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South America
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South America is a unique synthesis of ancient histories and post-modern societies. Archeological excavations suggest that just as on most other worlds of the ITA, the South American continent was first settled by Native Americans along the Pacific coastline of the continent anywhere from ten thousand to twenty thousand years before the present. Over millennia, the Native American populations of the Andes mountains gradually began to develop sophisticated civilizations. By the beginning of the Common Era, sophisticated kingdoms had coalesced along the desert coasts and in the fertile valleys of the Andean highlands. These civilizations reached their pinnacle in the 15th century with the creation of the Incan Empire, a unified imperial state that controlled most of western South America.
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When it comes to breaking records, South America is the place to see. The massive north-south continent is spread through nearly every climate zone imaginable, which makes for very dynamic travel. The world's highest water fall, Angels Falls, cascades over 3,200 feet in Venezuela's Canaima National Park. The Amazon River, which winds across the north through Brazil, is the largest river in the world by volume while the Amazon Rainforest is the largest existing rainforest. Travel along the Andes, the world's longest mountain range but make sure not to lose your way in Chile or you might end up in the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert. Catch your breath at 3,600 meters while visiting the highest capital city of La Paz, Bolivia.
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South America has a 2007 estimated population of 380 million, or 6 percent of the world's people. The continent comprises 12 nations. Ten of the countries are Latin: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Two of the nations are former dependencies: Guyana, of the United Kingdom, and Suriname, of The Netherlands. South America ... includes 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 (Chile) and the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador).
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South America has a host of marvellous attractions, with most suitable for the whole family. You'll find science, nature and history exhibits throughout the continent as well as a host of natural attractions, from volcanoes to cold glaciers and strange animals. The continent offers incredible precolumbian sights all along the Andes in Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. The best known of these are probably the Nazca Lines(Ica),Chan chan(Trujillo) andMachu Picchu(Cuzco) in Peru and Ciudad Perdida in Colombia. Anycity has gotit's own important archeological findings nearby. TheInca civilisation didn't only leavearcheological findings.
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In contrast to these ancient shields, the Amazonian heartland of South America is low and geologically young. Prior to the Miocene most of Amazonia constituted a large inland sea opening to the Pacific. With uplift of the Central Andes, this sea became a giant lake that gradually filled with Andean sediments. When the Amazon River broke through the narrow connection between the Guayanan and Brazilian shields near Santarém, Brazil, Amazonia began to drain eastward into the Atlantic. Nevertheless, the region remains so flat that ocean-going ships can reach Iquitos, Peru, which is only 110 m above sea-level, yet 3000 km from the mouth of the Amazon and less than 800 km from the Pacific Ocean. Most of Amazonian Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia is below 200 m in elevation.
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Because of South America's broad ethnic mix, South American cuisine takes on African, American Indian, Asian and European influences. Bahia, Brazil, is especially well-known for its West African-influenced cuisine. Argentines, Chileans and Uruguayans regularly consume wine, while Argentina along with Paraguay, Uruguay and people in southern Chile and Brazil enjoy a sip of Mate a regional brewed herb cultivated for its drink, the paraguayan version, Terere, differing from the others in that it's served cold. Pisco is a liquor distilled from grapevine produced in Peru and Chile... there is a recurring dispute between those countries regarding its origins. Peruvian cuisine mixes elements from Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, African, Andean and Amazonic food.
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South America