• South America, at (17,819,000 sq km), is the fourth largest continent in the world.
• La Paz, Bolivia is the highest capital city in the world.
• Brazil, at 8,456,510 sq km, (3,265,059 sq miles), is the fifth largest country in the world. Argentina, at 2,736,690 sq km, (1,056,636 sq miles) is the eighth largest.
• Two of the five longest rivers in the world are in South America: the Amazon at 4,087 miles and the Parana at 3,032 miles. The Amazon is visible from space.
• For sheer volume of water, the Amazon is the Greatest River.
• The Amazon river basin is the largest contiguous tropical rainforest in the world.
• The Andes are the longest mountain range in the world, extending more than 4000 miles through seven countries down the western portion of South America. Andes
• The second highest mountain in the world is Cerro Aconcagua (22,835 ft) in Argentina.
• The highest waterfall in the world is Angel Falls, Venezuela where water falls 3,281 feet from the top to the base in a series of steps.
• Buenos Aires is the second largest city with with 11.96 million inhabitants living within the city limits. With those outside the city limits, it has 12.91 million inhabitants, making it the fourteenth largest city.
• Sao Paulo, Brazil with 18.5 million inhabitants is the fifth largest city in the world and the largest in South America.
• Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world.
• Buenaventura, Colombia with 267" rain per year is the wettest inhabited place on earth. Other sources say Quibido, Colombia, the rainiest place in South America, receives more than 350 inches (890 centimeters) of rain.
• The third, fourth and fifth inhabited places with the least recorded rainfall are Arica Desert, Chile 0.04", Ica, Peru 0.1" and Antofagasta, Chile 0.2".
• The Atacama desert of Chile with 54,000 sq. miles is the largest cool, coastal desert. Driest Place.
• The Argentine Patagonian desert with 260,000 sq. miles is the second largest cold winter desert.
• Suriname has the tenth lowest density population of 7.0 people per square mile.
• Chile had the world's greatest recorded earthquake in 1960. Greatest Earthquake

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