The physiographic location of South America


South America together with the North form a single part of the world – America.

South America, like Africa, is crossed by the equator, so it is located simultaneously in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. But unlike Africa, most of the continent lies south of the equator. Consequently, like in Australia, in most of South America, the seasons change in the opposite direction to our locality: in January, here is the middle of summer, in July – in winter.

Regarding the zero meridian, South America is entirely located in the Western Hemisphere. Therefore, when in Ukraine day, in America – a deep night. South America crosses the Southern Tropic, which runs almost across the middle of the continent, so it, along with Africa and Australia, is attributed to the continents of tropical latitudes. It is also warm throughout the year, but the humidity is much higher. Only the extreme south of the continent reaches moderate latitudes, where in winter on the

plains the air temperature drops to almost 0 ° C.

The shores of South America are washed by two oceans: in the west – Pacific, in the east – Atlantic. The northern coast of the mainland goes to the Caribbean Sea, known in the past by numerous pirate bases. On one of his islands was the legendary Treasure Island. Ocean currents significantly affect the nature of the coasts of the continent.

Due to the fact that the powerful cold Peruvian current passes along the coast of the mainland, the most droughty coastal Atacama Desert is on the wettest continent. Precipitation is only in the form of dew, in some places their number does not exceed 1 mm per year. The cold Falkland current affects the decrease in the moistening of the southeastern coast. And the powerful Brazilian and Guiana warm currents, on the contrary, contribute to the precipitation of a significant amount of precipitation on the eastern shore of the continent.

South America, like Australia, is isolated from other continents. Only the narrow Panama Isthmus, which arose as a result of the last mountain building, connects it with

North America. In 1920, through the isthmus, the Panama Canal, which connected two oceans, was dug. It is now considered a border between the two Americas. In the south of Antarctica South America is separated by the widest in the world Drake Strait-1120 km. Remoteness from other continents determines the uniqueness of the natural conditions of South America, the uniqueness of plant and animal species.

The extreme points of South America are the capes: Galinas in the north, Frower in the south, Parinhas in the west, and Cabo Branco in the east.


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The physiographic location of South America