South America is the fourth largest continent in the World, and the southern continent of the Americas. South America was named by cartographers Matthias Ringmann and Martin Waldseemüller in 1507. The continent has an area of almost 3.5% of the Earth’s total surface. It is connected to North America by the Isthmus of Panama.

There are 12 politically independent courtiers in South America. The cultures and traditions vary from one country to the other. Native people make up a considerable portion of population in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Paraguay. Brazil is the home to biggest Afro-Latin population in South America. Unlike other countries, Suriname is the only country with an Asian Majority. Also a significant number of Japanese and Chinese communities live in Brazil and Peru.

As a multicultural continent many countries follow different languages. Spanish and Portuguese are the most spoken languages in the continent. These two languages dominate the population of bigger cultural region of Latin America. Many other languages including Dutch, English, Hindi, etc are found in different parts of the continent. Main source of income include petroleum reserves and tourism.