1
20
Geography
5. THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OF CENTRAL AND
SOUTH AMERICA
5.1. The relief and waters
There are two important groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea: the
Greater Antilles
(Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Jamaica) and the
Lesser Antilles
(Guadalupe,
Martinique, Trinidad…) which are mostly volcanic.
In the relief of South America the most important mountain range is the
Andes
. It runs
parallel to the Pacific coast. The highest mountain is
Aconcagua
, at 6962 m. It is recently
formed (alpine orogeny) and so there are many volcanoes, such as Chimborazo and
Cotopaxi. There is an older and lower mountain range in the eastern area.
Between both mountain areas are great plains, such as
Los Llanos
in Venezuela, crossed
by the Orinoco River; the
Amazon
plain (with the
Amazon
River, the longest and largest
river in the world, in terms of volume); the
Mato Grosso
plateau and the
Chaco
and
La
Pampa
plains, which the Paraná River flows through. At the river mouth, it is called the
Río de la Plata.
The
Galapagos Islands
or Archipiélago de Colón, is an important archipelago in South
America. Important lakes are the
Maracaibo
, which connects with the Caribbean Sea in
the north and Titicaca in the Andes, at an altitude of 3800 m.
Central America connects North America and South America. It covers the isthmus that
joins the two continents, and the Antilles.
Central America is an area of great seismic activity. For this reason, there are many
volcanoes (Agua and Fuego) and volcanic lakes (Lake Nicaragua).
Altitude (metres)
4000
2000-4000
1000-2000
500-1000
200-500
0-200
Atacama
Desert
Guiana
Massif
A
N
D
E
S
Altiplano
A
m
a
z
o
n
P
l
a
i
n
P
a
m
p
a
s
P
a
t
a
g
o
n
i
a
G
r
a
n
C
h
a
c
o
Plains
Mato Grosso
Plateau
Tierra
de Fuego
Aconcagua
6 962
Ojos del Salado
6 880
Tropic of Cancer
Equator
Tropic of Capricorn
Gulf of
Panama
Gulf of Guayaquil
Falkland Islands
Martinique
Guadeloupe
Jamaica
Cuba
Galapagos Islands
L
e
s
s
e
r
La Española
Pen.
de Yucatán
Cape São Roque
Cape Horn
I
s
t
h
m
u
s
o
f
T
e
h
u
a
n
t
e
p
e
c
Magellan Strait
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
Caribbean Sea
AT L A N T I C
O C E A N
Paraná
Río de la Plata
U
r
u
g
u
a
y
A
m
a
z
o
n
O
r
i
n
o
c
o
Lake
Titicaca
Lake
Nicaragua
SOUTH
AMERICA
Punta Negra
CENTRAL AMERICA
G
r
e
a
t
e
r
A
n
t
i
l
l
e
s
Puerto Rico
A
n
t
i
l
l
e
s
Lake
Macaraibo
2 000 km
0
1:94 547 000
N
100º W
120º W
60º W
40º W
40º S
20º S
20º N
Rivers and lakes
Length/
surface area
Amazon
7062 km
Orinoco
2140 km
Paraná
4880 km
Lake Nicaragua
8264 km
2
Lake Maracaibo
13280 km
2
Lake Titicaca
8300 km
2
San Rafael waterfalls (Ecuador)
Toucan
