and western extremes respectively, while the Caribbean Sea delimits its northern extreme and the Southern Ocean its southern extreme. It is connected to North America by the narrow territorial bridge that represents Central America. South America is the closest land area to Antarctica, through the sea of Hoces to the south. It occupies an area of 18.2 million km², which represents 42.9% of the American continent and 13.0% of the emerged lands, and is inhabited by 6.5% of the world's population.

South America is made up of a group of thirteen sovereign countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, as well as France with Guyana France and five dependencies of other states. Brazil concentrates approximately half of the population and economic production of the region.

The countries that border the Caribbean Sea are: Colombia, Venezuela, (although Trinidad and Tobago is usually included because it is located on the continental shelf), Guyana, Suriname, also French Guiana, which is an overseas department of France, Aruba, Curaçao and the island of Bonaire belonging to the Kingdom of the Netherlands; They are collectively known as the South American Caribbean, while Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay form the Southern Cone, a region of the subcontinent that is characterized by the highest standards of quality of life and development in relation to the rest of Latin America. Colombia and Venezuela, in addition to being in the Caribbean region, also belong together with Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru to the Andean zone.

From the 16th century to the early XIX most of South America was divided into colonies governed mainly by Spain and Portugal, followed by one colony from the United Kingdom, one from France and one from the Netherlands, which they gradually became Republics, with the exception of French Guiana, which became a French Overseas Department (European Outermost Region) and the Falkland Islands and neighboring islands. Although the current border of South America with Central America is located on an imaginary line in the Darien jungle, it was after the construction of the Panama Canal that this country began to be associated with Central America in Anglo-Saxon media. Finally in 1955, Panama became part of Central America geographically, but maintains historical and cultural ties with South America. This subcontinental region, located mostly in the southern hemisphere, is bordered to the north by the Caribbean Sea, to the east and south by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. It extends from the border between Panama and Colombia to Cape Horn (Chile).

History

Pre-Columbian times

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  Statues in a tombular monument (Colombia). The Saint Augustine Culture.

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  Rupestre painting in Cueva de las Manos (Argentina), dated 7350 a.e.c.

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  Machu Picchu (Peru), archaeological area, icon of the inca architecture.

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  Puerta del Sol, Andean ceremonial center in Tiahuanaco (Bolivia).

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  Pedra Furada (Brazil) deposit, dating from 12,000 to 32,000 years old.

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  Nazca Lines (Peru), extensive geoglyph network, with an extension of 800 km2.

The Ingapirca Archaeological Complex located in the southern Andes of Ecuador, specifically in the province of Cañar, is an archaeological complex of Inca origin. It is located at 3,160 meters above sea level, at a distance of 42 km from Azogues, capital of the province of Cañar and 90 km north of the city of Cuenca. Ingapirca is the sacred place of the Inca occupation in Ecuador. It is considered the most important pre-Columbian archaeological site in the country and the best preserved Inca architectural complex in Ecuador. It is a Kichwa word that means "wall or wall of the Inca". This construction is a magnificent example of what the Cañari-Inca culture was. It has an extension of four hectares and was an important religious, political, scientific, military and administrative center during the Inca conquest.

The later settlements at Tiahuanaco, built on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and San Agustín, in Colombia, have become great mysteries of archaeology.

The reiteration of archeological sites of great antiquity in South America and the scarce number of them in the north of the subcontinent, added to the considerable differences in genes and phenotypes between the South American and North American paleoindians, has caused the adhesion of some researchers to the hypothesis of an autonomous population of South America, not coming from the north.

This hypothesis is related to the theory of entry into Antarctica from Oceania, and seems to be confirmed by the findings of settlements of coastal tribes dating back about 14,800 years in Monte Verde, Chile.

During their migration and especially after the discovery of agriculture, the ancient American settlers settled in the areas and sectors they considered most favorable for their development and ways of life. In Ayacucho, Peru, llamas were already domesticated 5000 years before Christ. In the following centuries, areas for planting arracacha, sweet potato, pumpkin, pineapple, beans, potato, cassava, quinoa were also developed in different regions of the subcontinent., cassava, and yams, which are native to South America. In isolation for millennia from Old World societies, South American peoples formed original autonomous cultures to the point of producing two separate Neolithic revolutions in the Andes that gave rise to hundreds of agroceramic civilizations, several of which considered The clay pot is a symbol of great spiritual value since it represented the universe of the gods, the place of burials, the tank for fermenting chicha and the utensil for preparing food.

In the Andes of Colombia and on the coast of Ecuador, the first ceramics of America have been found, made between the years 3600 and 3000 B.C. C. Pre-Columbian South American metallurgy had considerable development. The Chibchas in Colombia reached methods of casting, oxyacetylene welding, lamination, filigree, cast wax, and simple casting. The region's goldsmithing is at the origin of the myth of El Dorado.

The Chinchorro Culture, located on the northern coast of Chile (Atacama) and southern Peru, developed mummification techniques almost 2,000 years before the Egyptians, and their mummies are considered the oldest in the world.

Around the 12th century, the Inca influence came to articulate the current territories of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, in addition to the northern Chile, the north, northwest and west of Argentina, and the southern zone of Colombia. From Cuzco, the Inca Empire consolidated a state that managed to synthesize and disseminate the multiple artistic, scientific and technological knowledge of its predecessors. Said knowledge, however, did not include writing, since it was unknown in South America before the arrival of the Europeans. Currently, some customs and traditions of the disappeared Inca civilization prevail in Andean ethnic groups such as the Quechuas and Aymaras. The territory of Brazil has been inhabited for at least 8,000 years.

The most important indigenous cultures prior to European contact

• Civilization Caral, also known as Caral-Supe or Norte Chico, was an ancient civilization of Peru, a complex pre-incaic society that includes about thirty large human settlements..3200 a. C.-1600 a. C.
• Culture Vicus is an archeological culture of ancient Peru that developed between the 500's. C. and 500 d. C. in the northern coastal zone of Peru, in the lower course of the Piura river, 7 km from the district of Chulucanas, in the province of Morropón, department of Piura.
• Tiahuanaco It was the center of the Tiahuanacota civilization, a pre-incaic culture that based its economy on agriculture and livestock, and that centrally covered the territories of the Collao plateau (between the west of Bolivia and southern Peru) in the Andes, expanding towards the coast (south Peru and north of Chile) and to the north of Argentina and that irraged its technological and religious influence to other civilizations.
• Inca Empire, Inca Empire or Tahuantinsuyo was a pre-Columbian state located in South America. It flourished in the Andean area of the subcontinent between the 15th and 16th centuries, as a result of the apogee of Incaic civilization.
• Muiscas, the confederation muisca It was the political unity of the muisc cacicazgos, such as the Zipaquira cacicazgo, led by the Bacatá zip, the Hunza zaque, the Sugamuxi iraca and the Duitama tundama. It rose until 1541, when the Spanish conquest was consolidated in the center of Colombia.
• Chimú Cultureor Chimor is a culture of ancient Peru that emerged on the north coast after the decay of the wari Empire between the years 1000 and 1200 AD. They occupied the territories that previously inhabited the backpackers, expanding their domains, in their stage of further development, for a wide strip of northern Peru, from Tumbes to the Huarmey valley.
• Culture Chavín was one of the great American civilizations that developed between the rivers Mosna and Huachecsa, in the province of Huari, department of Áncash in Peru. It developed between 1200 a. C-200 a. C.
• Culture Nazca is an archaeological culture of ancient Peru that arose in the province of Nazca (department of Ica) around the centuryI and comes into decline in the centuryVI.
• Paracas cultureor culture of Paracas is an archaeological culture of ancient Peru originated at the end of the higher formative period, about 500 BC around the peninsula of Paracas. The peninsula in question is between the Ica and Pisco rivers in the current department of Ica. From that point of departure, the paracas managed to dominate approximately from the Cañete River, north to Yauca, south, having as a center to the city of Ica.
• Culture MochicaAlso called Moche, is an archaeological culture of ancient Peru that developed between 100 B.C. and 800 B.C. in the Moche valley having as capital to the territory that is currently called Huacas del Sol and the Moon in the La Libertad region, this culture spread to the valleys of the northern coast of current Peru.
• Charrúas They were a group of Amerindians who lived in the territories of today's Uruguay, and also in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande del Sur. The languages are a unique and separate language group from other indigenous languages. With the only linguistic groups that have some similar characteristics is with the languages of the Chaco and with the macro-yê languages of Brazil.
• La Mold culture it was a pre-incaic civilization that inhabited the western area of the Royal mountain range in the current department of La Paz in Bolivia. This civilization appeared approximately in 700 AD and extends to 1300 or 1400 AD. Their decay is confused with the arrival of the Incas to the area, so it is believed that they absorbed the mollus by learning some constructive techniques of them.
• The Kali'na People, they are an Amerindian ethnic group from North South America, they are divided into different tribes or independent groups that share the language and certain traditions. Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil are specifically located

Colonial Era

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  The historic center of Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil, is one of the best preserved.

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  Historical center of Quito, Ecuador.

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  Historical center of Cuzco in Peru.

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  El Cabildo de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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  Fortaleza de San Fernando, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

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  The Dutch colonial houses known as Waterkant located in Paramaribo, Suriname.

The Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire were the first to make the conquest, and settled mainly in southern North America, Central America, and the Andean area of South America (Aztec, Mayan, and Inca empires, respectively). Spain was the power that imposed the greatest colonial presence in America. In the Caribbean, it dominated Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, including the Florida peninsula within its Caribbean possessions. From the Antillean settlements, it took possession by force of the great states existing in America at that time: in North America it came to appropriate the Aztec Empire, in present-day Mexico, establishing itself in its cities, in addition to dominating the Tlaxcalans, Tarascans, Mixtec and Zapotec. From there he controlled a large part of Central America, dominating the Mayan-speaking populations, the Pipiles, the Niquiranos, and the Guaimí-speaking peoples of Veragua (Panama). From Panama the conquest of the Andean zone of South America was undertaken up to the central zone of present-day Chile, controlled by the Inca Empire in present-day Peru. At the same time, in search of the Sierra de la Plata and the lands of the White King, cities were founded in the Plata estuary and on the banks of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers, being the most important of them; Assumption.

The Treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494 between the Kings of Castile and Aragon, and King John II of Portugal, established a division of the annexation areas of the New World. The eastern part of South America, the extreme east of Brazil, was attached to the area of action of Portugal, which made it possible to submit to its sovereignty when Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived on the Brazilian coast in 1500.

On August 5, 1498, the first European landing in South America took place. Beginning on August 13, Christopher Columbus sailed up the eastern coast of present-day Venezuela to the Paria peninsula, Isla de Margarita, and Cubagua before returning to Hispaniola. The first European settlement in South America was founded on the island of Cubagua: Nueva Cádiz (1500). While in Cumaná (present-day Venezuela) the first settlement on the mainland was founded (1515).

Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived in Cajamarca in 1532, taking the Inca monarch, Atahualpa, prisoner. He later gave the order to execute him and allied himself with the nobility of Cuzco, which allowed him to complete the conquest of the Inca Empire.

Portugal appropriated most of the Atlantic coastal strip of the northern part of South America, which would later give rise to the State of Brazil.

England established thirteen colonies along the North American Atlantic coastline, as well as on some Caribbean islands.

France occupied present-day French Guiana in South America (still under French rule), Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico (from the Great Lakes), some islands in the Caribbean, and the Canadian region of Quebec.

The Netherlands established colonies in North America (New Amsterdam which would later become New York), northern South America (Dutch Guyana today Suriname) and some settlements on Caribbean islands (Netherlands Antilles and Aruba).

Emancipation

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  Simon Bolivar, leader of emancipation in the South American North.

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  José de San Martín, leader of emancipation in South South America.

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  Pedro I of Brazil proclaimed Brazilian independence in 1822.

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  Antonio Nariño, published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in South America.

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  Interview of Guayaquil between José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar.

Throughout 1808, the pressures of the French Emperor Napoleon I unleashed a series of events that made the already compromised Spanish situation even worse. King Carlos IV of Spain abdicated the throne in favor of his son Ferdinand VII on March 19, 1808 after the events of the Mutiny of Aranjuez, and later, on May 5, 1808, the disaster for Spain ended when Carlos IV and his son were forced to cede the throne to Napoleon to designate his brother, José I, as the new King of Spain. This provoked a popular reaction in Spain that triggered what is now known as the Spanish War of Independence and both in America and in Spain, regional boards were formed that encouraged the fight against the French invaders to restore the legitimate monarch to the throne. However, in the American juntas only the Popular Junta of Cádiz was talked about with enthusiasm and many of them were viewed with suspicion by the Spanish authorities, who suspected them of being favorable to the French and who had not forgotten actions such as that of Antonio Nariño in Bogotá, who had published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the movement of Juan Picornell, the Conspiracy of Manuel Gual and José María España, or the failed military expeditions of Francisco de Miranda in Venezuela.

The process of the Spanish-American Wars of Independence began with the Revolution of Chuquisaca (now Sucre) on May 25, 1809 in Upper Peru and culminated with the occupation of the Callao fortresses in 1826. In 1817, the liberating general José de San Martín crosses the Andes and, together with the army of Bernardo O'Higgins, defeats the royalists in Chile. He finally heads to Lima in order to impact the center of Spanish power. The average height of 3000 m s. no. m. (meters above sea level) and the peaks of 4800 m s. no. m. caused mountain sickness in the army. The path averaged 12 inches wide and was uneven. The temperature dropped between −15 and −20 °C (degrees Celsius) overnight. Of the 5,400 men that made up the army, 300 died on the way. Only 5,000 mules of the 9,200 that left and 500 horses of the initial 1,500 arrived. At the same time, San Martín directed the 6 columns that crossed the mountain range at different points, with the aim of confusing and dispersing the royalist forces that were waiting to confront them. Upon arriving in Chile, the patriot army under the command of San Martín, achieved a key victory in the battle of Chacabuco. The history of South American emancipation was beginning to be written. Later, it would be complemented by the military actions initiated by the liberator Simón Bolívar in the north of the subcontinent, giving his first great blow in the Battle of Boyacá, where he achieved a decisive patriotic victory.

Postcolonial Period

The Council of Heads of State and Government of Unasur which includes all countries of South America except the French territory of French Guiana belonging to the European Union.

A crucial event for the emergence of Brazil as a nation state was the transfer, as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, of the Portuguese capital from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, thereby implying the assignment of the category of kingdom to Brazil, a kingdom Within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve (1807–1821), upon the peaceful dissolution of that kingdom, the Empire of Brazil emerged. Independence was proclaimed in 1822 by the son of the King of Portugal. Pedro I established a constitutional monarchy that reigned until the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889.

After its independence, South America suffered in some of its countries various types of dictatorships and strongmen. However, by the end of the XX century, most of the subcontinent managed to secure democratically elected rulers, although not in all circumstances They have established enduring institutions. The economic development of Argentina and Uruguay since the beginning of the century would make them become a mecca for immigration, especially from Europe and Asia. During the First and Second World Wars, the subcontinent remained safe from the destructive wave that swept through Europe, Asia and Africa and once again became a natural recipient of thousands of refugees. However, between 1941 and 1942 the Peruvian-Ecuadorian War took place.

In the 1960s, a series of dictatorial regimes favored by local aristocracies with support from the United States began —through the doctrine of national security— with the aim of neutralizing governments with a socialist tendency in various countries of South America. South: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia.

Michel Temer and Mauricio Macri, representatives of the two largest economies in South America, gathered in the presidential Fifth of Olivos.

Since 1999, except for Colombia, several South American countries have elected center-left governments such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and recently Peru, or left-wing governments such as Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, although most of these governments They embrace the free market. However, as of 2015 this trend began to change with the election of a center-right government in Argentina and the defeat of the ruling left-wing party in Venezuela in the legislative elections of that country.

In 2008 the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and the Bank of the South were created, which seeks economic, political and cultural integration policies among member countries, also seeks to defend the region's democracies from coups. condition. An example of this is the reaction of South American countries and especially Unasur in the political crisis in Ecuador in 2010, or in the political crisis in Bolivia in 2008.

Regarding public order, the armed conflict in Colombia has led other states of the subcontinent to become involved in its development. The so-called humanitarian Agreement has had the active participation of several South American governments, especially the participation of the Hugo Chávez administration. The situation gave rise to the Colombia diplomatic crisis with Ecuador and Venezuela in 2008 which ended in the XX Summit Meeting of the Rio Group. In 2010 there was a new diplomatic crisis between Colombia and Venezuela that would end with the mediation of Unasur.

Geography

The territory of South America has an area of 18,200,000 km². Its coasts have a length of about 39,910 km (about 25,870 km for the continental mass).-

Geology and relief

Topographically, South America is divided into three sections: the cordillera, the inland lowlands, and the continental shield. The Andes is notable for being the longest and youngest mountain range in the world, as well as the highest after the Himalayas. Rising in the depths of the ocean, it rises from the southeast of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, following a line parallel to the Pacific coast, to diversify in the north, opening into two arms, one towards the Isthmus of Panama and the other bordering the coast caribbean The origin of the mountain range is the result of the subduction of the Nazca plate under the South American plate at a speed close to 9 cm/year. It passes through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Several of its highest peaks exceed 6,000 m s. no. m. (meters above sea level), such as the Aconcagua (6961 m a.s.l.), the Nevado Ojos del Salado (6893 m a.s.l.), Nevado Huascarán (6768 m a.s.l.), Nevado Sajama (6542 m a.s.l.) or the Chimborazo Volcano (6310 m a.s.l.).

However, in Colombia, the other end of the subcontinent, it is still possible to register heights greater than 5300 m s. no. m. in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, or in the Nevado del Ruiz. Throughout its course, it branches into various branches or mountain ranges that enclose valleys such as the Intermediate Depression and the Valle del Cauca, in Colombia, and highlands such as the Andean Altiplano, a plateau of approximately 3000ms. no. m. that covers a dry region between northwestern Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile.

Countries located in the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire" They present one of the highest levels of seismicity and volcanism in the world, interrelated phenomena, and secondary effects of the subduction of the Nazca Plate under the Continental plate. Chile has the largest chain of volcanoes in the world after Indonesia, with some 2,000 identified volcanoes, 500 potentially active, and several recent eruptions.

The lowlands are usually classified into three systems: the Orinoco plains, the Amazon plain and the Chacopampean or Plata plain, formed by the sedimentation produced by the rivers that cross them and the deposit of particles produced by the eolic erosion. In addition, small coastal plains are found along the Pacific Ocean in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and on the Atlantic in Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil. The largest depression on the subcontinent is located 105 m below sea level in Laguna del Carbón, Argentina.

The continental shield is separated into three unequal sections: the Brasilia Massif, the Guiana Massif, and the Patagonian Massif, the first two among the oldest on the planet. The hardness of the crystalline rocks that make them up gives them great stability and is the reason why earthquakes do not occur in the enormous regions they occupy, as well as the points of contact between them (the sedimentary regions of the Amazon and the Chaco- pampas). The Brasilia Massif occupies eastern, central, and southern Brazil, much of Uruguay, eastern Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina. The Guiana Massif comprises a large part of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana; southern Venezuela, a part of northern Brazil and eastern Colombia. The Patagonian Massif covers almost the entire Argentine Patagonia and the extreme south of the Chilean part.

There are also other important orographic systems rejuvenated by the Andean folding, scattered among the flat regions of the subcontinent, such as the Macarena and Chiribiquete mountains in Colombia, the Santiago mountain range in Bolivia, the Sierra del Divisor in Brazil and Peru, and the Pampean, Ventania and Tandilia mountains in Argentina.

Several islands are located in the continental base of South America, the largest being Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile), Marajó (Brazil), Isla Grande de Chiloé (Chile), the Malvinas Islands (British Overseas Territory), Trinidad (Trinidad and Tobago), Puná (Ecuador) and Margarita Island (Venezuela). The south of the subcontinent shows its ex-glacier characteristic with the numerous fjords and islands in southern Chile. There are some groups of islands outside the continental base, but close to the South American coasts: the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Easter Island (Chile), Isla de Aves (Venezuela), Isla Sala y Gómez (Chile), Malpelo, Gorgona (Colombia), and the South Georgia and South Sandwich archipelagos (in dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom, currently being a British Overseas Territory. See note 16).

Highest point per state in South America

Position	World position	Country	Highest point	Altitude	System
1	10	Argentina	Cerro Aconcagua	6961 m. n. m.	Cordillera de los Andes
2	11	Argentina and Chile	Nevado Ojos del Salado	6891 m. n. m.	Cordillera de los Andes
3	12	Peru	Nevado Huascarán	6768 m. n. m.	Cordillera de los Andes
4	13	Bolivia	Nevado Sajama	6542 m. n. m.	Cordillera de los Andes
5	14	Ecuador	Monte Chimborazo	6263 m. n. m.	Cordillera de los Andes
6	19	Colombia	Pico Christopher Columbus & Simón Bolívar	5775 m. n. m.	Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
7	28	Venezuela	Pico Bolívar	4978 m. n. m.	Cordillera de los Andes
8	72	Brazil	Pico da Neblina	2995 m. n. m.	Guayanese Shield
9	89	Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela	Tepuy Roraima	2810 m. n. m.	Sierra de Pacaraima
10	158	Suriname	Juliana Top	1280 m. n. m.	Wilhelmina Mountains
11	175	Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago	Cerro del Aripo	940 m. n. m.	Cordillera del Norte
12	181	French Guiana	Monte Bellevue	851 m. n. m.	Guayanese Shield
13	182	Paraguay	Cerro Tres Kandú	842 m. n. m.	Ybytyruzú mountain range
14	198	Uruguay	Cerro Catedral	514 m. n. m.	Big knife

Climate

Climate map of South America, according to the Köppen-Geiger system.

South America is home to a wide variety of climates: the hot humidity of the Amazon Rainforest, the dry cold of Patagonia, the aridity of the Atacama Desert, the winds of Tierra del Fuego. The explanation lies in:

• The breadth of latitudes that occupies the subcontinent. Most of the subcontinent is located within the tropical zones, the Earth's Ecuador passes through the northern part, the Tropic of Capricorn passes near its average latitude. Below this predominates the temperate climate in Uruguay, the center of Argentina, the south of Brazil and the south of Chile, and the Mediterranean climate in the center of Chile. Finally in Patagonia there are cold climates (humid in the mountain range and the western zone, and dry in the eastern zone). The south end penetrates into the sub-antartic zone.
• The temperature difference between the adjacent oceans. Generally the Atlantic side is warmer and the peaceful is colder by the presence of the Humboldt current from the Antarctic.
• The presence of the Andes, which presents great thermal differences according to altitude (has eternal ice even in the equatorial zone), and acts as a climate biombo.

In the western region, between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, are the most humid areas on the planet: El Chocó (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama), also the driest on the globe, in the Atacama Desert (Chile), which in some areas has not had rainfall records for more than 100 years.

Hydrography

26% of the Earth's fresh water is found in South America, where the basins of the Amazon (the largest on the planet), Orinoco and Paraná rivers stand out for their enormous extension. Due to the presence parallel to the Pacific Ocean of the Andes Mountains, the rivers with the largest channel and basin are those that discharge their waters into the Atlantic Ocean.

Due to its geological structure, it has two main types of rivers:

• Those that flow into the Atlantic Ocean, which are long, flowing and torrential.
• Those leading to the Pacific Ocean. which are short and torrential, because in their journey from the Andes mountain range to the ocean they must save a great unevenness.

Interesting is the similarity between the rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean and those that flow into the Caribbean Sea, due to their flows and torrents.

The Guaraní aquifer also stands out as the largest in the world, capable of supplying the world population for 200 years. This is shared by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In the Patagonian Andes are the northern Patagonian ice field and the southern Patagonian ice field; the latter is the third largest glacier extension in the world after Antarctica and Greenland.

Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the largest on the subcontinent at 13,000 km².

Vegetation

Plants grow profusely in the fertile soil. South America is home to the thorny Araucanian pine, the rubber tree, and the potato. Many other common houseplants are of South American origin.

South America encompasses a wide variety of biogeographical regions, the largest expanse of jungles and rainforests in the world, due to the fact that two-thirds of its surface area lies between the tropics. It reaches its maximum width near the equator, where the Amazon Forest or Amazonia reigns in the territories of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana.

Mangroves grow in coastal swamps in low-latitude regions. In the plains of the Amazon, located in the vicinity of the Equator, the intense heat and copious rains give rise to the jungle, or tropical humid forest. The Amazon jungles are the largest in the world.

The savannahs occur in Mato Grosso, the Llanos of Colombia and Venezuela. The almost absolute desert, the driest in the world, occurs in the Atacama, on the Pacific coast between 21 and 27 degrees of latitude.

On the Andes mountain range, the vegetation varies according to altitude and latitude, with páramo vegetation predominating over 3000 m s. no. m. (meters above sea level) at low latitudes, such as in the highlands. From parallel 35 approx. the western slope is covered with temperate forests. South of the 38th parallel, both slopes present dense temperate and sub-Antarctic forests.

The temperate zone includes the pampas, where grasses predominate; scrub and sclerophyllous forest in north-central Chile, from south-central Chile temperate forests predominate.

Wildlife

South America has the most varied fauna and flora in the world. In the Amazon basin alone, there are more than 44,000 different kinds of plants, 2,500 kinds of river fish, and 1,500 species of birds. In the tropical jungle there are large bird-eating spiders and mammals such as armadillos, jaguars and sloths.

In the rivers there are manatees, freshwater dolphins, giant catfish and eels. Many of the thousands of existing forest insects remain to be identified and studied. The Andes are home to the alpaca and vicuña, distant relatives of the camel. Its wool is highly prized, as is that of the mountain chinchilla, an animal similar to a rabbit. The rhea lives in the prairies of the pampas. In the colder regions of the far south there are penguins and seals. Off the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands boast spectacular life forms such as the famous giant tortoise. In other regions there are unique animals, such as the blue gorgon lizard, a reptile with a blue coloration, the golden poisonous frog, the most poisonous vertebrate, and the pudu, a small deer, among others.

Currently many habitats and species are threatened in South America. As tropical forests are cleared to create mines, roads and farmland, the natural habitats of many animals disappear, making their survival impossible. Priceless plants are being lost, as scientists have only just begun to discover the medicinal substances they contain.

Political Geography

Countries	Surface at km2	Population	IDH		Head of Government
Brazil	8 515 767	208 (24)	0.765		Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Argentina	2 780 400	44,5 (16)	0.845		Alberto Fernández
Peru	1 286 216	32.2 (25)	0.777		Dina Boluarte
Colombia	1 141 748	50 (44)	0.767		Gustavo Petro
Bolivia	1 098 581	11,2 (10)	0.718		Luis Arce
Venezuela	916 445	31.8 (35)	0.711		Nicolas Maduro (Exercises the executive branch) Juan Guaidó (Partially recognized)
Chile	756 102	17,8 (24)	0.851		Gabriel Boric
Paraguay	406 752	7.1 (17)	0.728		Mario Abdo Benítez
Ecuador	283 561	17.6 (59)	0.759		Guillermo Lasso
Guyana	214 970	0.8 (4)	0,682		Irfaan Ali
Uruguay	176 215	3.5 (20)	0.817		Luis Lacalle Pou
Suriname	163 820	0.5 (3)	0.738		Chan Santokhi
Trinidad and Tobago	5128	1.3 (269)	0.796		Paula-Mae Weekes
European Union Overseas and Overseas Region in South America
French Guiana	91 390	0.3	0.901		Emmanuel Macron
Bonaire	288	0.002	0.944		Mark Rutte
Autonomous Territory in South America
Aruba	180	0.1	0.944		Evelyn Wever-Croes
Curacao	444	0.2	0.944		Daniel Hodge
Units and other territories in South America
Falkland Islands	12 173	0.003	0.932		Nigel Phillips
Total	18 200 000
↑ There are certain disagreements on the claimed and actual surface of each state. ↑ Population = Number of inhabitants in millions (density, inhabitants/km2), according to estimates of 1 July 2002. ↑ It corresponds to the American continental area without including the Antarctic continental area (Antártida Argentina and the remaining islands of the South Atlantic Islands according to data from the National Geographic Institute of the Argentine Republic). ↑ the Venezuelan Government maintains a claim by the Escrow Territory on an area of 159,800 km2 (According to the Geneva Agreement (1966)). ↑ It corresponds to the American continental area without including the Chilean Antarctic Territory, which corresponds to 1 351 272 km2, which would raise the total surface to the 2 007 460 km2 (according to data from the Chilean Military Geographic Institute). ↑ French Department, European Union Overseas Region. ↑ President of France. ↑ European Union Overseas Region. ↑ Prime Minister of the Netherlands. ↑ Autonomous Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. ↑ Prime Minister of Aruba. ↑ Autonomous Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. ↑ Prime Minister of Curacao. ↑ In dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom. Today is a British Overseas Territory. ↑ Governor of the Falkland Islands/South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Commissioner

Economy

This section is an extract from South American Economics.[chuckles]edit]

Countries per GDP (PPA) per capita (Int$) in 2019 according to the IMF

50,000 35,000–50,000 20,000-35,000 10,000–20,000

5,000-10,000 2,000–5,000 ¥2,000 No data

South America

South America marks a marked diversity not only of the social, cultural and demographic aspect, but also of existing economic policies, and it is also a historically unstable region, because of the continued shift in focus on monetary policies in the countries of the region, which has generated constant internal and external conflicts with different outcomes in South America.

Despite this, in recent years several countries in South America have made significant progress, proof of this, are the figures that some countries achieve on topics such as GDP per capita PPA, Human Development Index, Competitiveness, Foreign Investment among others.

The largest economies in South America in terms of GDP PPA (acquisitive parity power) are headed by Brazil with nearly $348 billion, followed by Argentina with 922 billion and Colombia with 712 billion, while the most developed economies in terms of GDP per capita PPA, the leader is Chile with (24,600US$), followed by Uruguay with (22,400US$) and Argentina with (20,90 US$)

The World Bank listed the economies of Chile and Uruguay as high-income economies, the first time in Latin America's history where countries of the region share that status, the World Bank brings together countries based on GDP per Athlas Method of 2013.

Economic diversity

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  Exports from Argentina.

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  Exports from Brazil.

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  Exports of Bolivia.

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  Exports from Chile.

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  Exports from Colombia.

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  Exports of Trinidad and Tobago

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  Exports from Ecuador.

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  Exports from Peru.

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  Exports from Paraguay.

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  Exports of Uruguay.

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  Exports from Venezuela.

Currently, we can recognize 3 types of economic systems in South America, which although they may share similar and general aspects, their economies follow a predetermined line, in this we recognize the purely capitalist, open economies, which are based in the free market model, countries like Chile, Colombia, and to a lesser extent Peru, which have adopted the economic models of the United States, although with a lesser degree of mixed economy, without being clearly distinguishable.

On the other hand, there are countries that, although they maintain a structure of openness to the world, maintain models more oriented to the social market economy or mixed economies in different magnitudes, the case of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay that exercise control and regulations in order to regulate the free market, finally there are those countries that maintain semi-closed economies with a more radical spectrum than the previous ones, or with very little free market relationship, maintaining economic relations with countries exclusive to their blocks, countries like Venezuela that, despite supporting semi-closed economic models, maintain commercial relations with the powers of capitalism, the United States and Europe.

Main Industries

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  Embraer, an industrial company of Brazilian aeronautics.

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  Steel sheets manufactured by Techint (Argentina).

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  Oil refinery in Amuay (Venezuela).

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  Mining industry in Chuquicamata (Chile), the largest open mine in the world.

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  Agricultural soy industry in Paraguay.

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  Mall Portal La Dehesa, belonging to Cencosud (Chile), a transnational retail, trade and services company.

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  Coffee plantations in Bolívar, Colombia.

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  I'd win cattle in Uruguay.

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  Mercedes-Benz Factory in São Paulo. Brazil is among the top 10 vehicle producers in the world and Argentina among the top 30.

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  Portico de la instalaciones de footwear para hombres Democrata, en Franca. Brazil is the fourth largest shoe producer in the world.

EMS, the largest Brazilian pharmaceutical industry

Braskem, the largest Brazilian chemical industry

Neugebauer Chocolate Factory in Arroio do Meio. South America specializes in food processing

Siderúrgica CSN, Volta Redonda. Brazil is one of the top 10 steel producers in the world and Argentina, one of the top 30

Industrial complex Klabin, in Ortigueira. Brazil is the second cellulose producer and the eighth paper producer in the world

The World Bank annually lists the top manufacturing countries by total manufacturing value. According to the 2019 list, Brazil has the 13th most valuable industry in the world (USD 173.6 billion), Venezuela the 30th largest (USD 58.2 billion, however, depending on oil for this value), Argentina the 31st. largest (US$57.7 billion), Colombia the 46th largest (US$35.4 billion), Peru the 50th largest (US$28.7 billion) and Chile the 51st largest (US$ 28.3 billion). The general characteristics of the industrial and productive composition of the exporting economies of South America are the extraction of natural resources, mainly the mining and oil, manufacturing and agricultural industries.

The countries where the agricultural industry is the main item are Brazil (20%) being the world's largest producer of sugar cane, soybeans, oranges, coffee, guarana, açaí and Brazil nuts, Argentina (27%) being one of the 5 largest world producers of yerba mate, soybeans, corn, lemons, pears and sunflower seeds, and Paraguay (55%), while in Uruguay it is the cattle rancher with (19%) followed by agricultural with (16%); Regarding the oil industry, this is the main one in Venezuela with (63%) of its exports, Ecuador (46%), Colombia (40%) and Bolivia with its gas and oil exports with (37%), The countries where the mining industry is the main one are Chile (51%) being the world's largest producer of copper, lithium and iodine, and Peru (58%) being the second world producer of silver.

In terms of exports, as of 2019 the largest economies are Brazil with USD 217 billion, Chile with USD 69 billion, Argentina with USD 58 billion and Peru with USD 45 billion. In imports, the economies with the largest movements are Brazil with USD 153 billion, Argentina with USD 64 billion, Chile with USD 61 billion and Colombia with USD 44 billion in 2019.

Reviews

Brazil

Sugar cane plantation in São Paulo. In 2018, Brazil was the world's largest producer, with 746 million tons. South America produces half of the world's sugar cane.

Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugar cane, soybeans, coffee, oranges, guarana, açaí and Brazil nuts; It is one of the 5 largest producers of corn, papaya, tobacco, pineapple, banana, cotton, beans, coconut, watermelon, and lemon; and is one of the world's 10 largest producers of cocoa, cashew, avocado, persimmon, mango, guava, rice, sorghum, and tomato. In animal protein production, Brazil is the world's largest exporter of chicken meat. It is also the world's second-largest beef producer, the world's third-largest milk producer, the world's fourth-largest pork producer, and the world's seventh-largest egg producer.

Brazil is the world's second largest exporter of iron ore and one of the world's 5 largest producers of bauxite, manganese and tin, in addition to having 98% of the world's niobium reserves, in addition to having the largest production of ethanol.^{[citation needed]} Brazilian exports (201.9 million dollars) are among the twenty largest in the world. It is the world's largest coffee producer and the leading producer of military equipment, televisions, semiconductors, cell phones, computers, automobiles, and airplanes in South America.^{[citation needed]} Brazil is the second world exporter of processed foods; the 2nd largest pulp producer in the world and the 8th largest paper producer; the fourth largest producer of shoes; the eighth largest vehicle producer and ninth largest steel producer in the world; and has the eighth largest chemical industry in the world, as well as having the fifth largest textile industry in the world. In the aviation industry, Brazil has Embraer, the third largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, behind only Boeing. and Airbus. The Bovespa in São Paulo is the 12th largest stock exchange (in market values) in the world.

Economy

Argentina

Soybean planning in Mato Grosso. In 2020, Brazil was the world's largest producer, with 130 million tons. South America produces half the soy of the world.

Argentina is one of the countries with the largest livestock and agricultural industry, it is the 20th economy in the world. It is the world's leading producer of yerba mate, it is one of the 5 largest producers in the world of soybeans, corn, lemons, pears and sunflower seeds, one of the 10 largest producers in the world of grapes, barley, artichokes, tobacco and cotton, and one of the world's 15 largest producers of wheat, sugarcane, sorghum and grapefruit. It is also the third largest producer of honey in the world and the fourth largest producer of beef; the largest producer of wheat and wool in Latin America, among other crops. It is the largest producer of wine in Latin America with 6% of world production, fifth in the world, and the main producer of biodiesel globally. The production of natural gas and oil are also important although not main. The Aguilar Deposit, in the province of Jujuy, is the largest concentration of lead and zinc ores in South America, and the Bajo de la Alumbrera in the province of Catamarca, is one of the largest deposits for the extraction of gold and copper in Latin America, Argentina being the thirteenth largest gold producer in the world. It has the third largest gas reserves on the planet. Argentina is the most important software producer in the region and ranks second in South America in terms of manufacturing of auto parts, after Brazil, being also the 20th largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

The World Bank annually lists the top manufacturing countries by total manufacturing value. According to the 2019 list, Argentina would have the 31st most valuable industry in the world (US$57.7 billion). In the list of world tourist destinations, in 2018, Argentina was the 47th most visited country in the world, with 6.9 million international tourists (and revenues of U$5.5 billion).

Chili

Grape planting in Argentina. Argentina and Chile are among the 10 largest producers of grapes and wine in the world, and Brazil among the 20 largest.

Copper mine in Chile. South America produces half of the world's copper

Salmon cultivation in Chile. A third of all the salmon sold in the world comes from the country.

Chile is the country with the highest income in Latin America, with 27,059 GDP per capita PPP and 16,277 nominal GDP per capita. The World Bank included Chile and Uruguay in the category of high-income countries, being the only countries in Latin America to obtain this status. Chile, by 2022 is the fourth economy in South America, with a nominal GDP of US$352,664 million.

Chile is a member of the OECD, a group that only includes Canada, the United States and Mexico in the American continent. It also belongs to the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement and APEC.

In addition, Chile's economy leads and boasts notable indices in terms of competitiveness, Economic Freedom, Economic Growth Archived December 26, 2018 at the Wayback Machine., in addition to enjoying the highest external debt classification favor of the subcontinent, while in terms of foreign investment, Chile monopolizes almost 75% of the investments in the Southern Cone and 28% in all of Latin America with 30,323 million in 2012, while in terms of investment abroad by companies national, this accounts for almost 50% with 21,090 million in 2012 in Latin America, becoming one of the most dynamic and developed economies of the subcontinent.

Chile is the world's largest producer of copper, lithium and iodine, and has 38% of the world's copper reserves. The state company Codelco operates, among others, the Chuquicamata and El Teniente deposits, the mine at the largest open pit and underground copper mine in the world, respectively. In addition, Chile has 39% of the lithium reserves in South America, followed by Argentina with 32%, and Bolivia with 28%. In 2010, 42% of the world production of this mineral was concentrated in Chile and 17 %, in Argentina. In addition to exploiting its own domestic resources, Chile participates in numerous foreign mining projects, either as an investor or as an engineering and service provider, in countries such as Australia, Pakistan and Peru, among others. Since May 2010, Chile has become a integrate the OECD. Chile has the first highest human development index in Latin America, ahead of Argentina.

In addition to the mining industry, Chile is also the world's 9th largest producer of grapes, accounting for 21.7% of global shipments, and in 2012 it was among the leading exporters of fresh blueberries, dried plums and apples, salmon, trout and lithium carbonate. Chile is one of the world's 5 largest producers of sweet cherry and blueberry and one of the 10 largest world producers of grapes, apples, kiwi, peach, plum and European hazelnut, with its agriculture focused on the export of high-value fruits.

Columbia

Coffee in Minas Gerais. In 2018, Brazil was the world's largest producer, with 3.5 million tons. South America produces half of the world's coffee.

Colombia, by the year 2022, is the third largest South American economy, after Brazil and Argentina, and is among the top 42 in the world.

Due to having a young population, a dynamic economy and policies that safeguard the economy, Colombia was included in the CIVETS, a group of countries that are considered the "new BRICS". Apart from being a member of the CIVETS, Colombia is also part of the Pacific Alliance, the World Trade Organization and the Andean Community of Nations, and as of 2018 it became the third member of Latin America in the OECD, after being formally invited by this organization.

Colombia is one of the world's 5 largest producers of coffee, avocado and palm oil, and one of the world's 10 largest producers of sugar cane, bananas, pineapple and cocoa. In addition, it is the second largest producer of flowers. In the production of beef and chicken meat, Colombia is among the 20 largest producers in the world. In oil production, Colombia was the 22nd largest oil producer in the world in 2019, with 886 thousand barrels / day. In the production of natural gas, in 2018, Colombia produced 379 bcf (billions of cubic feet). The World Bank annually lists the main manufacturing countries by total manufacturing value. According to the 2019 list, Colombia would have the 46th most valuable industry in the world (US$35.4 billion). In the list of world tourist destinations, in 2018, Colombia was the 65th most visited country in the world, with 3.8 million international tourists (and income of U$5.5 billion).

Some prominent companies in Colombia are Grupo Nutresa, Quala, Alpina Productos Alimenticios, Harinera del Valle, Colombina, Ecopetrol, Postobón, Cementos Argos; Grupo Sura, Bancolombia, the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers, among others.

Peru

Peru is the fifth largest economy in South America and one of the economies with the highest growth in the Americas with 3.9% in 2018. The Peruvian economy has grown in recent years thanks to its economic openness, the treaties of free trade signed with European, Asian and American countries and the megaproject that is under negotiation Trans-Pacific Strategic Agreement for Economic Association. Peru is part of the Andean Community of Nations and the Pacific Alliance.

Peru ranked in 2011, in agribusiness, as the world's leading producer of fishmeal, second world producer of asparagus, fifth world producer of corn, fourth world producer of artichokes, sixth world producer of coffee; In mining as the third world producer of silver, copper and zinc, fourth world producer of lead, sixth world producer of gold, in addition to having large deposits of iron, tin, manganese; as well as oil and natural gas.

It is also the world's leading producer of alpaca wool, and the most important exporter of cotton textile garments in Latin America and due to its natural wealth it is an excellent place for the development of the polymer industry worldwide. The country is in a stage of economic growth and, in light of the agreements and treaties signed in free trade areas, it is expected to become one of the most attractive nations in South America to develop business.

In 2018, Peru was one of the 5 largest producers in the world of avocado, blueberry, artichoke and asparagus, one of the 10 largest producers in the world of coffee and cocoa, one of the 15 largest producers in the world of potato and pineapple, and also has a considerable production of grapes, sugar cane, rice, bananas, corn and cassava; its agriculture is considerably diversified. In the production of chicken meat, Peru is among the 20 largest producers in the world. In 2018, Peru was the second world producer of silver and copper and the sixth producer of gold (the 3 metals that generate more value), in addition to being the third world producer of zinc and tin and the fourth of lead. The World Bank annually lists the main manufacturing countries by total manufacturing value. According to the 2019 list, Peru would have the 50th most valuable industry in the world (US$28.7 billion). In the list of world tourist destinations, in 2018, Peru was the 60th most visited country in the world, with 4.4 million international tourists (and income of U$3.9 billion).

Peru is also the fourth country in South America with the highest reception of foreign direct investment, with 6,769 million dollars in 2017, surpassing countries such as Chile, Ecuador or Paraguay.

Venezuelan

Orange in São Paulo. In 2018, Brazil was the world's largest producer, with 17 million tons. South America produces 25% of the world's orange.

Venezuela, according to the International Monetary Fund, has lost its former South American economic power, in terms of Nominal GDP, and in the year 2022 it is the 91st economy worldwide. The country is a founding member of the OPEC has an economy based on the extraction and refining of oil, in addition to having the largest proven oil reserves in the world, which are believed to exceed 300 billion barrels. Venezuela's iron reserves are one of the largest. important in the world, with powerful companies like SIDOR. Venezuela is part of Mercosur.

In addition, Venezuela has enormous reserves of gold, diamonds and coltan in the so-called Orinoco Mining Arc, however they are not exploited ^{[citation required]}, it also has millions of hectares of fertile lands, most of which are not exploited ^{[citation needed]}.

The sanctions of the United States and the European Union have caused many countries not to negotiate with Venezuela. Poor economic policy has caused hyperinflation that has weakened its national currency, the bolivar.

Others

On the other hand, Venezuela and Ecuador are part of OPEC, thanks to their abundant oil reserves.^{[citation needed]}

Livestock

Truck of a meat company in Brazil. South America produces 20% of the world's beef and chicken.

Brazil is the world's largest exporter of chicken meat: 3.77 million tons in 2019. The country is the owner of the second largest cattle herd in the world, 22.2% of the world herd. The country was the second largest producer of beef in 2019, responsible for 15.4% of world production. It was also the third largest producer of milk in the world in 2018. This year, the country produced 35.1 billion liters. In 2019, Brazil was the 4th largest pork producer in the world, with almost 4 million tons.

In 2018, Argentina was the fourth largest beef producer in the world, with a production of 3 million tons (behind only the United States, Brazil and China). Uruguay is also a major meat producer. In 2018, it produced 589 thousand tons of beef.

In the production of chicken meat, Argentina is among the 15 largest producers in the world, and Peru and Colombia among the 20 largest. In beef production, Colombia is one of the 20 largest producers in the world. In honey production, Argentina is among the 5 largest producers in the world, and Brazil among the 15 largest. In terms of cow's milk production, Argentina is among the 20 largest producers in the world.

Mining

Iron mine in Minas Gerais. Brazil is the world's second exporter of iron ore.

Amethyst mine in Ametista do Sul. South America is an important producer of gems such as amethyst, topace, emerald, aquamarine and turmaline.

Mina de plata en Bolivia

Brazil is the world's second largest exporter of iron ore, has 98% of the world's known niobium reserves and is one of the world's 5 largest producers of bauxite, manganese and tin.

As for gemstones, Brazil is the world's largest producer of amethyst, topaz, agate, and one of the leading producers of tourmaline, emerald, aquamarine, garnet, and opal. There is also amethyst production in Uruguay and Bolivia. In emerald production, Colombia is the world's largest producer. Guyana is a sizeable diamond producer.

Chile was, in 2019, the world's largest producer of copper, iodine and rhenium, the second largest producer of lithium and molybdenum, the sixth largest producer of silver, the seventh largest producer of salt, the eighth largest producer of potash, the 13th largest sulfur producer and 13th largest iron ore producer in the world. In gold production, between 2006 and 2017, the country produced annual quantities between 35.9 tons in 2017 to 51.3 tons in 2013.

Peru was, in 2019, the second world producer of copper, silver and zinc, the eighth world producer of gold, the third world producer of lead, the fourth world producer of tin, the fifth largest producer of boron and the fourth largest molybdenum producer in the world.

Bolivia was, in 2019, the 8th world producer of silver; 4th world producer of boron; 5th world producer of antimony; 5th world producer of tin; 6th world producer of tungsten; 7th world producer of zinc, and 8th world producer of lead. In gold production, until 2012 the country produced an annual average of between 7 and 10 tons per year. Subsequently, mining increased, reaching a production peak in 2014 of 25 tons. In 2017 the country produced 24.8 tons.

Argentina was, in 2019, the fourth world producer of lithium, the ninth world producer of silver, the seventeenth world producer of gold and the seventh world producer of boron.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of emerald. In gold production, between 2006 and 2017, the country produced 15 tons per year until 2007, when its production increased significantly, breaking a record of 66.1 tons extracted in 2012. In 2017, it extracted 52.2 tons. The country is among the 25 largest gold producers in the world. In silver production, in 2017 the country extracted 15.5 tons.

Oil and Gas

In oil production, Brazil was the 10th largest oil producer in the world in 2019, with 2.8 million barrels/day. Venezuela was in twenty-first place, with 877 thousand barrels / day, Colombia in 22nd place with 886 thousand barrels / day, Ecuador in 28th with 531 thousand barrels / day and Argentina. 29 with 507 thousand barrels / day. Since Venezuela and Ecuador consume little oil and export most of their production, they are part of OPEC. Venezuela had a big drop in production after 2015 (where it produced 2.5 million barrels/day), falling in 2016 to 2.2 million, in 2017 to 2 million, in 2018 to 1.4 million, and in 2019 to 877 thousand, due to lack of investment.

In the production of natural gas, in 2018, Argentina produced 1524 bcf (billions of cubic feet), Venezuela 946, Brazil 877, Bolivia 617, Peru 451, Colombia 379.

Tourism

Copacabana Palace, the best hotel in South America, in Rio de Janeiro

In the list of world tourist destinations, in 2018, Argentina was the 47th most visited country, with 6.9 million international tourists (and revenues of US$5.5 billion); Brazil was the 48th most visited with 6.6 million tourists (and income of US$5.9 billion); Chile in 53rd place with 5.7 million tourists (and income of U$2.9 billion); Peru in 60th place with 4.4 million tourists (and income of U$3.9 billion); Colombia 65th with 3.8 million tourists (and income of U$5.5 billion); Uruguay 69th with 3.4 million tourists (and income of U$2.3 billion). Keep in mind that the number of tourists does not always reflect the amount of money the country gets from tourism. Some countries carry out higher level tourism, obtaining more benefits. Tourism in South America is still little evolved: in Europe, for example, countries obtain annual tourist values such as U$73.7 billion (Spain), receiving 82.7 million tourists, or U$67.3 thousand million (France) receiving 89.4 million tourists. While Europe received 710 million tourists in 2018, Asia 347 million and North America 142.2 million, South America received only 37 million, Central America 10.8 million and the Caribbean 25.7 million.

Transportation

Rodovia dos Bandeirantes, Brazil

Route 9 / 14, Zarate, Argentina

Rio-Niterói bridge

International Airport of Rio de Janeiro

Port of Itajaí, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Transportation in South America is basically carried out by road, the most developed in the region. There is also a considerable infrastructure of ports and airports. The rail and fluvial sector, although it has potential, is usually treated secondarily.

Brazil has more than 1.7 million km of highways, of which 215,000 km are paved, and some 14,000 km are divided highways. The two most important highways in the country are BR-101 and BR-116. Argentina has more than 600,000 km of highways, of which about 70,000 km are paved and about 2,500 km are divided highways. The three most important highways in the country are Ruta 9, Ruta 7 and Ruta 14. Colombia has about 210,000 km of highways and about 2,300 km are divided highways. Chile has about 82,000 km of highways, 20,000 of which are paved, and approximately 2,000 km are divided highways. The most important highway in the country is Route 5 (Pan-American Highway) These 4 countries are the ones with the best road infrastructure and the largest number of two-lane highways.

Due to the Andes Mountains, Amazon River and Amazon Rainforest, there have always been difficulties to implement transcontinental or bioceanic highways. Practically the only route that existed was the one that connected Brazil with Buenos Aires, in Argentina, and then with Santiago, in Chile. However, in recent years, with the joint effort of the countries, new routes have begun to emerge, such as Brazil-Peru (Interoceanic Highway), and a new highway between Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina and northern Chile (Corredor bioceanic).

There are more than 2,000 airports in Brazil. The country has the second largest number of airports in the world, behind only the United States. São Paulo International Airport, located in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, is the largest and busiest in the country - the airport connects São Paulo with virtually all major cities in the world. Brazil has 44 international airports, such as those in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Cuiabá, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Belém and Manaus, among others. Argentina has important international airports such as Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Bariloche, Mendoza, Salta, Puerto Iguazú, Neuquén and Ushuaia, among others. Chile has important international airports such as Santiago, Antofagasta, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas and Iquique, among others. Colombia has important international airports such as Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena, Cali and Barranquilla, among others. Peru has important international airports such as Lima, Cuzco and Arequipa. Other important airports are those of the capitals of Uruguay (Montevideo), Paraguay (Asunción), Bolivia (La Paz) and Ecuador (Quito). The 10 busiest airports in South America in 2017 were: São Paulo-Guarulhos (Brazil), Bogotá (Colombia), São Paulo-Congonhas (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Lima (Peru), Brasilia (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro. (Brazil), Buenos Aires-Aeroparque (Argentina), Buenos Aires-Ezeiza (Argentina) and Minas Gerais (Brazil).

About ports, Brazil has some of the busiest ports in South America, such as the Port of Santos, the Port of Rio de Janeiro, the Port of Paranaguá, the Port of Itajaí, the Port of Rio Grande and the Port of Suape. Argentina has ports such as the Port of Buenos Aires and the Port of Rosario. Chile has important ports in Valparaíso, Caldera, Mejillones, Antofagasta, Iquique, Arica and Puerto Montt. Colombia has important ports such as Buenaventura, Tumaco and Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta. Peru has important ports in Callao, Ilo and Matarani. The 15 busiest ports in South America are: Port of Santos (Brazil), Port of Bahía de Cartagena (Colombia), Callao (Peru), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Buenos Aires (Argentina), San Antonio (Chile), Buenaventura (Colombia), Itajaí (Brazil), Valparaíso (Chile), Montevideo (Uruguay), Paranaguá (Brazil), Rio Grande (Brazil), São Francisco do Sul (Brazil), Manaus (Brazil) and Coronel (Chile).

The Brazilian railway network has an extension of about 30,000 kilometers. It is basically used to transport minerals. The Argentine railway The network, with 47,000 km of tracks, was one of the largest in the world and is still the most extensive in Latin America. It once had about 100,000 km of rail, but the raising of tracks and the emphasis placed on motorized transport gradually reduced it. It has four different trails and international connections with Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay. Chile has almost 7,000 km of railways, with connections to Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. Colombia has only about 3,500 km of railways.

Among the main Brazilian waterways, two stand out: Paraná-Tieté Waterway (which has a length of 2,400 km, 1,600 on the Paraná River and 800 km on the Tietê River, draining agricultural production from the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and part of Rondônia, Tocantins and Minas Gerais) and Hidrovia do Solimões-Amazonas (it has two sections: Solimões, which extends from Tabatinga to Manaus, with approximately 1600 km, and Amazonas, which extends from Manaus to Belém, with 1650 km Almost all passenger transport from the Amazon plain is carried out by this waterway, in addition to practically all cargo transport that goes to the main regional centers of Belém and Manaus). In Brazil, this transport is still underused: the most important sections of waterways, from an economic point of view, are located in the southeast and south of the country. Its full use still depends on the construction of locks, large dredging works and mainly ports that allow intermodal integration. In Argentina, the waterway network is made up of the La Plata, Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay rivers. The main river ports are Zárate and Campana. The port of Buenos Aires is historically the first in individual importance, but the area known as Up-River, which extends along 67 km of the Santa Fe portion of the Paraná river, brings together 17 ports that concentrate 50% of the total country exports.

Energy

Oil

Some South American countries are among the largest oil producers, Brazil is the tenth largest producer in the world, Venezuela the sixteenth and Colombia the twenty-second. The following table shows the countries with production greater than 100,000 barrels per day.

	Country	Oil production 2020 (bbl/day)
01	Brazil	2 587 000
02	Venezuela	1 484 000
03	Colombia	863 000
04	Ecuador	517 000
05	Argentina	489 000
06	Trinidad and Tobago	60 290

Electrical production

Among the 50 largest global electricity producers are some South American countries, with Brazil being the eighth producer, Argentina the thirtieth, Chile thirty-eighth, Venezuela thirty-ninth and Colombia the fortyth largest. In the region, the largest producers are summarized in the following table.

	Country	Electricity production 2020 (millions kWh)
01	Brazil	568 000
02	Argentina	132 000
03	Venezuela	109 000
04	Chile	76 000
05	Colombia	75 000
06	Paraguay	63 000
07	Peru	50 000
08	Ecuador	27 000
09	Uruguay	13 000
10	Bolivia	9 000

Brazil

Itaipu dam in Paraná.

Wind energy in Parnaíba.

Almirante Alvaro Alberto nuclear power station in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro

Pirapora solar complex, the largest in Brazil and Latin America with 321 MW.

The Brazilian government has embarked on an ambitious program to reduce dependence on imported oil. Imports previously accounted for more than 70% of the country's oil needs, but Brazil became self-sufficient in oil in 2006–2007. Brazil was the tenth largest oil producer in the world in 2019, with 2.8 million barrels/day. Production manages to supply the country's demand. At the beginning of 2020, in the production of oil and natural gas, the country exceeded 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day for the first time. In January of this year, 3,168 million barrels of oil per day and 138,753 million cubic meters of natural gas were extracted.

Hydroelectricity

Brazil is the world's second largest producer of hydroelectric power. In 2019, Brazil had 217 hydroelectric plants in operation, with an installed capacity of 98,581 MW, 60.16% of the country's energy generation. In total electricity generation, in 2019 Brazil reached 170,000 MW of installed capacity, more than 75% from renewable sources (mostly hydroelectric). At the end of 2021, Brazil was the second country in the world in terms of power installed hydroelectric (109.4 GW).

In 2013, the Southeast Region used around 50% of the load of the National Integrated System (SIN), being the main energy consuming region of the country. The region's installed electricity generation capacity totaled almost 42,500 MW, which represented about a third of Brazil's generation capacity. Hydroelectric generation represented 58% of the region's installed capacity, with the remaining 42% basically corresponding to thermoelectric generation. São Paulo represented 40% of this capacity; Minas Gerais in approximately 25%; Rio de Janeiro at 13.3%; and Espírito Santo accounted for the rest. The Southern Region owns the Itaipu Dam, which was the largest hydroelectric power station in the world for several years, until the inauguration of the Three Gorges Dam in China. It remains the second largest operating hydroelectric power plant in the world. Brazil is co-owner of the Itaipu Plant with Paraguay: the dam is located on the Paraná River, located on the border between countries. It has an installed generation capacity of 14 GW for 20 generating units of 700 MW each. The Northern Region has large hydroelectric plants, such as the Belo Monte Dam and the Tucuruí Dam, which produce much of the national energy. Brazil's hydroelectric potential has not yet been fully exploited, so the country still has the capacity to build several renewable energy plants on its territory.

Wind power

In 2020 Brazil was the eighth country in the world in terms of installed wind power (17.2 GW). In 2019, the country was estimated to have an estimated wind power generation potential of around 522 GW (this, onshore alone), enough power to meet three times the country's current demand. As of July 2022, according to ONS, the total installed capacity was 22 GW, with an average capacity factor of 58%. Although the world average wind production capacity factor is 24.7%, there are areas where northern Brazil, especially in the state of Bahia, where some wind farms register an average capacity factor of more than 60%; the average capacity factor in the Northeast Region is 45% on the coast and 49% in the interior. In 2019, wind energy represented 9% of the energy generated in the country.

Nuclear power

In 2020 Brazil was the twenty-second country in the world in terms of installed nuclear power (1.89 GW), nuclear energy represents about 4% of Brazil's electricity. The nuclear power generation monopoly is owned by Eletronuclear (Eletrobrás Eletronuclear S/A), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eletrobrás. Nuclear power is produced by two reactors in Angra. It is located at the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Nuclear Power Plant (CNAAA) at Praia de Itaorna in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro. It consists of two pressurized water reactors, Angra I, with a capacity of 657 MW, connected to the electricity grid in 1982, and Angra II, with a capacity of 1,350 MW, connected in 2000. A third reactor, Angra III, with a is expected to be 1,350 MW, it should be finished.

Solar energy

In 2020, Brazil was the fourteenth country in the world in terms of installed solar energy (7.8 GW). As of August 2022, according to ONS, the total installed capacity of photovoltaic solar energy was 17 GW, with a average capacity factor of 23%. Some of the most irradiated Brazilian states are MG (Minas Gerais), BA (Bahía) and GO (Goiás), which actually hold world records for irradiation. In 2019, solar energy represented 1.27% of the energy generated in the country.

Biomass

In 2020, Brazil was the second largest country in the world in biomass energy production (energy production from solid biofuels and renewable waste), with 15.2 GW installed.

Foreign investment

The largest economies receiving investment in the period between 2015 and 2020 were Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Peru.

Foreign direct investment received (millions of USD)

Countries	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020 1
Argentina	10 884	1 474	10 361	991	5 124	2 725
BoliviaBolivia	556	246	633	387	-265	-996
BrazilBrazil	61 604	59 601	47 545	76 138	46 355	48 129
ChileChile	4 948	5 334	993	6 450	3 247	-3 197
ColombiaColombia	7 506	9 330	10 147	6 409	11 160	6 355
EcuadorEcuador	1 331	756	625	1 388	974	1 190
Paraguay Paraguay	308	425	576	458	522	568
Peru Peru	8 125	583	6 360	6 831	7 115	478
Uruguay Uruguay	775	-1 828	-2 079	- 500.	1 248	2 685
Venezuela Venezuela	370	27	-2 302	225	...	...

¹ preliminary figures

The following table contemplates the total accumulated inventory of FDI by recipient countries.

FDI INTRADE Stock

N.o	Country	FDI stock	Date
1	BrazilBrazil	615 000 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
2	ChileChile	176 800 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
3	ColombiaColombia	149 700 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
4	Argentina	94 190 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
5	Peru Peru	86 110 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
6	Venezuela Venezuela	32 180 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
7	Uruguay Uruguay	21 650 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
8	EcuadorEcuador	15 630 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
9	BoliviaBolivia	10 560 000	31 December 2013
10	Paraguay Paraguay	6 410 000	December 31, 2015 - est.

Investment by South American companies

In terms of direct investment from the South American economies abroad, it grew by 17% in 2012. FDI flows from the region have remained at high levels for the last three years. These investments came mainly from Brazil and Chile, although in 2012 they were concentrated almost exclusively in Chile.

Trans-Latin American companies have benefited over the past three years from a good level of economic growth and investor confidence in the region, which has favored their access to credit. In 2012, in a context of global FDI contraction, trans-Latin American companies expanded, in some cases, based on business opportunities generated by the withdrawal of European firms. Indeed, seven of the ten largest acquisitions made by trans-Latin Americans in 2012 corresponded to the purchase of assets from European companies.

Chilean companies invested 21.09 billion dollars abroad in 2012, which represented a new record, and concentrated their expansion in South America, mainly in retail trade, the forestry industry and transportation. For their part, Brazilian companies continued their expansion abroad and made 7 of the 20 largest acquisitions made by trans-Latin Americans in 2012. Beyond the annual FDI flows.

Companies from Venezuela and Argentina also originated FDI, although to a lesser extent, while the amounts from the rest of the economies in the region were modest.

In fact, most of the small economies such as Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador plus the Caribbean countries, do not report FDI data abroad or do so imperfectly.

Although there is anecdotal evidence of foreign investment by companies from other countries such as Guatemala (in the sugarcane sector) or Trinidad and Tobago (financial services), the official amounts are still very incomplete. A special case is that of Panama, a country where some foreign companies establish their base for operations in Central America and other countries in the region, and which, therefore, receives and sends FDI flows in transit. Panama does not present official data on FDI abroad, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the amount for the last two years amounts to 400 million dollars.

Foreign direct investment abroad (millions of USD)

Countries	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Argentina	1504	1391	712	965	1488	1089
BoliviaBolivia	3	4	5	−3	−29	0.30
BrazilBrazil	7067	20 457	−10 084	11 588	−1029	−2821
ChileChile	4852	9151	7233	9461	20 373	21 090
ColombiaColombia	913	2486	3348	6842	8280	−248
EcuadorEcuador	-	-	-	-	-	-
Paraguay Paraguay	7	7	8	8	7	7
Peru Peru	66	736	411	266	113	−57
Uruguay Uruguay	89	−11	16	−60	−7	2
Venezuela Venezuela	33	1150	1838	2671	−1141	2460

The following table contemplates the total accumulated inventory of FDI by issuing countries.

FDI stock by issuing country

N.o	Country	FDI stock	Date
1	BrazilBrazil	288 500 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
2	ChileChile	72 810 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
3	ColombiaColombia	47 300 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
4	Argentina	37 030 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
5	Venezuela Venezuela	30 040 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
6	EcuadorEcuador	6 330 000	December 31, 2012 - est.
7	Peru Peru	2 815 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
8	Paraguay Paraguay	259 000	December 31, 2015 - est.
9	Uruguay Uruguay	153 500 000	December 31, 2015 - est.

Major Acquisitions of Latino Multinationals

The main acquisitions of Latino companies abroad 2012

N.o	Companies	Country buyer	Assets purchased	Country of sale	Sector	Amount
1	LATAM	and	Fusion of both companies	Chile and Brazil	Transport	6502
2	Camargo Correa		Cim per cent (40 per cent)	Portugal	Cemento	4097
3	Techint		Usimines (15 %)	Brazil	Steel	2823
4	Cencosud		Carrefour Colombia	France	Trade	2614
5	Safra Group		Bank Sarasin & Cie	Netherlands	Finance	2087
6	Iochpe-Maxion		Hayes Lemmerz International	United States	Automotive	1317
7	Corpbanca		Banco Santander	Spain	Finance	1225
8	Banco Davivienda		HSBC assets in Central America	United Kingdom	Finance	801
9	Heaven SA		Merchant e-Solutions	United States	Finance	670
10	CSN		Stahlwerk Thüringen	Spain	Siderurgia	632
11	BTG Pactual		Celfin Capital	Chile	Finance	600
12	Techint		Industrial confab (56 %)	Brazil	Siderurgia	567
13	CFR		Lafrancol	Colombia	Pharmacy	562
14	Cencosud		Prezunic	Brazil	Trade	495
15	Cencosud		Jumbo Retail Argentina (39 %)	Argentina	Trade	484
16	Tupy SA		Cifunsa Diesel and Technocast	Mexico	Siderurgia	439
17	Molymet		Molycorp Inc. (15 %)	United States	Mining	390

Economic integration

• 

  Member Countries of Mercosur.

• 

  Bank of the South.

• 

  Pacific Alliance member countries.

• 

  Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.

The largest trade agreement or bloc in the region is UNASUR, made up of Mercosur and CAN. Economic integration is attempted at the continental level through Aladi and SELA. Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela also have their own bloc, called in this case the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean. In South America there is Mercosur, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Andean Community of Nations, formed by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The Pacific Alliance formed by Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico that first seeks economic integration that will seek to conquer the Asian market.

Outside the continental scope, Argentina and Brazil are the only South American countries that are part of the Group of 20 (industrialized and emerging countries), the group of the 20 most powerful and influential countries in the world. On the other hand, Chile and Peru are part of an international economic alliance, APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum). Finally, Colombia and Chile are the only countries that are part of the OECD.

Economic indicators

GDP (nominal, 2020)	GDP (PPA, 2019)	GDP per capita (nominal, 2019)	GDP per capita (PPA, 2019)
Rank Country MM USD 1 Brazil 1 738 918 2 Argentina 425 921 3 Colombia 280 969 4 Chile 252 178 5 Peru 206 567	Rank Country MM USD 1 BrazilBrazil 388 962 2 Argentina 959, 528 3 ColombiaColombia 750 276 4 ChileChile 507 963 5 Peru Peru 480 148	Rank Country USD 1 Uruguay Uruguay 18 775 2 ChileChile 17 445 3 Argentina 14 044 4 BrazilBrazil 10 224 5 Peru Peru 7199	Rank Country USD 1 Chile 27 059 2 Uruguay 24 571 3 Argentina 20 529 4 Brazil 16 899 5 ColombiaColombia 15 955

Countries for exports (2016)	Countries for imports (2016)	Credit rating (2017)
Rank Country MM USD 1 BrazilBrazil 189 700 2 ChileChile 56 487 3 Argentina 52 320 4 Peru Peru 38 090 5 ColombiaColombia 33 640	Rank Country MM USD 1 BrazilBrazil 143 900 2 ChileChile 57 230 3 Argentina 56 860 4 ColombiaColombia 47 150 5 Peru Peru 38 350	Rank Country Debt (MM €) Calif. 1 ChileChile 37 973 Aa3; AA-; A+ 2 Peru Peru 41 509 A3; BBB+; BBB+ 3 ColombiaColombia 133 115 Baa2; BBB; BBB 4 Uruguay Uruguay 26 448 Baa2; BBB; BBB- 5 Paraguay Paraguay 6042 Ba1; BB; BB

Other indicators

Human development2020)	IDH adjusted for inequality (2019)	Conglomerates of countries
Rank Country IDH 1 Chile 0.851 (MA) 2 Argentina 0.845 (MA) 3 Uruguay 0.817 (MA) 4 Peru Peru 0.777 (A) 5 ColombiaColombia 0.767 (A)	Rank Country IDHD 1 Argentina 0.759 2 Uruguay Uruguay 0.7712 3 ChileChile 0.709 4 Peru Peru 0.628 5 EcuadorEcuador 0.616	G-20 Argentina Brazil BRICS Brazil OECD Chile Colombia OPEC Venezuela Ecuador CIVETS Colombia APEC Chile Peru AP Chile Colombia Peru Mercosur Argentina BrazilBrazil Paraguay Paraguay Uruguay Uruguay Venezuela Venezuela (sighs)

Competitive index (2016-17)	Equal income (2020)	Literacy	Tourism (International investigations, 2015)
Rank Country General score 1 Chile 4.6 2 Colombia 4.3 3 Peru 4.2 4 Uruguay 4.2 5 Brazil 4,1	Rank Country Coef. Gini 1 Uruguay 39.7 2 Peru 41.5 3 Bolivia 41.6 2 Argentina 42.3 5 Chile 44.4	Rank Country Percentage 1 Chile 98.7 2 Uruguay 98.4 3 Argentina 98.1 4 Bolivia 95.7 5 Suriname 95.6	Rank Country MM tourists 1 Argentina 6.9 2 Brazil 6.6 3 Chile 5.7 4 Peru 4.6 5 Colombia 3.6

Currency

Country	Current currency	ISO Code
Argentina	Argentine peso	ARS
Bolivia	Bolivian	BOB
Brazil	Brazilian Real	BRL
Chile	Chilean peso	CLP
Colombia	Colombian peso	COP
Ecuador	American dollar	USD
French Guiana	Euro	EUR
Guyana	Guyanese dollar	GYD
Paraguay	Guaraní paraguayo	PYG
Peru	Sun	PEN
Suriname	Dólar surinamés	SRD
Trinidad and Tobago	Dollar trinitense	TTD
Uruguay	Uruguayan peso	UYU
Venezuela	Bolívar	VES

Science and technology

• 

  University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

• 

  University of São Paulo, Brazil.

• 

  Central University of Venezuela.

• 

  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

• 

  VLS-1 at the Alcântara Launch Center, Brazil.

• 

  Sirius LNLS particle accelerator in Campinas, Brazil.

• 

  Paranal Observatory, at the Paranal Mount, Chile, where the Very Large Telescope is located.

• 

  Launch of Delta II, with the SAC-D/Aquarius, an Argentine climate observation and oceanographic satellite.

• 

  The launch of ATV Albert Einstein, at the Guayanés Space Center of Kourou in French Guiana.

• 

  FASat-Charlie, Chilean satellite.

• 

  Embraer C-390 Millennium, the largest aircraft developed and manufactured on the continent.

• 

  Atucha I, in Argentina, was the first nuclear power plant built in Latin America.

South America has won four Nobel Prizes in scientific areas; the Argentines César Milstein, Luis Federico Leloir and Bernardo Houssay (the first Latin American to be awarded a Nobel Prize), and the Venezuelan-American Baruj Benacerraf. In addition, prominent researchers have been produced such as the physicist Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo, who predicted the existence of atomic particles 80 years before their discovery; biochemist Pablo Valenzuela, who led efforts to discover the hepatitis C virus and create the first hepatitis B vaccine; Anthony Atala, creator of the first human organ created in a laboratory; Ricardo Baeza-Yates, prominent creator of computational algorithms; Andreas Pavel, inventor of the walkman; Pedro Paulet, creator of the first functional rocket in history, before those manufactured in Germany and the United States; Alberto Santos Dumont, self-taught engineer and aviator, considered by some to be the first airplane pilot in history; César Lattes, co-discoverer of the π meson (pi or pion meson), together with the Nobel Prize in Physics Cecil Frank Powell, leader of the research; Ladislao Biro, inventor of the pen, or the physicist F.J. Duarte, world pioneer in laser research, among others.

Argentina is one of the most advanced countries in space and satellite programs because it is capable of producing its own satellite. It has a satellite program, nuclear power plants, and its own public nuclear energy company, INVAP, a prestigious Argentine high-tech company dedicated to the design, integration, and construction of plants, equipment, and devices in highly complex areas such as nuclear energy., space technology, industrial technology and medical and scientific equipment. It is the only company in Latin America recognized by NASA as suitable for carrying out complete satellite systems, from its design and construction to its operation. It supplies several countries with nuclear reactors.

The Balseiro Institute, located in Bariloche, is one of the best scientific institutions in the world.

Likewise, the history of putting satellites into orbit in South America begins with the launches of the Brazilian BrasilSat in 1985 and the Argentine Lusat 1 in 1990. Since then, several South American countries have followed suit. Argentina currently has 11 satellites, Brazil with 13, Chile and Venezuela with 2, and Colombia and Bolivia with 1.

In 2002, Argentina successfully cloned the first bovine, making it the first Latin American country and one of the only nine countries in the world to have completed this task. On April 6, 2012, the unprecedented cloning of Rosita ISA, the first bovine born in the world to which two human genes were incorporated, and which will result in a milk with human lactoferrin and lysozyme (a protein and an enzyme) with antibacterial and antiviral properties ideal for the immune system of babies. Argentina is also among the only four countries worldwide (along with the United States, Italy and Canada) to achieve the cloning of horses of high competitive value. In the '60s and '70s Argentina carried out experiences sending different animals in suborbital flights aboard rockets of its own making, which made this country the fourth nation to have sent animals into space, and one of the only six in the ac today in having done so, along with the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Japan, and China.

In 1995, Unesco chose Argentina as the headquarters to install the Pierre Auger Observatory in Malargüe, Mendoza province, which began operating in 2005. It is a joint project of more than 20 countries in which some 250 scientists from more than 30 institutions, with the purpose of detecting subatomic particles that come from outer space called cosmic rays. Brazil and Argentina will jointly build the LLAMA radio telescope with a 12-meter antenna that will be installed at an altitude of 4,825 meters on the Salta province, in the Argentine Andes. The positioning of LLAMA, 150 kilometers from ALMA, will allow it to also operate as one more antenna for the European observatory located in Chile.

In the field of atomic energy, only Argentina and Brazil have been on the verge of manufacturing nuclear weapons. If the prototype of a plutonium implosion-type nuclear bomb was materialized in the 1970s by Argentina, an arms race would have been unleashed with Brazil, countries that have historically disputed the leadership of the region. Finally, in 1991 the parliaments Argentina and Brazil ratified a bilateral inspection agreement that created the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) to supervise that the nuclear energy of both nations is produced for peaceful purposes. Subsequently, Argentina ratified the Treaty of Nuclear Non-Proliferation in 1995 and Brazil in 1998.

On the other hand, Argentina and Brazil are the only South American nations equipped with nuclear power plants to meet the great energy demand of their industries: the Argentine Atucha I (the first built in all of Latin America), Atucha II and Embalse and the Brazilian Angra I and Angra II.

In the nuclear area, Brazil also has other reactors for the production of radiopharmaceuticals and research, in addition to mastering the complete uranium enrichment cycle, which supplies the nuclear fuel to its nuclear power plant and has already exported to Argentina, for use in its nuclear reactors. The country is building its first nuclear submarine, the SN10 Álvaro Alberto, a development of the Riachuelo-class submarines in the production race.

Brazil also carries out experiments in the area of nuclear fusion, with three tokamaks (experimental reactors for the study of plasma fusion) and the INPE (National Institute for Space Research) operates the ETE (Tokamak Spherical Experiment) designed and built in the country.

Brazilian space activities are in charge of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), a series of space vehicles are produced in Brazil from the already retired Sonda, succeeded by the VS series of suborbital rockets capable of flights at maximum altitudes of 950 km and payload up to half a ton. Brazilian rockets have dozens of flights from the Alcântara Launch Center (CLA) and are also exported for use by other space agencies such as the German DLR. They also designed and built a series of observation satellites and other scientific purposes such as SCDs., Amazônia-1 and CBERS and has put into flight its first Scramjet engine of the 14-X hypersonic vehicle launched from the CLA.

The National Synchrotron Light Laboratories (LNLS) in the city of Campinas has two particle accelerators, the UVX and the Sírius, this one with a magnetic ring of 518 meters and 3 GeV of power, it is unique equipment in throughout Latin America and rare throughout the world. The LNLS is a facility with advanced technology in Brazil open to be used by researchers from any university or company in the country and the world.

The country is the only one in Latin America to have supercomputers in the Top500, world ranking of the most powerful computers, the most powerful is the Pegaso inaugurated in 2022 by the Petrobras company, which has a capacity of processing capacity of 21 Petaflops, 678 Terabytes of RAM and a 400 Gbps network, the equipment almost doubles the capacity of current supercomputers Dragon (14 Petaflops) and Atlas (8, 9 Petaflops) combined.

Brazil has a tradition in civil engineering with important works such as the Itaipu Dam, Brasília, the Rio-Niterói bridge and the Rodovia dos Imigrantes, a highway that connects the São Paulo plateau with its coast. In the area of biotechnology and agronomic engineering, it has benchmark companies in tropical soils such as Embrapa, which allowed the expansion of agriculture in relatively infertile soils in the interior of the country, allowing the country to become one of the largest food exporters in the world.

Science in Brazil in the period 2011 to 2016, published more than 250,000 articles in the Web of Science database in all areas of knowledge, with one of the highest growth in scientific production among all nations and reached ranked 11th among the world's knowledge producers, contributing 2.12% of the articles from 183 countries.

Peru has the Huarangal Nuclear Center, the most important utility of the nuclear center is found in the radioisotope production plant that is used to perform scintigraphies, which facilitate medical diagnoses, as well as greater precision in the study of the tissues of the human body.

In addition, the nuclear center has laboratories for profiling oil wells, interconnecting aquifers, studying reservoir leaks, and detecting welding failures. In agriculture, to optimize the use of fertilizers, among other applications.

Tecnópolis is the largest Argentine mega-exhibition of science, technology, industry and art in Latin America. The activities range from meeting with the Tronador Project and the Pulqui I (first jet aircraft designed in Latin America and sixth in the world), simulations of the Big Bang, the Large Hadron Collider and the frozen environment of Antarctica, a journey through the history of communication technology, and various topics such as ultra-resistant materials, microchips and nanotechnology.

In French Guiana, the Kourou Spaceport (Centre Spatial Guyanais or CSG) has operated since 1968. It is a French owned launch site that is used by the French Center National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the European Space Agency (ESA). From here the Ariane missions are launched and work is underway for the base to also launch Soyuz rockets as part of an agreement between Russia and ESA.

In the Atacama desert, in the Norte Grande of Chile, there are more than a dozen observatories —such as the Paranal (VLT), the most advanced and powerful astronomical complex on the planet, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), to to date the largest astronomical project in the world, and La Silla, belonging to the European Southern Observatory (ESO); Las Campanas, from the Carnegie Institution of Washington in association with Harvard University and MIT, and Cerro Tololo and Gemini Sur, belonging to the AURA/NOAO consortium (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy/National Optical Astronomy Observatories), among others. Chile has 40% of the world's astronomical observation; the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and the expansion of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, which will make the country have approximately 60% of the world total.

The Jicamarca Radio Observatory (ROJ) is located in the city of Lima. It is an equatorial station of the chain of Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) radio observatories in the Western Hemisphere that extends from Lima, Peru to Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland. The ROJ is the first scientific facility in the world for the study of the equatorial ionosphere. The Observatory is located a half hour drive east of Lima. Its magnetic tilt angle is approximately 1º, but varies slightly with altitude and season.

Radar can determine the direction of the Earth's magnetic field (B) with great precision and can be pointed perpendicular to B at altitudes along the ionosphere. The study of the equatorial ionosphere has achieved great development due, in large part, to the contributions made by the JRO in radio science.

In Venezuela, the Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory is located on the grounds of the town of Apartaderos in the state of Mérida at 3600 m s. no. m. making it one of the highest-altitude observatories in the world, it is managed by the CIDA Astronomy Research Center; Numerous asteroids have been discovered and recorded from this observatory. In addition, this country has the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities ABAE, an entity in charge of policies and developments in aerospace matters, whose activities include the control of the VENESAT-1 Simón Bolívar Satellite, Miranda Satellite (VRSS-1) and Sucre Satellite (VRSS-2). The Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research IVIC, is another important technological development center on which the Company "Quimbiotec" depends, where a Blood Derivatives Production Plant operates, the only one of its kind in the country that produces and markets derivatives of high quality blood, as well as recombinant medicines, antivenom and antiscorpion sera. Its chemical and biological products include human albumin, intravenous immunoglobulin, anti-D immunoglobulin, and human factor VIII.

South America has been rapidly integrating into world trends in Information Technology and Internet access in different areas. Brazil leads software production in the region, while Argentina is the main software exporter.

Demographics

Capitals and most populated metropolitan areas by country

N.o	Capital	Country	Population	N.o	Metropolitan Area	Country	Population
1	Lima	Peru Peru	9 674 755	1	São Paulo	BrazilBrazil	21 937 987
2	Bogotá	ColombiaColombia	7 363 782	2	Buenos Aires	Argentina	15 042 367
3	Santiago	ChileChile	6 257 516	3	Lima	Peru Peru	10 161 038
4	Buenos Aires	Argentina	3 063 728	4	Bogotá	ColombiaColombia	11 793 193
5	Brasilia	BrazilBrazil	2 977 216	5	Santiago	ChileChile	7 123 189
6	Caracas	Venezuela Venezuela	1 943 901	6	Caracas	Venezuela Venezuela	5 629 754
7	Quito	EcuadorEcuador	1 619 432	7	Guayaquil	EcuadorEcuador	3 154 445
8	Montevideo	Uruguay Uruguay	1 319 108	8	Assumption	Paraguay Paraguay	2 969 059
9	Sucre	BoliviaBolivia	789 541	9	La Paz	BoliviaBolivia	2 281 251
10	Assumption	Paraguay Paraguay	521 559	10	Montevideo	Uruguay Uruguay	2 223 865
11	Port of Spain	Trinidad and Tobago	375 412	11	Port of Spain	Trinidad and Tobago	600 000
12	Paramaribo	Suriname	223 757	12	Paramaribo	Suriname	400 000
13	Georgetown	Guyana	200	13	Georgetown	Guyana	354 964
13	Cayenne	France (Guayana Francesa)	57 229	13	Cayenne	France (Guayana Francesa)	100 323

General metropolitan areas by population

• This is a list of the most populous metropolitan areas in South America, according to various sources.

N.o	Metropolitan Area	Country	Surface (km)(2)	Population (2019-Citypopulation)	Population (2017 UN World Urbanization Prospects)	Population (official)
1	São Paulo	BrazilBrazil	2.943	33 652 991	33 652 991	22 672 582
2	Buenos Aires	Argentina	7998	15 180 953	15 042 367	15 875 587
3	Rio de Janeiro	BrazilBrazil	12 645	12 960 768	12 526 719	10 838 752
4	Lima	Peru Peru	2900	12 140 535	10 161 038	9 283 771
5	Bogotá	ColombiaColombia	2820	9 876 069	9 793 193	10 555 058
6	Santiago	ChileChile	13 770	7 115 937	7 123 189	6 428 590
7	Belo Horizonte	BrazilBrazil	9800	5 828 923	5 836 032	4 035 194
8	Brasília	BrazilBrazil	9435	4 201 737	4 532 648	3 553 856
9	Medellín	ColombiaColombia	1250	3 866 200	4 505 797	3 775 000
10	Porto Alegre	BrazilBrazil	9800	4 275 926	4 378 628	4 035 194
11	Recife	BrazilBrazil	2768	4 097 667	4 097 667	3 805 901
12	Caracas	Venezuela Venezuela	17 879	2 958 936	3 127 612	2 923 959
13	Recife	BrazilBrazil	2768	4 097 667	4 097 667	3 805 901
14	Fortress	BrazilBrazil	5872	4 053 156	4 053 156	3 517 275
15	Cali	ColombiaColombia	2985	4 036 857	4 019 857	3 207 328
16	Salvador	BrazilBrazil	4057	3 918 856	3 918 856	3 767 902
17	Guayaquil	EcuadorEcuador	7139	3 514 445	3 514 445	3 657 090
18	Curitiba	BrazilBrazil	7418	3 503 768	3 503 768	3 260 292
19	Campinas	BrazilBrazil	3647	3 178 879	3 324 443	2 732 473
20	Maracaibo	Venezuela Venezuela	17 657	2 278 448	2 274 448	3 175 113
21	Quito	EcuadorEcuador	9494	2 965 538	2 965 538	2 350 764
22	Assumption	Paraguay Paraguay	1014	2 259 719	2 924 858	2 500 000
23	Mana	BrazilBrazil	11 401	2 614 102	2 641 239	2 006 870
24	San José de los Campos	BrazilBrazil	11 401	2 528 345	2 528 345
25	Goiânia	BrazilBrazil	6454	2 437 765	2 518 775	2 196 617
26	Belém	BrazilBrazil	1819	2 491 051	2 078 405
27	Barranquilla	ColombiaColombia	532	2 396 695	2 396 695	1 846 676
28	Santa Cruz	BoliviaBolivia	11 773	2 281 251	2 281 251	1 864 165
29	Montevideo	Uruguay Uruguay	2839	2 223 865	2 223 865	1 908 250
30	Sorocaba	BrazilBrazil	1819		2 120 095	2 078 405
31	La Paz	BoliviaBolivia	4.821	2.039,000	2.039,000	1.800.000
32	Vitória	BrazilBrazil	2.331		1.953.573	1.664.328
33	Barquisimeto	Venezuela Venezuela	6.577	1.502.490	1.500.456	1.733.404
34	Córdoba	Argentina	20.906	2.061.452	1,884.320	1.781.737
35	Santos	BrazilBrazil	2.422		1.848.654	1.651.906
36	São Luís	BrazilBrazil	1.410		1.621.122	1.249.141
37	Natal	BrazilBrazil	2.719		1.587.056	1.294.899
38	Bucaramanga	ColombiaColombia			1.576.312	1.088.419
39	Great Rosary	Argentina	3.757		1.417.735	1.118.905
40	Valencia	Venezuela Venezuela	17.657	1.052.143	1.036.143	1.175.113
41	Joinville	BrazilBrazil	1.410		1.405.421	1.249.141
43	Cochabamba	BoliviaBolivia	2.611		1.336.778	1.713.383
44	Maceió	BrazilBrazil	1.934		1.334.643	1.043.931
45	João Pessoa	BrazilBrazil	11.376		1.248.614	1.266.463
46	Teresina	BrazilBrazil	11.376		1.198.238	1.266.463
46	Florianópolis	BrazilBrazil	11.376		1.189.532	1,189.947
47	Cartagena de Indias	ColombiaColombia	2.402		1.162.887	833.461
48	Cúcuta	ColombiaColombia	2.402		1.087.482	1,082
49	Guayana City	Venezuela Venezuela		1.025.129
50	Gran Mendoza	Argentina	20.906		1.038.742	1.781.737
51	Arequipa	Peru Peru	2.300		1,013,471	1.392.636

Ethnic Conformation

Ethnic composition. It's important to note that in Dr's work. Lizcano (on which this graph is based) is not based on genetics. Moreover, the mestizo classification is based more on the culture in which the individuals of each country live than on the biological traits, in these countries much of the people considered biologically white are mixed in the cultural aspect, therefore they are classified as mestizo.

Ethnic map of South America.

The region is one of the most diverse in the world. This is the result of the Spanish and Portuguese colonization in an area populated by numerous indigenous peoples, by the forced smuggling of black slaves from Africa, by the massive immigration of Europeans and Asians since the XIX and by mixing between these different groups, giving rise to numerous variants.

Although there is no clarity or consensus on the volumes of the indigenous population after the arrival of the European colonizers, it is estimated that their number should rise to at least 20 million people, of which some 10 million are in Andean South America, and about 10 in extra-Andean South America; although some researchers estimate the number to be several hundred million. Between the centuries XVI and XIX, for its part the region received the arrival of several million slaves from Africa, of which at least 3 million would have arrived in Brazil, and a million and a half in the different Spanish colonies in America.

From the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the XX the region experienced massive European immigration, mainly concentrated in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru. This population came from Spain, Italy, Germany and Portugal, among other countries. Considerable immigration from Palestine, Armenia, Syria, etc., was also received; as well as Japan, China and Korea.

Countries such as Uruguay, Argentina and Chile have a high European component in their populations, with percentages between 60% and 80% of the total. In 2005, the Argentine geneticist Daniel Corach carried out a genetic study in Argentina differentiating both pathways. The result was that through the maternal pathway (mitochondrial DNA) the presence of indigenous ancestry was found in most cases (53.7%), while through the paternal pathway (Y chromosome), almost all cases (94, 1%) reveal European ancestry. Another study carried out by researchers of various nationalities, and also published in PloS One Genetics, in 2015, found that the Argentine composition was made up of 67.3% European contribution, 27.7% Amerindian contribution, 3.6% of African contribution, and 1.4% of Asian contribution. The study also shows how 90% of the Argentine population has a genetic composition notoriously different from that of native Europeans, thus evidencing a truly Latin American profile. of miscegenation or mixture in the bulk of the Argentine population. In Chile, the degree of European component is very important, reaching 62% of its population. In Venezuela about 49-50% of the total, in Brazil 47.7% and in Colombia they are 45-50% of the total. its population. The country where the percentage of Amerindians is the largest component of the population is Bolivia. Likewise, there are significant indigenous communities in Ecuador and Peru. In Chile, pure Amerindians are almost non-existent, since most of them have some degree of European admixture through miscegenation. In Argentina the population corresponds to a low number, exceeding 6% of the total population of the country. In the case of Brazil and Paraguay, almost non-existent minorities are considered. In Uruguay it is not possible to find pure Amerindian descendants, however, there are mestizo descendants concentrated especially in the northwest of that country. To this extent, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay could be classified as predominantly Caucasian ^{[citation required]}; Bolivia, predominantly Amerindian ^{[citation needed]}; Venezuela, Peru, Brazil and Colombia as mixed countries (white-mestizo) ^{[citation required]}; meanwhile, Paraguay and Ecuador have a mestizo majority ^{[citation required]}; Guyana and Suriname can be classified as Asian and Afro-descendant countries ^{[citation required]}.

A 2015 autosomal genetic study, which included 25 other studies, with 38 populations from Brazil, the composition of Brazil is as follows: the European contribution is 62%, the African 21% and the indigenous 17%. The European contribution is highest in the South (77%), the African one strongest in the Northeast (21%) and the indigenous one in the North (32%).

Languages

• 

  Languages in South America: Spanish (yellow); Portuguese (blue); English (red); Dutch (blue); and French (black).

• 

  Distribution areas of the most spoken indigenous American languages in South America at the beginning of the centuryXXI: Quechua in blue; guaraní in yellow; aimara in orange; mapuche in black.

• 

  The main families of South America (except Quechua, Aymara, Mapudungun and Guaraní).

European languages

Portuguese and Spanish are the main languages of South America, and by 2021 Portuguese is the most widely spoken language on the subcontinent and is spoken mainly in Brazil, where it is the official language. Spanish is official in all other countries with the exception of the aforementioned Brazil, in the Guyanas, in Suriname and some island countries in the South American Caribbean Sea.

In Guyana, in the Malvinas Islands (in dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom, which administers them) and in Trinidad and Tobago, English is spoken. Dutch is spoken in Suriname, Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. In the Overseas Department of French Guiana, French is spoken.

	Language	Speakers	It's spoken in	Extension
	Portuguese	217 240 060	Brazil	8 515 767 km2
	Spanish	215 908 318	Argentina Bolivia Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela	8 845 020 km2
	English	2 198 539	Guyana Falkland Islands Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago	232 271 km2
	Dutch	928 619	Suriname Aruba Curacao Bonaire	164 443 km2
	French	304 929	French Guiana	83 534 km2

Native languages

More than 300 indigenous languages belonging to a multitude of families are still spoken today (almost half of them are spoken in Brazil), and some 180 more have been recorded as extinct since the arrival of Europeans. More than 33 large or medium-sized families have been recognized, and there is a high number of isolated languages and even insufficiently documented languages that have not been adequately classified. From the typological point of view, the Andean languages differ notably from the Amazonian languages, although there is a transition zone between these groups.

The Quechua languages are the language family with the largest number of speakers, with more than 12 million people. Traditionally one speaks of "quechua" or "quichua" as of a single language, although from the linguistic point of view there are varieties that are difficult to intelligible among themselves. According to the Political Constitution of Bolivia, Quechua is one of the 37 official languages of Bolivia. In Peru, Quechua, which is spoken in some varieties, is declared an official language. in addition, a considerable minority in Ecuador, in Santiago del Estero (Argentina), Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy, as well as in northern Chile.

Guarani is the second most widely spoken indigenous language with more than 7 million people, mainly in Paraguay, where it is one of the official languages, and in the province of Corrientes in Argentina, where it is co-official. Aymara is also co-official in Bolivia, while in Peru only where it prevails, Aymara also constitutes the first language of almost a third of the population of Bolivia and is the main Amerindian language of southern Peru, northern Chile and is spoken also in northern Argentina by the aimara community.

	Language	Parallel	It's spoken in	Extension
	Quechua	10 000	Peru Ecuador Bolivia Argentina Chile Colombia	Quechua I Quechua II
	Guaraní	8 000	Paraguay Bolivia Argentina Brazil	500 000 km2
	Aimara	2 000 000	Bolivia Peru Chile Argentina	Central
	Sranan tongo	500 000	Suriname	Guayanas
	Criollo de Guayana Francesa	259 000	France	Guayanas

Significant non-official languages

• Mapudungun is the native language of the Mapuches, spoken by about 450 thousand people in the south-central Chile and in the Argentine Patagonia.
• Wayúu is an indigenous language spoken by more than 300 thousand people in the countries of Colombia and Venezuela. In Colombia this language is official in the indigenous territories of Wayúu since the 1991 Constitution; it is also co-official in Venezuela since 1999, as reflected in the Venezuelan constitution.
• Various languages, such as German (South Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, southern Chile and the central jungle of Peru) Italian (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela), and Japanese (Brazil, Peru and Colombia) are still spoken by immigrants who arrived in the countries at the end of the centuryXIX and throughout the centuryXX..
• Welsh is spoken in the Argentine province of Chubut.
• The Croatian is spoken by the community of descendants of immigrants living in the Chilean regions of Antofagasta and Magellan.
• English on islands and coasts of the Colombian Caribbean.
• Arabic has a strong presence in northern Colombia.

Religion

• 

  Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Appeared, Brazil.

• 

  Synagogue of the Israelite Congregation Argentina.

• 

  Basilica of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá, Venezuela.

• 

  Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Popayán, Colombia.

• 

  Lutheran Church of Valparaíso, Chile.

• 

  Mohammed VI Mosque for the Dialogue of Civilizations, Chile.

Country religion (2010) Countries Christians Catholics Protestants No Affiliates (agnostics, atheists, believers without religious affiliation) Argentina 8% 77 % 11 % 11 % Aruba 94 % 81 % 13 % 6 % Bolivia 96 % 74 % 22 % 4% Bonaire 91 % 77 % 14 % 7 % Brazil 87 % 65 % 22 % 8 % Chile 70% 57 % 13 % 25 % Colombia 92 % 80% 12 % 7 % Curacao 91 % 73 % 18 % 6 % Ecuador 94 % 82 % 12 % 6 % Guyana 65 % 13 % 52 % 2 % French Guiana 85 % 77 % 8 % 3 % Falkland Islands 67 % 21 % 46 % 32 % Paraguay 95% 85 % 10% 2 % Peru 94 % 81 % 13 % 3 % Suriname 51 % 29 % 22 % 5 % Trinidad and Tobago 60% 21.5% 29.3 % 11.1 % Uruguay 58 % 7% 11 % 41 % Venezuela 8% 71 % 17 % 8 % Total South America 82 % 61 % 21 % 13 %

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, since 2013 Pope and head of the State of the Vatican City, adopting the name of Francis.

Christianity (Catholicism, followed by Protestantism) is the predominant religion, although the number of faithful tends to decrease due to the growth of agnosticism, atheism ^{[citation required]}. Various religions also exist among the indigenous natives. Brazil is the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world, although their number is rapidly declining. There are also numerous Jewish communities in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Afro-American religions have a presence in countries with a strong black population such as Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil, in Uruguay there is a minority of practitioners of the umbandista religion.

Culture

South American culture is marked by the colonial past and the pre-Columbian ancestry, mainly to which were added, to varying degrees, elements brought by later immigrants who gradually arrived in the region ^{[citation required ]}. Likewise, we can see the growing development of a culture framed in the globalization process ^{[citation required]}.

Cultural differences are pronounced and the partition of the subcontinent in colonial times led to the existence of two dominant languages, Spanish and Portuguese, the latter spoken almost exclusively in Brazil. The indigenous culture of pre-Columbian origin has a strong presence in Peru and Bolivia and some regions of the Amazon. In Paraguay, Guarani (an aboriginal language used by the people of the same name) is widely used in addition to Spanish, and is even recognized as the country's official language.

Cultural differences are not framed within national borders. Thus, it is possible to find greater cultural similarity among the inhabitants of border areas than between those same and those of the interior of each country ^{[citation required]}. This is partly due to the post-colonial division that accompanied the formation of independent states during the 19th century

The emigration phenomenon of great growth in recent decades has led South Americans who settle in Europe and North America mainly to take part of their customs with them, contributing to the expansion of South American culture ^{[quote required]}. There is a significant presence of South American Immigration, in New York and Miami. This causes the customs that these emigrants adopt in their host countries to accompany them back when they arrive in their countries of origin ^{[cita requiridad]}, thus contributing to a new exchange cultural ^{[citation required]}.

Literature

• 

  Gabriela Mistral (Chile), the first Latin American to obtain the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945.

• 

  Pablo Neruda (Chile), Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971.

• 

  Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia), Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.

• 

  Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), one of the greatest exponents of Latin American literature.

• 

  V. S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago), Nobel Prize in Literature, in 2001.

• 

  Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010.

South American culture is present in various ways worldwide. Thus, for example, Andean handicrafts enjoy considerable demand in different markets such as Europe.^{[citation required]}

In the first half of the XX century, tango, a musical style and dance of River Plate origin (Argentine-Uruguayan), was very successful in Europe and Colombia. This music was performed in Spanish, which was not an obstacle to its dissemination abroad. In South America, musical styles not exclusive to the subcontinent have developed, such as salsa, which has its "capital" in Santiago de Cali, Colombia. Some Brazilian cultural expressions also have a strong presence worldwide where elements such as capoeira, bossa nova and samba are universally renowned.

Literature is of significant importance in South America and proof of this are the four writers who have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature: the Chileans Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda, the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez and the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa. Regarding a specific award for the Spanish language, the Argentines Jorge Luis Borges, Ernesto Sabato, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Juan Gelman; the Chileans Gonzalo Rojas, Jorge Edwards and Nicanor Parra; the Paraguayan Augusto Roa Bastos, and the Uruguayan Juan Carlos Onetti were awarded the Cervantes Prize. Other writers and figures of continental literature in Spanish are the Venezuelans Rómulo Gallegos, Teresa de la Parra and Arturo Uslar Pietri; Argentines Julio Cortázar, Alfonsina Storni, Victoria Ocampo and Roberto Arlt; the Chileans Vicente Huidobro, Manuel Rojas, Isabel Allende, José Donoso and Roberto Bolaño; the Paraguayan Augusto Roa Bastos; the Peruvians César Vallejo, Ciro Alegría and Julio Ramón Ribeyro; the Uruguayans Felisberto Hernández, Juan Carlos Onetti, Mario Benedetti and Eduardo Galeano.

The highest award in the Portuguese language, the Camõens Prize has been awarded since its creation in 1988 to the following Brazilian authors: João Cabral de Melo Neto, Rachel de Queiroz, Jorge Amado, António Cândido, Autran Dourado, Rubem Fonseca, Lygia Fagundes Telles, João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Ferreira Gullar and Dalton Trevisan. But apart from these recent exponents, Brazil has contributed other literary authors of continental and world repercussion such as Machado de Assis, Euclides da Cunha, Vinicius de Moraes, Clarice Lispector and Paulo Coelho.

On the other hand, the emergence and development of various literary styles or currents are related to South America. Thus, for example, although by a Nicaraguan author, Rubén Darío, the first book of Hispanic modernism, Azul..., was published in Valparaíso in 1888, marking the path for many authors from the subcontinent. While the origin and universalization of the so-called magical realism is also associated with South American authors, such as María Luisa Bombal, Arturo Uslar Pietri and Gabriel García Márquez. Other cases are numerous, such as the most personal, although also the initiator of a school, "antipoetry" of Nicanor Parra or the "creationism" by Vicente Huidobro. For its part, in Brazil literary currents and schools of a national nature have emerged, such as Brazilian modernism, different from Hispanic, which also has exponents in plastic arts.

Jorge Luis Borges was one of the most important and influential authors of the XX century literature, in South America and global. He practically invented a new genre of literature. He received the first Prix International in history in 1961, and the Jerusalem Prize in 1971. Blind at age 55, he was highly controversial, with political stances that prevented him from winning the Nobel Prize in Literature for which he was a candidate for nearly thirty years. years. The writer and essayist J. M. Coetzee said of him: "He, more than any other, renewed the language of fiction and thus opened the way for a whole generation of outstanding Spanish-American novelists."

Plastic arts

Big Bird, work of Colombian artist Fernando Botero, exhibited in Singapore.

The plastic artist Oswaldo Guayasamín (1919-1999) from Ecuador, represented with his style in painting and sculpture for a long time, the feelings of the peoples of Latin America, highlighting social injustices in various parts of the world. Venezuelan Armando Reverón, whose work is beginning to be recognized internationally, is one of the most important artists of the XX century in South America; he is a precursor of Arte Povera and the Happening. The Colombian Fernando Botero (1932) is one of the greatest exponents of painting and sculpture who is still active and who has been able to develop his own recognizable style. For his part, the Venezuelan Carlos Cruz-Diez has contributed significantly to contemporary art, with the presence of works all over the world.

Several emerging South American artists are currently recognized by international art critics: Guillermo Lorca, Chilean painter, Teddy Cobeña, Ecuadorian sculptor (international sculpture prize in France) or the Argentine artist Adrián Villar Rojas, winner of the of art from the Zurich museum, among many others.

Sports

The degree of development of sports infrastructures varies radically from one country to another and between the regions of the same country. State investment is also uneven, with less economically developed areas frequently having less access to such infrastructures than more developed ones. In addition, the sports model applied in South America since the end of the XIX century, understood as the comparison of body performance to designate champions or obtain rewards, has failed since the incorporation of the majority of the population to the practice of sport on a regular basis has not yet been achieved. South America has large-scale sports infrastructures, both due to its capacity, conditions of infrastructure, services, as well as its location, among which are:

• The San Isidro Racetrack, dedicated to horse racing, has a capacity for 100,000 people, being the largest in South America, located in the San Isidro Party, in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• The Monumental Stadium of Peru, popularly known as Monumental of the "U" or Ate Monumental is the main stadium of the Club Universitario de Deportes. It has a total capacity or capacity for 85 000 spectators: 65 000 attendees in its four tribunes and 20 000 additional people in the four buildings of palcos-suites that surround it, making it the largest football stadium in South America, after the remodeling made to the Maracana Stadium that reduced its capacity to 78 639.
• The La Ceiba Stadium is the largest baseball stadium in South America and the second in Latin America, after the Latino in Havana, Cuba and has an approximate capacity of 30,000 spectators, located in southern Venezuela, in the Bolivar State specifically in San Felix.
• The Centennial Stadium, host of the first World Cup of Football, is the stadium with the greatest capacity of Uruguay with some 65 235 capacity seats, which makes it one of the 15 largest in America. On July 18, 1983 it was declared by FIFA as Historic Monument of World Football, being the only construction of this kind worldwide, is located in the Barrio Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay.
• The Hernando Siles Stadium, is the largest stadium in Bolivia with capacity for 42 000 spectators, is located in the city of La Paz about 3650 m. n. m. (meters on the sea level) which makes it high-level stadium at higher altitude in the world, despite being the second highest stadium in the world behind the Stadium Victor Agustín Ugarte de Potosí, which has capacity of 32 000 spectators and is located to some 3900 m. n. m., in it have played many of the biggest clubs in America in Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.
• The Nelson Piquet International Airport is located in the Jacarepaguá district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is the largest in South America with capacity for 60 000 spectators.
• The Goiânia Arena It is an infrastructure dedicated to volleyball, is the largest in South America with capacity for 15 000 spectators, it is located in Goiânia, capital of the state of Goiás in Brazil.
• The Coliseum Cubierto Julio Monsalvo and the Coliseum Amauta, both gyms built to host basketball competitions, located in Valledupar, Colombia and in Lima, Peru, are the largest in South America with 20 000 people of capacity each.

Football

• 

  Centenary Stadium (Uruguay), where the first World Cup of Football was held.

• 

  Maradona, Argentina Footballman of the centuryXX. according to FIFA.

• 

  Pelé, Brazil
  Footballman of the centuryXX. according to FIFA.

• 

  Lionel Messi (Argentina), elected seven times as the best player in the world.

• 

  Maracaná Stadium, Brazil, where the finals of the worlds of 1950 and 2014.

A considerable number of sports disciplines are practiced in South America, however, the most popular sport is soccer. The first edition of the Soccer World Cup, the most important international competition on the planet, was held in Uruguay in 1930, later hosting tournaments in Brazil in 1950, Chile in 1962, Argentina in 1978 and Brazil in 2014. The countries of the region They have won the title in 10 of the 22 editions held until 2022: Brazil (5), Argentina (3) and Uruguay (2), with South America being the subcontinent that won the most cups. In addition, Argentina has been runner-up three times and Brazil has reached the runner-up position twice. The match between Argentina and Brazil is considered the Superclásico of the Americas, the most important on the continent and one of the most famous worldwide. Argentine Diego Armando Maradona and Brazilian Pelé have repeatedly considered the best players in history.

On a lesser level, soccer is represented in South America by the South American Soccer Confederation whose most important tournament at the national team level is the Copa América in which the 10 national teams affiliated with CONMEBOL participate; Uruguay and Argentina own 15 and Brazil 9 of these titles respectively. At the club level, the most important tournament is the Copa Libertadores de América (led by the Argentine club Independiente with seven titles), which is considered the 2nd most important Continental Club Tournament in the world and the 3.er Most important Club Tournament in the World, only behind the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Another club tournament is held in parallel in the region called the Copa Sudamericana, which also has a great boom worldwide.

Olympics and Pan American Games

• 

  Opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games

• 

  Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park

• 

  Tecnópolis competition headquarters at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics

• 

  The first Pan-American comb, on by the Greek athlete Aristidis Roubanis, Buenos Aires-1951

• 

  Torch of the Pan American Games of Lima-2019

The South American Sports Organization (ODESUR) is the association of the national Olympic committees of the South American countries and its mission is to promote the aims and principles of the Olympic movement. Despite the great sporting tradition, in addition to the sporting prestige that several countries in the region have worldwide, the International Olympic Committee so far only chose Rio de Janeiro as the venue for the 2016 Olympic Games and Buenos Aires as the venue for the Games. 2018 Youth Olympics. The countries with the highest number of Olympic medals are listed in the table below.

#	Country				Total
1	BrazilBrazil	34	40	71	145
2	Argentina	21	25	29	75
3	ColombiaColombia	5	12	16	33
4	Venezuela Venezuela	4	7	10	21
5	EcuadorEcuador	3	2	0	5
6	ChileChile	2	7	4	13
7	Uruguay Uruguay	2	2	6	10
8	Peru Peru	1	3	0	4

The country that has participated the most in the Summer Olympic Games is Argentina, present in 23 Olympics and among the others only Chile, Uruguay and Brazil have participated in 20 or more editions. The sports that have won the most medals to Brazil in the Olympic Games are judo, sailing, athletics, swimming and volleyball while Argentina excelled in boxing, sailing and athletics and Colombia excelled in weightlifting, cycling and boxing.

The Pan American Games are the international sporting event of the Americas, held every four years in the year prior to the Summer Olympic Games, the countries of South America have hosted 7 continental competitions: Buenos Aires - 1951, São Paulo - 1963, Cali - 1971, Caracas - 1983, Mar del Plata - 1995, Rio de Janeiro, 2007, Lima - 2019 and will host the next 2 editions: Santiago de Chile, Barranquilla - 2027. The medal numbers of the South American countries at the Pan American Games are listed below.

Continental	Country				Total
4	Brazil	383	402	588	1373
5	Argentina	327	365	468	1160
7	Colombia	135	171	260	566
8	Venezuela	102.	219	297	618
9	Chile	57	110	169	336
11	Ecuador	38	37	76	151
15	Peru	19	40	89	148
16	Uruguay	12	29	50	91
17	Trinidad and Tobago	12	29	32	73
23	Suriname	3	2	5	10
24	Guyana	2	4	12	18
26	Paraguay	1	5	9	15
28	Bolivia	1	4	8	13

The South American Games -held every four years- are the most important competition at the subcontinental level. This institution also began organizing the South American Beach Games in 2009.

Sports with animals

• 

  Bullring of Acho (Peru), the oldest bullring in America.

• 

  Polo Open Argentine Championship, the world's leading polo club league.

• 

  Pato, national sport of Argentina.

• 

  Rodeo, since 1962 recognized as Chile's national sport.

• 

  Hippodrome de Maroñas (Uruguay), a compound specialized in water sports and other equestrian sports.

The South American subcontinent is the scene of various bullfighting festivities, inherited from Spanish colonists. In countries like Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru there are permissive policies regarding bullfighting, many of its cities being important icons within the International Bullfighting Calendar, which is why they are inevitable places for lovers of bullfighting, who due to climatic reasons they cannot celebrate during the European winter and they go to South American cities to participate in them.

In other countries bullfighting is restricted, Chile was the first country in South America to ban it in 1822, although in fact it continued until the end of the century XIX In 1890 it was prohibited in Uruguay although in 1935 it was partially reversed in Colonia, until it was finally abandoned in 1937. Argentina was the first South American country to definitively prohibit bullfighting, in 1899. In Brazil they were banned by Getúlio Vargas in 1934, along with cockfighting.

Other sports

• 

  Colombia is the top historical winner in global speed skateboarding on online skates.

• 

  Baseball, important sport in the South American Caribbean, in the image practiced by Venezuelans in 1895.

• 

  Colombia and Ecuador have grand slams winners of route cycling.

• 

  Brazil, Chile, Peru and Venezuela stand out in water and beach sports.

• 

  Rally Dakar on its way to South America, with the acquisition of titles by Argentine and Chilean.

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  Automotiveism has been successful by Argentines and Brazilians.

Other sports such as basketball, swimming, and volleyball are also popular. Regardless of the level of popularity, some countries have defined a sport as a national sport by law. Such is the case of Argentina (duck), Colombia (tejo), Chile (Chilean rodeo and hopscotch) and Venezuela (coleo).

As for baseball, it is of zero importance throughout the subcontinent, except for Venezuela and the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where the sport is extremely popular. Most South American nations are part of the Pan American Baseball Confederation, but not all are professional. In Venezuela, the most popular professional sport among the population is baseball. There are hundreds of Venezuelan professional players playing in leagues in the United States. Baseball has been played in this country since the turn of the 20th century The modern era of baseball and the peak of its popularity came in 1941 when Venezuela defeats Cuba and is proclaimed world champion in the final of the Baseball World Cup (amateur baseball world cup). The Venezuelan team also won the tournament in 1944 and 1945, being the most winning team after Cuba and the United States. In the 2009 World Baseball Classic (professional baseball world), the Venezuelan team reached third place. Players such as Edgar Rentería, Orlando Cabrera and Ernesto Frieri have been exported from Colombia to the Major Leagues. In 1947 and 1965 the Colombian team won the Baseball World Cup.

In other sports, some South American countries stand out individually worldwide. For example, Argentina is a powerhouse in basketball, rugby, tennis, boxing, polo, field hockey, and roller hockey; Brazil in motorsports, beach soccer, futsal, skateboarding, and mixed martial arts; Chile stands out in polo, as well as standing out in tennis, getting on the podium in the Olympics; Colombia in cycling and skating; Venezuela, one of the world's greatest powers in baseball, historically standing out in sports such as boxing, weightlifting, cycling, karate and taekwondo. The practice of tennis is carried out mainly in Argentina, Chile and Brazil, which have had Grand Slam tournament champions. Gustavo Kuerten and Marcelo Ríos have been the only Latin American tennis players to reach the number 1 position in the ranking. In volleyball, Brazil and Peru are world powers having won Olympic medals and world championships for their nations.

Celebrations

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  Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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  Carnival of Oruro (Bolivia).

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  National Festival of Harvest (Argentina).

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  Carnival de Barranquilla (Colombia).

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  Inti Raymi (Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru).

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  Carnival of El Callao (Venezuela).

• The Barranquilla Carnival in the city of the coast of the Colombian Caribbean is the most important cultural festival in the country and is also considered by UNESCO as the Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
• Carnival of Blacks and Whites of Pasto is the most important party in the Colombian Southwest. Declared in 2009 by UNESCO as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
• The Bambuco National Folk Festival and Reinado Nacional is one of the most important festivals in southern Colombia, especially in the department of Huila, whose capital, Neiva, is the headquarters of the festival.
• The Carnival of Riosucio is a celebration that takes place every two years in Riosucio, Caldas, Colombia. It takes place around January 6.
• The Rio Carnival is an annual popular celebration that takes place during Lent, characterized by the competition between the samba schools in the sambódromo apham. Many carnivals are carried out in Brazil, yet Rio de Janeiro is the most famous and recognized worldwide.
• The Carnival of Oruro is a popular celebration held every year in the Bolivian city of Oruro. In 2001 the Unesco declared the carnival as the Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
• The Feast of Harvest. It is the largest celebration in the world in honor of wine in the province of Mendoza, Argentina.
• The city of Viña del Mar (Chile) is recognized by the International Festival of the Song of Viña del Mar, the largest of its kind in Hispanic America.
• The Carnival of El Callao is the most famous of Venezuela for what has been recognized, as an event of Regional Tourist Interest and declared by the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Venezuela as an event of National Tourist Interest in March 1998 and on December 1, 2016 was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Notes and references

References