South America

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

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

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

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

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