South America

South America is the world's fourth-largest continent (after Asia, Africa, and North America). It occupies about 17,819,100 km² (6,880,000 sq miles), or about 12% 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 miles) from the Caribbean Sea on the north to Cape Horn on the south and it spans some 4,830 km (3,000 miles) between its easternmost point, Cabo de Sao Roque on the Atlantic Ocean, and Punta de Parinas on the Pacific Ocean.