The southerly half of the new world has 13 countries, nine of which are united by the Spanish language. Outliers are Portuguese-speaking Brazil – accounting for the continent’s largest population and area – English-speaking Guyana, French-speaking French Guiana and Dutch-speaking Suriname. Because of Brazil’s size, half of all South Americans speak Portuguese. Minorities speak indigenous languages (Aymará, Quechua, Guaraní and Mapudungun) and those of immigrants from abroad.
From tropical rainforests in Columbia and Brazil to Patagonian glaciers in Chile and Argentina, the landscape changes dramatically from north to south. In the middle it’s more temperate, which makes for excellent winemaking (hello Malbec). Peru boasts the highest navigable lake in the world (Titicaca), Bolivia the biggest salt flat (Uyuni), and Brazil and Argentina the largest waterfall (Iguazu). South America also has the planet’s longest continental mountain range (Andes) and largest river (Amazon). Clearly, this is a continent of natural wonders. It’s also known for archeology, sensuality (think tango) and vibrancy.
South America has many islands, the best known of which are the mysterious Easter Island (Chile), reptilian Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), and British-owned sea life sanctuaries of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.
Coffee is a hot commodity. It’s the world’s most traded foodstuff, worth more than $100 billion, and grown in 50+ countries in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Yet it’s more widely consumed where it isn’t grown and several countries have unique coffee preparation and drinking habits. My cup of Starbuck’s java inspired a trip around the world …
Chile is arguably the most oddly shaped country in the world; it’s like a long stick. Even more odd is that this stick doesn’t need to beat back tourists (at least not yet) as each nodule on it represents a different climate and ecosystem. Included are outstanding agriculture and viticulture. Thank goodness for the latter when visiting a friend in Santiago.
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Denmark is about 50 times smaller than Greenland with only 2 percent of its land space (43,000 vs. 2 million km2). However, Greenland has 1 percent of Denmark’s population (58,000 vs. 5.9 million).
