Pan-American Highway (South America) among these countries. It is crossed by three large rivers, but an international system of ferries helps cross these natural obstacles. The highway begins its path through South America in Colombia. However, a branch called the Simon Bolivar Highway runs through Venezuela. This stretch of the highway is an important link between Caracas and Bogotá. The road begins as Venezuela Highway 9 in Güiria, a small town in the state of Sucre just west of Trinidad along the Gulf of Paria coastline. From Güiria, the highway winds west towards the town of Yaguaraparo. Once the highway reaches Yaguaraparo, on the
History of South America the continent of North America via the Panama Block that closed the marine Bolivar Trough, leading to the Great American Interchange, the interchange of biota from both continents. The first species discovered to have made the northward migration was "Pliometanastes", a fossil ground sloth species, roughly the size of a modern black bear. Several migrations to the Southern Hemisphere were undertaken by tougher, North American mammal carnivores; fewer species migrated in the opposite direction from south to north. The result of the intrusion of North American fauna was that hundreds of South American species became extinct in a relatively short