Test yourself! Take this A Tour of South America Quiz | South America

Answer: Angel Falls

The falls are named after US aviator Jimmie Angel who was the first person to fly over them. Angel Falls stands over 3,200 feet high and has an uninterrupted drop of nearly 2,650 feet. The falls are on the Orinoco River. Victoria Falls lie on the Zambesi River in Southern Africa. Niagara Falls lie between Lakes Erie and Ontario on the US-Canadian border. Wallaman Falls are on Stoney Creek in Australia.

Answer: Chile

The Atacama Desert covers about 41,000 square miles. The desert mostly sits on a plateau region west of the Andes Mountains. The average rainfall is about six-tenths of an inch of rain a year. Some areas of the desert go years between rainfalls. You might live in a more arid area of the world but since where I live (Maryland) can occasionally get an inch of rain in a single heavy storm, the dryness of the Atacama desert is amazing.

Despite the aridity, there is a surprising amount of plant life in the desert.

Answer: Great Britain

The Falkland Islands lie about 300 miles east of Argentina. The group is made up of West Falkland, East Falkland and numerous smaller islands. The Falkland Islands cover about 4,700 square miles but only have about 3,000 inhabitants. Both Spain/Argentina and Britain have had a long-standing dispute over who controls the islands. The Falkland War occurred in 1982.

Answer: people

Numbering over 800, the moai were created between the 12th and 17th centuries. Often thought in popular imagination as heads, the statues include torsos and suggestions of arms and legs. The moai depict various ancestors of the inhabitants of Easter Island.

Easter Island is about 63 square miles (approximately the size of Washington, DC) and has about 6,000 inhabitants. It lies nearly 2,200 miles to the west of Chile.

Answer: Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro had a population (2014) of nearly 6,500,000 people and covers an area of close to 500 square miles. Founded in 1565, the city served as the capital of Brazil from 1763 to 1960. Rio de Janeiro means "river of January" in Portuguese. Rio de Janeiro was awarded the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first city in South America to do so.

Answer: lake

Lake Titicaca sits over 12,500 feet high. It has a surface area of over 3,200 square miles and is about 350 feet deep on average. Because of the elevation of the lake and the area winds, the lake temperature remains in the 50-59 degrees Fahrenheit range year round.

Answer: Amazon River

The Amazon River is over 4,000 miles long. It actually discharges more water per hour than any other world river including the Nile River. The Amazon River drainage basin covers much of northern South America. The Amazon rainforest has over one-third all world species within its borders.

A note about the stamp: Mary Walker was a trained doctor who served as a Union army surgeon during the American Civil War. Captured by the Confederate army when she traveled behind the lines to treat wounded civilians, she is the first and only (to 2016) American woman to ever win the Medal of Honor. I hoped that the connection of her as a woman serving with the army would make you think of the Amazons as female warriors from Ancient Greek History--another male-dominated society.

Answer: Andes Mountains

Mt. Aconcagua rises almost 23,000 feet high--it is the highest mountain outside of Asia. The Andes run for about 4,300 miles and travel through seven nations-- Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. The Andes are rich in animal life with thousands of species. For me, the animals I would first associate with the Andes are the llama and the alpaca.

Answer: Argentina and Chile

Patagonia is the thinly populated area at the southern end of South America. It has a cool and dry climate with seasonal precipitation. Farming and livestock herding are important economic activities.

Answer: Colombia

Panama was under the control of Colombia until the early 20th century. Colombia is the only nation in South America to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean and one on the Caribbean Sea/Atlantic Ocean. Colombia cover over 440,000 square miles and has about 48,000,000 people (2015).