South America Geography

The defining geographic feature of South America is the Andes, the world's longest continental mountain range, running unbroken for roughly 7,000 kilometers along the entire western edge of the continent from Venezuela to Chile's southern tip. It contains some of the highest peaks outside the Himalayas, including Aconcagua in Argentina, the tallest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.

East of the Andes lies the Amazon Basin, the largest rainforest and river system on Earth, draining roughly 40% of the continent's land area across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the Guianas. The Amazon River itself carries more water than the next several largest rivers in the world combined.

The south of the continent narrows dramatically into Patagonia, shared between Argentina and Chile — a region of steppe, fjords, and glacial ice fields, including some of the few glaciers in the world that are still advancing rather than retreating. Between these extremes sit the fertile Pampas grasslands of Argentina and Uruguay, the arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile (among the driest places on Earth), and extensive Atlantic and Pacific coastlines that shape the climate and culture of nearly every country on the continent.