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
Continent of Australia. Pacific islands with ties to other continents (such as Japan, Hawaii or Easter Island) are usually grouped with those continents rather than Oceania. This term is used in several different continental models instead of Australia. The following table summarizes the area and population of each continental region using the seven continent model. The total land area of all continents is , or 29.1% of earth's surface (). Aside from the conventionally known continents, the scope and meaning of the term "continent" varies. Supercontinents, largely in evidence earlier in the geological record, are landmasses that comprise more than one