Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean

10 00 S, 55 00 W

South America

total: 8,511,965 sq km
land: 8,456,510 sq km
water: 55,455 sq km
note: includes Arquipelago de Fernando de Noronha, Atol das Rocas,
Ilha da Trindade, Ilhas Martin Vaz, and Penedos de Sao Pedro e Sao
Paulo

slightly smaller than the US

total: 14,691 km
border countries: Argentina 1,224 km, Bolivia 3,400 km, Colombia 1,643
km, French Guiana 673 km, Guyana 1,119 km, Paraguay 1,290 km, Peru
1,560 km, Suriname 597 km, Uruguay 985 km, Venezuela 2,200 km

7,491 km

contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

mostly tropical, but temperate in south

mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills,
mountains, and narrow coastal belt

lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pico da Neblina 3,014 m

bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel,
phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber

arable land: 5%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 22%
forests and woodland: 58%
other: 14% (1993 est.)

28,000 sq km (1993 est.)

recurring droughts in northeast; floods and
occasional frost in south

deforestation in Amazon Basin destroys
the habitat and endangers the existence of a multitude of plant and
animal species indigenous to the area; air and water pollution in Rio
de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and several other large cities; land
degradation and water pollution caused by improper mining activities
note: President CARDOSO in September 1999 signed into force an
environmental crime bill which for the first time defines pollution
and deforestation as crimes punishable by stiff fines and jail
sentences

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

largest country in South America; shares common
boundaries with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador