South America - Liceul D. Aligheri

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The fourth-largest of the earth's seven continents (after Asia, Africa, and North America), occupying about 17,819,100 sq km (6,880,000 sq mi), or about 12 per cent of the earth's land surface. It lies across the equator and tropic of Capricorn and is joined by the Isthmus of Panama, on the north, to Central and North America. The continent extends about 7,400 km (4,600 mi) from the Caribbean Sea on the north to Cape Horn on the south, and it spans some 4,830 km (3,000 mi) between its easternmost point, Cabo de Săo Roque on the Atlantic Ocean, and Punta de Parińas on the Pacific Ocean. The continent comprises ten Latin nations (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela), Guyana (formerly a British dependency), Suriname (formerly a Dutch dependency), and French Guiana (an overseas department of France). Located at great distances from the continent in the Pacific Ocean are several territories of South American republics: the Juan Fernández Islands and Easter Island (both Chilean territories) and also the Galápagos Islands (Ecuadorian). Nearer the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, is the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, which is a Brazilian territory, and, farther south, the British dependency of the Falkland Islands, which is also claimed by Argentina. The coastline of South America is relatively regular except in the extreme south and south-west, where it is indented by numerous fiords.