Top 10 ge­og­ra­phy of South America facts

Chimborazo, Ecuador, elevation 6,268 m (20,564 ft). Chimborazo location along the equatorial bulge makes its summit the farthest point on the Earth's surface from the Earth's center. Despite being 2,580 m (8,465 ft) lower in elevation above sea level than Mount Everest, it is 2,168 m (7,113 ft) farther from the Earth's center.

None. The Portuguese were the Europeans who encountered Guanabara Bay on January 1,1502. They took it for a large river, which they named "Rio de Janeiro" ("January River"). Later it was discovered, that the presumed river was in fact a gulf, but the name remained.

U.S. dollar. Just like Panama and El Salvador, the official currency of Ecuador is the U.S. Dollar. The switch from Sucre to USD in 2000 helped the country to achieve economic stability. Ecuador also issues centavo coins (but no banknotes), identical in size and value to their U.S. cent counterparts.

In South America. The Guiana Space Centre is a French and European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana since 1968. The location was chosen as it fulfils the two major geographical requirements of such a site: it is quite close to the equator, so that the spinning earth can impart some extra velocity to the rockets for free when launched eastward, and it has open sea to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures cannot fall on human habitations.

Atacama. The Atacama is the driest of all deserts, with some places having recorded no rain in living memory. It extends along the Pacific coast, forming a huge strip of arid, hostile beach. The average rainfall in the Antofagasta region is 1 millimeter (0.04 in) per year.

Flor de Maio (May flower). In Brazil, the genus is referred to as Flor de Maio (May flower), reflecting the period in which they flower in the Southern hemisphere.

Rio de Janeiro. Rio was the capital of Brazil from 1763 to 1960, both during the Portuguese colonial era and as an independent nation. With the population of 6.3 million, it is the second largest city in Brazil, after São Paulo (11M).

In South America. Electric eels inhabit muddy waters of the Amazon and Orinoco basins floodplains and swamps. Fortunately, these are remote and uninhabited areas, as electric eels can easily kill a human. Although it doesn't eat such large animals (it has no teeth and can swallow only small mammals), a series of electric shocks is enough to stun and drown a horse.

Inland. There is only one ahu (group of statues), Ahu Akivi, with moai facing the ocean. It is unusual also by being one of the few inland ahus. At all other ahus (including all coastal ones) moai face inland.

São Paulo with its 11 Million inhabitants (up to 27M in Greater São Paulo) is the largest city not only in Brazil, but also the largest in the southern hemisphere and the Americas.