Geography of South America Great American Interchange. The Andes, likewise a comparatively young and seismically restless mountain range, runs down the western edge of the continent; the land to the east of the northern Andes is largely tropical rain forest, the vast Amazon River basin. The continent also contains drier regions such as eastern Patagonia and the extremely arid Atacama desert. The South American continent also includes various islands, most of which belong to countries on the continent. The Caribbean territories are grouped with North America. The South American nations that border the Caribbean Sea—including Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana—are also known
Land use statistics by country wood or timber. Other lands are any lands not arable or under permanent crops; this includes permanent meadows and pastures, forests and woodlands, built-on areas, roads, barren land, etc. Percentage figures for arable land, permanent crops land and other lands are all taken from CIA World Factbook as well as total land area figures (note that total area of a country is a sum of total land area and total water area). All other figures, including total cultivated land area, are calculated on the basis of this mentioned data. Land use statistics by country This article includes the table with