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232 People and Places
The triangular-shaped continent of South America
stretches from north of the Equator almost down
to the Antarctic Circle. It contains three very
different landscapes. In the
west, the Andes tower up 6,959 m
(22,833 ft) in height, forming a backbone
down the entire length of the
continent along the Pacific Ocean coast. Dense
rainforests in the humid Amazon valley and
along the Caribbean coast cover much of the
north and northeast. In the south, windswept
grasslands and dry pampas roll down to the
cold, rocky point of the continent at Cape Horn.
1 SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
One of the biggest cities in the world and also one of the
fastest growing, greater São Paulo has a population of
around 20 million people. Because much of the interior
of South America is uninhabitable, all its biggest cities
are on the coast. Many people move to these cities in
search of work and a better standard of living.
PERUVIAN TEXTILES 3
The hand-woven, brightly coloured woollen
textiles worn by these Peruvian women are
based on traditional Indian designs that
have been handed down through
the generations.
1 THE ANDES
The world’s longest mountain chain, the Andes,
runs 7,250 km (4,505 miles) down the western edge
of South America. Its steep slopes are terraced to
grow barley, potatoes, and wheat on its colder, upper
slopes, and coffee, tobacco, and corn on the warmer, lower slopes.
South America
4 ATACAMA DESERT
The Atacama Desert in
northern Chile is the driest
place on Earth – in places it has
not rained at all for a century.
When rain does fall, devastating
flash floods are often the result.
There are huge deposits of
copper under its sun-baked
rocks and shifting sands.