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South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers (6,890,000 sq mi). Its population as of 2021 [update] has been estimated at more than 434 million. [ 1 ][ 2 ] South America ranks fourth in area (after Asia, Africa, and North America) and fifth in population (after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America).
UN M49 code. 019 – Americas 001 – World. 1990s CIA political map of the Americas in Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection. The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, [ 5 ][ 6 ][ 7 ] are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America. [ 8 ][ 9 ][ 10 ] The Americas make up most of the land in Earth 's ...
Geographically, South America is generally considered a continent forming the southern portion of the landmass of the Americas, south and east of the Colombia–Panama border by most authorities, or south and east of the Panama Canal by some. South and North America are sometimes considered a single continent or supercontinent, while ...
The Spanish Empire claimed jurisdiction over the New World in the Caribbean and North and South America, with the exception of Brazil, ceded to Portugal by the Treaty of Tordesillas. Other European powers, including England, France, and the Dutch Republic, took possession of territories initially claimed by Spain.
North America is the third largest continent, and is also a portion of the third largest supercontinent if North and South America are combined into the Americas and Africa, Europe, and Asia are considered to be part of one supercontinent called Afro-Eurasia. With an estimated population of 580 million and an area of 24,709,000 km 2 (9,540,000 ...
The border between North America and South America is at some point on the Darién Mountains watershed that divides along the Colombia–Panama border where the isthmus meets the South American continent (see Darién Gap). Virtually all atlases list Panama as a state falling entirely within North America and/or Central America. [115] [116]
The history of South America is the study of the past, particularly the written record, oral histories, and traditions, passed down from generation to generation on the continent of South America. The continent continues to be home to indigenous peoples, some of whom built high civilizations prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late 1400s ...
In the following years, other maps were printed that often incorporated the name America. In 1538, Gerardus Mercator used America to name both the North and South continents on his influential map. By this point the name had been securely fixed on the New World. [50] In 1513 Waldseemüller published a new map with the New World labelled "Terra ...