South America is surely a magical continent, full of plants and animals that you would expect to find in a fantasy movie. It lies mostly south of the equator—the imaginary line that divides the earth into two hemispheres, or halves. There are twelve countries in South America, four of them north of the equator: Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. The countries south of it are Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. With the exceptions of Brazil, Guyana and Suriname, all of these countries have Spanish as their official language.

Brazil is the largest country of the continent, and Suriname is the smallest. The biggest city is Sao Paulo, in Brazil. The shores of this continent are bounded by the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the Caribbean Sea in the north. North America and South America are connected to each other by Central America.

South America is the fourth largest continent and is the home to what many call the world’s largest river, the Amazon, which crosses the continent from west to east, ending in the Atlantic Ocean. Though the Amazon River and the Nile River in Egypt are still “competing” for the distinction of having the longest river on the planet, the Amazon is definitely the one that carries the greater volume of water.

The highest geographical point in South America is the Cerro Aconcagua in the Andes mountain range. The Atacama Desert in Chile is the most arid desert in the world, and the Angel Falls in Venezuela is the highest waterfall in the world. If you go to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, you will find yourself in the southernmost town of the whole planet!