Peru. The quintessential country of South America

interesting facts about South America

1. America's largest waterfall in the world
2. 1. The largest country in South America is Brazil. It is famous for its magnificent carnivals and performances of various sambo schools.
   2. The largest river in the world flows through this continent. The Amazon has more than half a thousand tributaries.
   3. The highest capital on Earth is located in Bolivia. The city of La Paz is located at an altitude of 3-4 kilometers!
   4. Machu Picchu is the highest mountain city of antiquity. It was built by Indian tribes in the Andes Mountains, Peru. Nowadays, Machu Picchu is one of the most impressive sights in the whole world.
   5. Did you know that the South American country of Venezuela was named after the European city of Venice? Florentine traveler Amerigo Vespucci, having studied the principles of construction of Venezuela (a system of canals, houses on stilts, on water), discovered similarities with Venice. This is where the name of the whole country in South America came from.
   6. Off the coast of this continent is the natural lighthouse Itzalko (or Izalko), known to sailors all over the world. In fact, it is a volcano, about 2 kilometers high. Every 8 minutes, magma pours out here and a 300-meter column of smoke rises. The reliability of such a beacon has been tested by the continuous 200-year operation of the volcano.
   7. Indigenous Indian tribes still live in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia.
   8. In the South American country of Paraguay, duels still take place (and are allowed).
   9. Summer bucket hats were invented in Ecuador, and not in Panama, as one might logically think.
3. Venezuela.
   In Venezuela, where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo, cascades of lightning can be observed almost continuously at night. The phenomenon occurs 140,160 times a year, each session lasts up to 10 hours with a frequency of up to 280 lightning strikes per hour and is not accompanied by any sounds. The phenomenon is explained by winds coming from the Andes, which cause thunderstorms, as well as swampy soils, from which methane gas is released, fueling lightning discharges.

   Do you know where there was no rainfall at all for four centuries? The Atacama Desert, located in northern Chile, in South America, is considered the driest desert on Earth: some facts indicate that there was no precipitation here from 1570 to 1971. Now the average precipitation is 1 mm per year, and in some In some places they even occur once a decade. Therefore, the air humidity here is 0%. The local mountains, whose height is about 7,000 meters, do not have an ice cap at all.
   But recently nature presented the Atacama with an amazing surprise. On May 19, 2010, snow fell here, as a result of which several cities were covered with snowdrifts. And while adults were clearing snow debris, Chilean children were making snowmen for the first time.

4. Did you know that the name of the archipelago at the southern tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego, has nothing to do with volcanoes? Indeed, it is logical to assume that this name was born in connection with the great volcanic activity of this region. But in fact there is not a single volcano on this archipelago. Then why? The navigator Magellan is to blame for everything. Once in 1520, he was sailing along the Strait, which would later become the Strait of Magellan, and looked at the lights. According to one version, the aborigines of the islands saw ships sailing close to the shore and warned each other about the danger with signal fires; according to another version, the aborigines burned fires simply because it was dark. In any case, Magellan saw a lot of fires, he decided not to go to this land just in case of fire, and on the map he designated it as Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fires or Bonfires). The fact is that in Portuguese (and Magellan was just Portuguese) fire and bonfire are denoted by one word fuego. Therefore, cartographers subsequently, without fully understanding what Magellan wanted to say, turned this name into Tierra del Fuego, the words are the same, but it sounds more beautiful

Brazil is a country dotted with beautiful beaches and even more beautiful people. It boasts some of the most stunningly beautiful scenery, delicious food and impressive looking (and strong) cocktails.

Brazil is to coffee lovers what Italy is to pizza lovers, as the country is the largest exporter of almost everyone's favorite morning drink. However, in addition to coffee, beautiful women and drinks, Brazil has a huge variety to offer the adventurous traveler.

For hundreds of years, Brazilian culture has been an exquisite blend of ethnic traditions and stunning artistry. It gave birth to some of the most recognizable masterpieces of music and dance, including bossa nova, samba and capoeira. This country is also widely known as a leader in football. Her team has won the FIFA World Cup a record five times: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002. So it's fair to assume that you'll want to know more about this popular and frequently visited South American country. We present to your attention 25 interesting facts about Brazil.

25. The word “Brazil”, which means “red as coal”, comes from the Brazil tree (caesalpinia). These trees, which produce a dark red dye, once grew in abundance along the Brazilian coast. Caesalpinia wood was prized by European traders who arrived from the Portuguese coast in the sixteenth century to trade with the Tupí-Guaraní Indians.

24. The Portuguese officially named Brazil "Terra do Santa Cruz" (Land of the Holy Cross), but traders simply called it "Terra do Brasil".

23. Brazil is the sixth largest country in the world with a population of 200 million people and the fifth largest land area. Its area is 8,514,877 square kilometers. It is also the largest country in South America.

22. The Amazon rainforest is the largest in the world and contains one fifth of the world's fresh water. It also produces a third of the Earth's oxygen. About sixty percent of the Amazon is in Brazil.

21. Brazil is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world and the only one in the Americas, as the rest speak Spanish.

20. Brazil is home to the world's most famous carnival: Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, often called "the world's biggest party."

19. Brazil's national football team is one of the most successful in the world when it comes to the FIFA World Cup. They won five times: in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002.

18. Brazil has more than four thousand airports, making it the second country in the world in terms of the number of airports, second only to the United States.

17. The flag of Brazil is one of the most well-known, but not many understand its meaning: the green color represents the forests of Brazil, the yellow diamond represents its mineral wealth, and the blue circle and stars represent the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of November 15, 1889 when Brazil declared itself a republic.

16. It is believed that during the slave trade, about four million slaves were transported from Africa to Brazil, which is about forty-five percent of all slaves brought to the Americas. In other words, contrary to popular belief, Brazil had more slaves than the United States.

15. This year will make history as the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics and the second Latin American city to host the event, after Mexico City in 1968.

14. Brazil was the first country to ban tanning salons and the purchase or sale of tanning equipment. This law was the result of the work of the World Health Organization, which classified indoor tanning beds as a level 1 carcinogen, along with plutonium and cigarettes.

13. Since 2008, gender reassignment surgeries have been performed here free of charge, in accordance with the rules of the Brazilian public health system.

12. The country's most famous slogan is “Ordem e Progresso,” which means “order and progress.”

11. Bossa Nova is a genre of Brazilian music that originated and was popularized in the 1950s and 60s. At the moment it is one of the most famous Brazilian music genres abroad. "The Girl From Ipanema" is the most famous bossa nova song: it became an international hit in the mid-1960s, winning a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965.

10. Brazil's national drink, which has become one of the most famous exotic cocktails in most parts of the West over the past few years, is the caipirinha, which is a sugarcane liqueur called cachaça mixed in a glass with sugar, ice and squeezed lime slices.

9. In the 1980s, Brazil became the first South American country to begin accepting women into the armed forces.

8. Brazil boasts the largest population of Catholics in the world, making up sixty-six percent of the population or 130 million people.

7. For 150 years, Brazil has been the largest exporter in the world. In the 1920s it supplied about eighty percent of the world's coffee, but this figure has now fallen to about a third.

6. Believe it or not, Osama Bin Laden-themed bars are quite popular in Brazil. By the way, there is a bar there called “Bar do Bin Laden in São Paulo” (Bin Laden’s Bar in Sao Paulo), owned by Osama’s double. There is also a bar called “Caverna do Bin Laden” (Bin Laden’s Cave), which is located a few kilometers from Rio de Janeiro.

5. In the 1959 city council elections in Sao Paulo, Cacareco, a five-year-old female rhinoceros from the local zoo, surprisingly won. Not only did she win, but she did so by a large margin, receiving 100,000 votes (fifteen percent of the total).

4. On January 27, 1763, the colonial administration of Portuguese America was moved from El Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. The city remained largely a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese royal family and most of its associated nobles moved to Rio de Janeiro from Lisbon to escape Napoleon's invasion of Portugal. This event made Rio de Janeiro the only European capital in history to be located outside of Europe.

3. Brazil was the only independent South American country to send ground forces to fight in World War II, producing more than 25,000 soldiers.

2. Brazil distributes breast milk throughout the country to babies whose mothers cannot provide it for them.

1. Brazilian prisoners can reduce their prison sentence by four days for every book they read and write a report on. In other words, Brazil's prison system is diligently trying to educate its prisoners.

South America is a continent located in the Southern and Western Hemispheres. It is surrounded on the west by the Pacific and on the east by the Atlantic oceans. This land is rich in stunning natural beauty, it keeps the secrets of ancient civilizations, colorful peoples and tribes lost in the jungle live here. Interesting facts about South America:

Everyone knows the fact that America was discovered by Columbus in 1492. But it got its name in honor of the navigator from Florence Amerigo Vespucci. It was he who first suggested that the lands found were not India, but the New World.

In 1541, the Spaniard Francisco Orellana discovered the longest and deepest river in the world - the Amazon. The length of the river is almost 7000 km. His expedition was the first to sail along the length of the entire river.

The area of ​​the Amazon basin can be compared in size to the area of ​​Australia. And this is about 7200 square kilometers.

Titicaca is considered the highest lake in the world on which ships can sail. This picturesque lake is located in the Andes mountains between Peru and Bolivia. The height of the lake above sea level is 3812m.

Maracaibo is the largest and oldest lake on Earth. This is the pride and important source of wealth for Venezuela, because there are many oil deposits here. On the southern and western shores of Maracaibo, tribes cut off from civilization have lived in houses on stilts since ancient times.

South America is rich in waterfalls. And not the simplest ones, but the very best. Angel is the highest (1054 m) waterfall in the world. It is located in the tropics of Venezuela.

The most powerful and full-flowing waterfalls are located on the border of Brazil and Argentina. This fantastic complex of Iguazu Falls is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

An interesting fact about South America is that this continent is considered the wettest on Earth.

Brazil is the largest country in South America. It is famous for its annual carnival extravaganza.

One of the most popular attractions in South America is the unique ancient city among the clouds, or the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu. It is located in Peru at an altitude of 2450m above sea level. To preserve the ancient city, the Peruvian government is forced to limit the number of tourist visits to 2,500 per day.

The statue of Christ on Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro is the hallmark of Brazil. Her height is 38m and her arm span is 28m. From the height of the foot of the Statue of Christ, a breathtaking view of Rio de Janeiro and its surroundings opens.

The huge continent of South America, open to Europeans in the era of great navigators, is a real treasure trove of ancient cultures, traditions and customs. Despite centuries under the rule of colonialists, many local peoples retained their traditional way of life, and those that were assimilated gave birth to an amazing cocktail of Indian and European cultures.

1. The largest South American country is Brazil. Next comes Argentina. Both of these states are the 6th and 7th in area among all countries in the world, respectively (see).
2. The average altitude of South America above sea level reaches almost 600 meters. 580 to be exact.
3. It is in South America that the wettest populated area on earth is located. This is the Colombian city of Buenaventura, where it rains more than anywhere else.
4. The driest of the hot deserts, the Atacama, is also located on the South American mainland. There hasn't been proper rain here for about 400 years (see).
5. In most countries in South America, the official language is Spanish, but other languages ​​are also common.
6. About half of the total South American population lives in Brazil. They speak the local dialect of Portuguese here.
7. In most large South American cities there are bad areas where even the police usually do not go. In Brazil they are called favelas, in some other countries - vizhs.
8. Ushuaia, the southernmost city on the planet, is located in South America. Standing on its shore and looking south, you realize that there, beyond the horizon, lies only one land - Antarctica (see).
9. Not all former New World colonies are South American. Many people confuse South America with Latin. The first is a geographical definition, and the second is rather ethnographic.
10. The only English-speaking country on the South American continent is Guyana, one of the poorest countries in the world.
11. French is also common here. It is spoken in French Guiana, an overseas possession of France.
12. The vast majority of the population of South America are Catholic Christians.
13. The Incan and Mayan empires once existed here, but they were crushed by the conquistador conquerors.
14. In Argentina and Uruguay, the majority of the population is direct descendants of the Spaniards and Italians, and the locals look like Europeans. And the largest Indian populations are in Bolivia and Peru (see).
15. South America is home to the highest capital in the world, La Paz. True, this city is the capital of Bolivia only in fact, and not in name.
16. The South American salt flat of Uyuni, formed on the site of a dry lake, turns into the world's largest mirror during the rainy season.
17. In Paraguay, one of the countries in South America, duels are still allowed.
18. Among all the continents of the Earth, South America is the wettest.
19. The most famous waterfalls in the world are also located in South America. Angel is the tallest of them, and Iguazu is the most powerful (see).
20. Lake Titicaca, located here, is the highest navigable lake in the world.
21. In total, South America is home to 12 independent states plus dependent territories of other countries.
22. In the Republic of Chile, from 10 to 25% of the population, according to various estimates, come from the Spanish Basque Country and their direct descendants.
23. In Chile, about 3% of the population are ethnic Croats, and about half a million people are Germans.
24. The only country in South America where Dutch is spoken is Suriname, a former colony of the Netherlands.
25. In Bolivia and Peru, drinks infused with coca leaves are popular, but they cannot be exported to other countries.
26. It was here, in Argentina and Uruguay, that such a popular dance as tango originated.
27. The most popular sport in all South American countries is football.

There is a very interesting continent on our planet that we can talk about endlessly - this is South America.

South America is the fourth largest continent. The continent's area is 17.8 million km², population is 387,489,196 (2011) people (4th place among continents). On its territory there are 12 independent states and one overseas department of France - Guiana, by the way, the official currency of this territory is the euro)

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The largest river in the world flows through this continent. The Amazon is about 7,000 km long. rivaling in length the Nile and more than half a thousand tributaries. The basin of this river is larger in area than Australia. In addition, you can get from the Amazon to the Orinoco, since there is a natural connection between the two water basins. It is carried out through the Casiquiare River (326 km long).

Venezuela is home to Maracaibo, the largest and second oldest lake on Earth. This is the pride and important source of wealth for Venezuela, because there are many oil deposits here. On the southern and western shores of Maracaibo, tribes cut off from civilization have lived in houses on stilts since ancient times.

It is in South America that the highest waterfall in the world is located - Angel, whose height is 1059 meters. The height of continuous free fall is 807 meters.

The largest salt flat in the world, the Salar de Uyuni is a dry salt lake in the south of the Altiplano desert plain, Bolivia at an altitude of about 3650 m above sea level. It has an area of ​​10,588 km² and is the largest salt marsh in the world. Due to its large size, flat surface and high albedo in the presence of a thin layer of water, as well as minimal changes in altitude, the Uyuni Salar is an ideal tool for testing and calibrating remote sensing instruments on orbiting satellites. Uyuni's clear skies and dry air allow satellites to be calibrated five times better than using the ocean surface.

Also on the continent is the highest navigable lake in the world - Titicaca. This picturesque lake is located in the Andes mountains between Peru and Bolivia. The height of the lake above sea level is 3812m.

Another world record holder is Mount Cotopaxi, which is the highest active volcano with a height reaching almost 6000 meters.

On the territory of the state of Chile there is a desert in which there has been no rain for 400 years, hence the Atacama Desert. It is considered the driest place on the planet.

The Colca Canyon, in Peru, which has a depth twice as deep as the famous American Grand Canyon, is located in the province of Cayoma, 148 km northeast of Arequipa. The Canyon is considered the deepest in the world. From the observation deck of Cruz Del Codor there is an unforgettable view of the canyon, at the bottom of which, at a depth of 1200 m, the Kolka River flows, and on the opposite side Mount Misti rises.

The summit of the Chimborazo volcano is the most distant point on the planet from the center of the Earth. Its height is 6267 m above sea level. If you measure the height of the mountain from the center of the Earth, the Chimborazo volcano will be several kilometers higher than Everest (6384.4 km versus 6381 km from the center of the planet)

Mount Roraima in South America. Located at the junction of Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana. The top of Roraima is a plateau with an area of ​​about 30 km². The height of the mountain is almost 3 km. In the clouds, the mountain looks like a huge ship sailing out of the fog. Roraima inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write his novel The Lost World.

The Licancabur volcano is located almost exactly on the border between Chile and Bolivia. In the crater on the top of the volcano at an altitude of 5916 m, over the many centuries that have passed since the last eruption, presumably more than 500–1000 years ago, a lake has managed to form, which is considered the highest mountain lake on Earth and most of the time, due to the fact that temperatures at this altitude they drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius, it is under the ice. Next to the volcano, on the Bolivian side, at an altitude of 4300 m, there is the salt lake Green Lagoon, which got its name for the emerald green color of its waters due to the copper mineral salts dissolved in it, on the surface of which you can even see people dancing in the salty crumbs flamingos and absolutely enchanting landscapes.

In the Patagonian Mountains in Chile there is a lake called Lago General Carrera, which is very popular among tourists. Its main feature is the Marble Caves (Las cavernas de marmol in Spanish). The lake is shared by Chile and Argentina, but the caves, located on a limestone peninsula, belong to Chile. The beauty of this Marble Cathedral (the second name of the caves) fascinates all beholders.

Caño Cristales (Crystal River) or the River of Five Colors, as it is called by locals, originates in the south of the Macarena mountain range, in Colombia, and flows east to its confluence with the Guayabero River. There are five colors found in the Caño Cristales bed: yellow, blue, green, black and red. All of them are a product of the vital activity of numerous algae and, depending on the time of year, the color saturation either weakens or intensifies. The Cristales flows in the jungle, its length does not reach 100 kilometers, and its width is 20 meters. There are no fish in the river.

In Venezuela, you can observe an unusual natural phenomenon - “Catatumbo lightning”, which occurs above the confluence of the Catatumbo River into Lake Maracaibo. The phenomenon is expressed in the occurrence of many lightning strikes continuously over a long period of time, mainly at night and with strong variation depending on the time of year (maximums occur in May and October). The probability of a lightning strike in this area is the highest in the world: 250 lightning strikes per square kilometer per year. The number of thunderstorm days per year varies from 70 to 200; at the peak of activity, which occurs from 19:00 to 04:00, up to 28 lightning strikes per minute are observed. Lightning can be seen from a distance of up to 400 km, which has given rise to the myth that lightning exists without accompanying acoustic effects. Due to the good visibility of these lightning bolts from a great distance, they were even used for navigation, which is why the phenomenon is also known as the “Maracaibo Lighthouse”. Catatumbo lightning is believed to be the largest single generator of tropospheric ozone on Earth. Winds coming from the Andes cause thunderstorms. Methane, which is rich in the atmosphere of these wetlands, rises to the clouds, fueling lightning strikes.

It is in South America that the “Pacific Ring of Fire” ends, which is the zone of the largest concentration of volcanoes and earthquakes in the world. There are about 450 volcanoes along the perimeter of this ring, and earthquakes can even occur here several times a day.

The most powerful and full-flowing waterfalls are located on the border of Brazil and Argentina. This fantastic complex of Iguazu Falls is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

In Brazil, at a depth of about 4,000 meters, scientists have discovered the longest underground river in the world. The river, originating in the foothills of the Andes, is 6 thousand kilometers long and stretches from west to east to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean almost under the Amazon River basin. This scientific discovery became public in August 2011 after a report made at a meeting of the Brazilian Geophysical Society in Rio de Janeiro. The river is unofficially named Hamza in honor of the pioneering scientist Walia Hamza. . The study found that, with the exception of flow direction, the Amazon (aboveground) and Hamza (underground) rivers have significantly different characteristics, the most obvious of which are their width and flow speed. However, the flow speed in the Amazon is five meters per second, and the speed in the underground river does not exceed 1 millimeter per second.

Brazil is the largest and most populous country on the continent. Territory - 8,515,770 km², which is 5.7% of the entire land area of ​​the world. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world in terms of area and population. The capital is Brasilia. The famous city of Rio de Janeiro,

Chile is the longest (4300 km), narrowest (max 200 km, min 80 km) and southernmost (900 km from Antarctica) country in the world. The narrow Chilean strip was described by writer Benjamin Subercaseu as an exaggerated "geographical madness".