South America

South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area
in the Southern Hemisphere. South America is situated between the Pacific
Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It became attached to North America only
recently, geologically speaking, with the formation of the Isthmus of
Panama. The Andes, likewise a comparatively young and seismically restless
mountain range, run down the western edge of the continent; the land to the
east of the Andes is largly tropical rain forest, the vast Amazon River
basin.

It is thought to have been first inhabited by humans crossing the Bering
Land Bridge, now the Bering strait, though there are also suggestions of
migration from the southern Pacific Ocean.

From the 1530s, the indigenous inhabitants of South America were subjugated
by European invadors, first from Spain, later from Portugal, who divided it
into colonies. In the course of the 19th century, these colonies won their
independence. Nowadays, South America consists of the following twelve
countries

   * Argentina
   * Bolivia
   * Brazil
   * Chile
   * Colombia
   * Ecuador
   * Guyana
   * Paraguay
   * Peru
   * Suriname
   * Uruguay
   * Venezuela

and the following three non-independent territories:

   * Falkland Islands (UK)
   * French Guiana (France)
   * South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (UK)

The region of South America also includes various islands, most of which
belong to countries on the continent. The Caribbean territories are grouped
with North America. The largest country, both in area and in population, is
by far Brazil.

List of countries/dependencies by population density in inhabitants/km2.

Unlike the figures in the country articles, the figures in this table are
based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers) and
may therefore be lower here.

        country        pop. dens.     area       population
           Ê            (/sq.km)    (sq.km)   (2002-07-01 est.)
 Ecuador                       47    283,560         13,447,494
 Colombia                      36  1,138,910         41,008,227
 Venezuela                     27    912,050         24,287,670
 Peru                          22  1,285,220         27,949,639
 Brazil                        21  8,511,965        176,029,560
 Chile                         20    756,950         15,498,930
 Uruguay                       19    176,220          3,386,575
 Paraguay                      14    406,750          5,884,491
 Argentina                     14  2,766,890         37,812,817
 Bolivia                      7.7  1,098,580          8,445,134
 Guyana                       3.2    214,970            698,209
 Suriname                     2.7    163,270            436,494
 French Guiana (Fr.)          2.0     91,000            182,333
 Falkland Islands (UK)       0.24     12,173              2,967