It is a massive continent, expanding to the north and narrowing to the south. It contains the wettest place on Earth. The nature of this continent is diverse. The Andes mountain ranges stretch throughout west coast. On their slopes, the rains pour out so much water per year that, without draining, it could cover the ground with a layer of up to 15 meters. This is the rainiest continent. But not far from the mountains is the Atacama Desert. This is one of the driest places on Earth: not a single drop of rain falls there for years. On the territory of South America flows the most big river Amazon lands. VegetationSightsAnimals


The main wealth of the mainland vegetable world. He gave humanity such valuable crops as potatoes, chocolate trees, and Hevea rubber plants. The main decoration of the continent is the tropical rainforests where they grow different kinds palm, melon tree, ceiba. The crowns of trees, grasses, and shrubs are arranged in 12 tiers, with the highest of them sometimes rising above the ground up to 100 m. For a naturalist, the forests of South America are a real storeroom that one can only dream of, Dreamland! AnimalsSights Home


This is one of the largest trees in South America. It reaches 3045 m in height, the trunk diameter is 12 m. Brazil nut lives up to 500 years or more. Its large spherical fruits, the size of a small melon, are used to obtain edible and technical grades of oils. The juice of the nut is used as food, and wax is also obtained from it, which is used for candles. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


These are low trees with shiny and thick leaves with inedible fruits. Locals The juice of this plant is consumed as milk. But it flows out of the tree quite slowly: 1 liter of juice flows out of one cut in 1 hour. In addition, this drink must be consumed immediately, as it spoils quickly. When the juice is boiled, wax is released on its surface, which is used to make candles and chewing gum. In addition, the wood from these trees is excellent as building material.. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


This is a fairly large tree, up to m in height, and a fast-growing tree, the appearance of which is somewhat reminiscent of an ordinary oak. The bark is gray, smooth. Breadfruit bears up to 200 fruits per season. These fruits are the staple food for residents tropical islands. They are eaten fried, baked, and boiled. This food tastes like a cross between potatoes and bread. And the fried fruit breadfruit looks like fresh bread. Hence the name. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


Cocoa is a large tree. Reaches a height of 12 m. The fruit of the tree is cm long and resembles a large cucumber or an elongated melon; Fully matures in four months. The fruit contains almond-shaped seeds (cocoa beans) immersed in a sticky liquid that hardens into a whitish pulp when exposed to air. Cocoa beans are the main raw material for the production of chocolate and cocoa powder. Mexican Indians peeled the roasted seeds from the shell, boiled them in water, ground them, added cornmeal, flavored them with vanilla and whipped them into foam. The frozen mass was eaten cold and called “chocolatl.” VegetationAnimalsSights Home


In South America you rarely see a large animal. Sloths, armadillos, anteaters, exotic birds, snakes, countless hordes of insects are the basis of the animal world of this continent. The Amazon rivers are dangerous; they abound with crocodiles and predatory fish piranhas. VegetationSights Home


His height is small, his whole body is covered with a shell, or armor. This armor consists of separate shields fused together. It covers the head, back and tail, leaving only the belly exposed. The armadillo lives in burrows and feeds on worms, insects, fruits and leaves. And in their absence, it destroys bird nests and readily eats mice and snakes. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


The sloth lives high in the canopy of tropical trees. During the day, he usually hangs on a branch with his back down, clinging to it with his fingers. A harmless animal. His method of defense is to remain undetected. At night, he slowly moves along the tree, barely moving his paws, and with his hard, keratinized lips he picks off leaves, flowers, and fruits—this is his food. Drinks dew. The baby is born alone to the mother and at first hangs on her back, tightly grasping the fur with its paws. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


These are the smallest birds in the world. Hummingbirds hardly walk on the ground: they have very weak legs, but they flap their wings very quickly: only a light cloud is visible near their body and a faint noise is heard. The hummingbird's heart is three times larger than its stomach and takes up half the size of the bird's interior. During the day, these crumbs eat three times more food than they weigh themselves. Their body weight is 2-3 grams. Hummingbirds can instantly change direction of flight and hang in the air like bumblebees. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


The tarantula spider is a formidable predator. Lives alone. It makes a hole for itself in cracks between stones, among branches, in hollows, in the ground and entwines it with cobwebs. At night it sits at the edge of the hole, hiding, and guards its prey. Tarantulas weigh up to 100 g and their length reaches 10 cm. These are scary, shaggy spiders. Their brittle hairs hurt more than their bite. They catch small snakes, lizards, frogs, and birds. VegetationAnimalsSights Home




In terms of picturesqueness, the palm belongs to Iguazu Falls. In the language of the Paraguayan Indians, "Iguazu" means "big water." The river descends in two giant leaps. The first jump from a 30-meter height onto a gentle threshold, overflows over it and, making a second jump 50 meters high, collapses into the abyss. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


Machu Picchu is the secret city of the ancient Incas, located in Peru. Translated from the Quechua language it means “great peak”. It is also called “the city in the sky” or “the city among the clouds.” Machu Picchu is located on the top of a mountain range at an altitude of 2057 meters above the Urubamba River valley. According to Indian legends, the supreme rulers of the Inca Empire lived in Machu Picchu. Today, all that remains of the ancient palaces are walls made of volcanic stone. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


This completely white valley seems like a snowy desert to those who see it for the first time. But this is not so: sometimes the air temperature here rises to +45C. The soil of this desert is practically lifeless. In some places you can find low dunes on which rare trees and shrubs grow. Looking around the white desert, thoughts of the seabed involuntarily come to mind. But geologists are quite skeptical about this kind of assumption: the climate in the desert is too dry, and there is too little precipitation here. VegetationAnimalsSights Home


The sculpture of Jesus Christ in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) is one of the Seven Wonders modern world. The length of the statue is 38 meters and it is located on the peak of Mount Corsovado at an altitude of 710 m in the Tijuca Forest - National Park, towering above the city. As a powerful symbol of Christianity, the statue also became a symbol of the city. VegetationAnimalsSights Home

South America- a continent crossed by the equator, with an area of ​​18.13 million km², most of which is located in the Southern Hemisphere. South America is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. The fauna of South America is distinguished by its exceptional richness and diversity of forms. About 1/4 of all bird species live in South America globe, which is 2.5 times more than in the Palearctic. The diversity of modern natural conditions is the first prerequisite that determines the richness of the fauna of South America. Uakari are small monkeys. Their body length is 45-48 cm, and their bushy tail is a third of the whole body. They are the only short-tailed monkeys in South America. They live in the forests of the Amazon, in the crowns of tall trees. They almost never go down to the ground. Their fur is soft, long, and silky. The ocelot is a feline predator. A very rare animal, listed in the Red Book. It is 1 meter in size and has a tail of 40 cm. It lives on the forest slopes of the Andes, at an altitude of up to 4 km. Found at the very edge of the snow, the Capybara is the largest rodent in the world. His body is covered with stiff bristles. There are swimming membranes on the fingers: the capybara swims and dives well. Lives along the banks of rivers, where there is tall grass. Eats aquatic plants.. Chinchilla is a rodent with soft, thick and durable hair. This is a small animal with the habits of a rabbit. Lives on the border of Peru and Chile, at an altitude of 3-6 km, in rock crevices. The maned wolf is a relative of the dog. Lives in the pampas and on the outskirts of swamps, among tall grass. Hunts birds, small animals, insects. Eats fruits and other vegetation. The Andean condor is a huge bird: its wingspan is slightly less than 3 m. It lives in the mountains, at an altitude of up to 5 thousand m, and sometimes higher. Condors live in flocks, but when it comes time to have chicks, they pair up. The manatee is an aquatic animal of the tropics and subtropics. His flippers have flat hoof nails. With their help, the manatee crawls along the bottom and turns over from side to side. It can grasp aquatic plants between its flippers and bring them to its mouth. The mother is very attached to her baby: she hugs him to herself with her flippers and does not leave, even if she herself is in danger. Tropical rainforests - selva - a unique ecosystem of South America The climate in the rainforest is the most even on the planet and does not change in different times In the rural areas, up to 150 species of woody plants can be found on two to three hectares. Unfortunately, forests in the Amazon are now being intensively cut down. Invaluable milky juice of the Brazilian Hevea Invaluable milky juice of the Brazilian Hevea is the main source of natural rubber. If it weren’t for him, scientists would have been looking for ways to make such an irreplaceable material like rubber for a long time. The bottle tree is characteristic of tropical woodlands in the north-east. Brazilian plateau. The trunks of some of them are several meters across. The leaf of the amazing Amazon flower Victoria regia can support a child weighing up to 35 kg. Russian botanist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov (1923-1933), during his expeditions to the mainland, established that the birthplace of plants such as beans, tomatoes, peanuts, pineapple and potatoes is South America. Equatorial forests are replaced by tall grass palm savannas. On the plowed lands of the savannas, not only the plants already mentioned above are grown, but also bananas (2/3 of the world's harvest), the homeland of which is India).

Slide 1

South America

Slide 2

The mainland is almost completely isolated from other continents. Communication with North America across the Isthmus of Panama formed only in the middle of the Cenozoic era. The main part of South America is located between the equator and the southern tropics.

Slide 3

Extreme points: northern - Cape Galinas, southern - m. Frowerd, eastern - Cape Cabo Branco (translated from Portuguese as “white cape”), western - Cape Parinhas. The coastline of the mainland is slightly indented. The banks are mostly flat and straight. Only the southwestern coast of the mainland is indented by fjords (narrow, long bays); there are many small bays, islands, and straits.

Slide 5

Settlement by Indians

Slide 6

Slide 7

The discovery of America by H. Columbus is one of the greatest events of the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. However, there are a number of hypotheses, legends and documents about voyages to the shores of America by inhabitants of Africa and Europe long before Columbus. The great event of 1492, when Spanish ships under the command of H. Columbus reached the shores of the New World, was prepared by the entire course of history - the development of science (Columbus believed that the Earth was spherical), navigation, the interests of trade, the search for new routes from Europe to Asian countries. H. Columbus made four voyages to the shores of America (1492-1504), but never realized what he had discovered New World. He was not interested in the scientific side of his discoveries, but pursued selfish goals of discovering and capturing new territories, and sought to turn open lands into colonies of Spain by military force. The idea that the open lands are not the western shores of India, as H. Columbus believed until the end of his life, but a new part of the world, was first expressed by the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the continent was named (1507).

Slide 8

In 1519, Portuguese ships sailed off the coast of South America round the world expedition F. Magellan, who rightly assumed that, having circumnavigated South America, one could reach Pacific Ocean. F. Magellan discovered the Atlantic coast of South America and the strait between two oceans, which was later named after him. Following the sailors, Spanish and Portuguese conquerors rushed to America, turning the continent into their colonial possessions. Many discoveries and explorations of the continent are associated with the period of colonial conquests. They were attracted by legends about the fabulous riches of the new lands. Thus, the Italian navigator, who was in the Spanish service, S. Cabot, in search of the “silver kingdom” in 1527, discovered the mouth of the Parana River and sailed far up the river. The Spanish conquistador F. Orellana and his detachment in 1542 were the first Europeans to cross the continent, sailing along the Amazon from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean.

Slide 9

During the period of colonization, the nature and population of the continent were studied unsystematically. The Spanish and Portuguese authorities tried to prevent scientific expeditions from entering their possessions. Only at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. A study of the nature of the continent was carried out by the remarkable German scientist A. Humboldt. A. Humboldt's journey together with the French botanist E. Bonpland became the greatest in terms of scientific results. During his travels, A. Humboldt visited the Orinoco River and climbed some of the peaks of the Andes. He described the nature and population of the countries through whose territory his route passed, established many connections between geographical phenomena, substantiated the idea of ​​altitudinal zonation using the example of the Andes, and also explained the role of the cold Peruvian Current for the climate of coastal areas.

Slide 10

The famous naturalist Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands during his circumnavigation of the world on the Beagle ship in the 30s of the 19th century. Observations of the unusual nature of the archipelago, where representatives of the organic world of the south and north meet (lianas and mosses, penguins and parrots, sea lizards, iguanas and seals), and on each island its own subspecies and species of the same are formed birds, but scientists could substantiate the theory of the origin of species.

Slide 11

Russian researchers also studied the nature and peoples of South America. In the first half of the 19th century. The Russian expedition of G.I. Langsdorf and N.G. Rubtsov worked in the interior regions of Brazil. Scientists are still studying the materials collected by the expedition and stored in museums in Brazil. The climate of South America was studied by the Russian climatologist A.I. Voeikov. Biologist N.I. Vavilov in the 30s of the 20th century. During expeditions to the mainland, he established the geographical centers of ancient centers of agriculture and the origin of a number of cultivated plants, including potatoes.

Slide 12

Here is the largest lowland plain in the world, the Amazonian Plain, and the longest mountain range on Earth, the Andes. The Andes are home to the highest mountain large lakes world - Titicaca. Most high waterfall peace - Angel. The Amazon has the largest river system.

Slide 13

The relief of South America is characterized by a clear division into two parts: flat in the east and center and mountainous in the west.

Slide 14

Guiana Plateau. Waterfall.
The relief of the eastern part was formed on an ancient platform. The vast Brazilian and Guiana plateaus were formed in the area of ​​shields (exit of the platform foundation to the surface). The flat Amazonian and La Plata lowlands are in the troughs of the platform, where the crystalline foundation of the platform is covered by a layer of sedimentary rocks.

Slide 15

Slide 16

The Andes are one of the most majestic mountainous countries on Earth. They stretch in two and sometimes three parallel ridges along the entire western edge of the continent. Mountain ranges are separated by intermountain depressions, troughs, and dissected by deep gorges. The peaks of the Andes rise above 6000 m, many of them are volcanic cones.

Slide 17

The highest point, Mount Aconcagua, reaches 6960 m. The peaks of the mountains are covered with snow and glaciers. Seven glaciers descend from Aconcagua. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions often occur in the Andes. The most catastrophic events occurred in the Andes in 1960, 1970 and 1985. They claimed the lives of several tens of thousands of residents

Slide 18

Andes Ranges

Slide 19

To use presentation previews, create a Google account and log in to it: https://accounts.google.com


Slide captions:

South America Compiled by: Starkova Natalia Vadimovna MDOU No. 18 “Teremok” NMR

South America is a continent located in the Southern and Western Hemispheres. It is surrounded from the west by the Quiet, and from the east Atlantic Oceans. This land is rich in stunning natural beauty, it keeps the secrets of ancient civilizations, colorful peoples and tribes lost in the jungle live here.

Everyone knows the fact that America was discovered by Columbus in 1492. But it got its name in honor of the navigator from Florence Amerigo Vespucci. It was he who first suggested that the lands found were not India, but the New World.

From the heights of the foot of the Statue of Christ, a breathtaking view of Rio de Janeiro and its surroundings opens. Statue of Christ on Mount Corcovado in Rio. de Janeiro- This business card Brazil. Her height is 38m and her arm span is 28m.

The most big country South America - Brazil. It is famous for its magnificent carnivals

In 1541, the Spaniard Francisco Orellana discovered the longest and deepest river in the world - the Amazon. The length of the river is almost 7000 km.

The Colombian river Caño Cristales is considered one of the most beautiful and unusual in the whole world. What makes it unique is the large number of colorful algae. Like red, yellow and green threads, they fill the pond with amazing shades.

Catatumbo Lightning - a natural phenomenon, occurring above the confluence of the Catatumbo River into Lake Maracaibo The phenomenon is expressed in the occurrence of many lightning strikes continuously over a long period of time, mainly at night and with strong variations depending on the time of year

South America is rich in waterfalls. The most powerful and full-flowing waterfalls are located on the border of Brazil and Argentina. This fantastic complex of Iguazu Falls is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Angel is the name of the tallest waterfall in the world. It is located in the South American country of Venezuela. The height of the waterfall is more than 1000 meters. This miracle of nature is located in hard-to-reach places, so not everyone can be lucky enough to see it.

The Hand of Atacama The sculpture is located in the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth. The hand is installed at an altitude of 1100 meters above sea level, and its actual height is eleven meters. The sculpture is intended to show the vulnerability and helplessness of man.

Off the coast of this continent is the natural lighthouse Itzalco (or Izalco), known to sailors all over the world. In fact, it is a volcano, about 2 kilometers high. Every 8 minutes, magma pours out here and a 300-meter column of smoke rises. The reliability of such a beacon has been tested by the continuous 200-year operation of the volcano.

The amaranth tree has massive roots that provide it with support, especially during extreme storms and floods.

Puya plant. It grows at altitudes of approximately 4000 meters. This giant grass grows up to 10 meters high and has thousands of flowers and millions of seeds. However, it takes no less than 150 years to bloom, which makes its flowers the slowest to bloom. Moreover, after flowering, the plant dies.

South America is home to the world's largest beetles (woodcutter beetles)

The most poisonous frogs live here. Red-backed poison frog Spotted dart frog Bicolored phyllomedusa

Habitat of the smallest monkeys (marmosets)

the largest butterflies (Agrippina butterfly) the most dangerous fish (piranha)

Anaconda - the name of this creature inspires horror among many residents of both South America and the whole world. If it were just the largest snake on the planet, but the anaconda is also the most voracious snake that can swallow even a caiman crocodile, what can we say about a person? Although... Anaconda is not poisonous at all.

The capybara is a mysterious animal. The trick of the capybara is that this animal periodically lives either in water or on land.

Indigenous Indian tribes still live in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia.