2nd+Task

=SOUTH AMERICAN FACTS:= Let's review some South America facts to help you to get acquainted with it, or simply to refresh some basic facts and figures as a manner of introduction. The Western Hemisphere, or the Americas as they are commonly known, is composed by North America and South America, covering an area of 8.3% of the Earth's total surface and an estimated population of around 900 million or 13.5% of the total. South America is the fourth largest continent in the world with aprox. 17,849,000 square km. (6,890,000 square miles) and a population of 371,090,000, estimated by 2005. Connected through the isthmus of Panama to its northern counterpart, it is bordered by the Pacific ocean to the West and Atlantic ocean to the North and East. The Caribbean sea is to the NW. South America broke off from the West of the supercontinent Gondwanaland around 135 million years ago. It is politically divided into twelve sovereign states: [|Argentina], [|Bolivia] , [|Brazil] , [|Chile] , [|Colombia] , [|Ecuador] , [|Guyana] , [|Paraguay] , [|Peru] , [|Suriname] , [|Uruguay] and [|Venezuela] , plus the overseas administration of [|French Guiana]. Predominant languages spoken in South America are Spanish and Portuguese (Portuguese is the official language of [|Brazil], the biggest country in the continent). There are small enclaves of other spoken languages such as French ( [|French Guiana] ), English ( [| Guyana] and Falkland Islands - also known as Islas Malvinas - and Dutch, official language of [|Suriname] . As for native, indigenous languages, we find predominantly **Aymara** (around 2.2 million speakers) in the [|Andean] region of [|Bolivia] and [|Peru], **Guarani** (up to 6 million speakers) in [|Argentina] , [|Bolivia] , [|Brazil] and [|Paraguay] and the largest: **Quechua**, with some 10-13 million speakers spread over NW [|Argentina] , Northern [|Chile] , [|Ecuador] , [|Bolivia] and [|Peru].   Religious faith in South America is predominantly represented by Roman Catholicism - around 93% of the total population, followed by Protestantism and Judaism ( [|Argentina] has the largest Jewish community). There are some indigenous religions in the [|Andean] region, embracing NW [|Argentina], northern [|Chile] , [|Bolivia] , [|Ecuador] and [|Peru]. [|Brazil], on the other hand, has many African and afro-derived religions. = STOPPING POINT: AT THIS POINT, DECIDE WHICH SOVEREIGN STATE OR STATES IN SOUTH AMERICA YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE YOUR TRAVEL ITINERARY ABOUT. IF YOU ARE NOT SURE, YOU CAN CLICK ON THE NAME OF THE STATE ABOVE YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN TO MAKE SURE YOU DO WANT TO TRAVEL THERE. TAKE SOME TIME TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE! AFTER GOING TO A WEBSITE FROM CLICKING ON A SOVEREIGN STATE NAME, YOU CAN PUSH THE BACK ARROW TO COME BACK TO THIS PAGE. =

DO NOT GO TO THE NEXT PAGE (3RD TASK) UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT STATE OR STATES YOU ARE CHOOSING. I WOULD PICK 2 OR 3 FOR NOW AND YOU CAN ALWAYS CHANGE YOUR MIND LATER. YOU MAY WANT TO COME BACK TO THIS PAGE TO HELP YOU MAKE YOUR ITINERARY.

Overall, take some time to see what these 12 sovereign states in South America have to offer.