South America Travel Guide

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With a population of 371 million people and an area of almost 7 million square miles, South America ranks fifth and fourth among the continents, respectively. South and North America bumped into each other pretty recently in geological terms and are joined at the Isthmus of Panama.

The continent has some incredible geological features. The Andes mountains run down the western edge, tropical rain forests dominate the lush Amazon River basin and dry, rocky Patagonia is nearer the southern end. There's some rich ecological diversity as well: you can find noisy howler monkeys, colorful parrots and terrifying, hirsute spiders.

The continent was populated by agricultural civilizations as early as 900 BC. Incan civilization dominated in the 15th century. And in the 16th century large areas of South America were colonized by Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors. During this period the continent changed forever. Many native people died of European diseases to which they had no immunity and many others converted to Christianity and intermarried with their colonists.

The South American countries gained their independence in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the last century South America has stuggled with political volatility and pervasive high inflation. Interest rates are high and investment low. The divide between rich and poor here is staggeringly wide, with astounding extremes.

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