Video Recap
Picture a map of the Americas and it is easy to assume South America hangs straight down below North America. It doesn’t. In this short, Chef shows that South America actually sits mostly to the southeast of North America, and the difference is bigger than most people expect.
Line the two continents up by longitude and the shift becomes obvious. Lima, Peru, on South America’s west coast, sits at almost exactly the same longitude as Washington, D.C. That means nearly the whole continent lies east of Florida, and Brazil’s eastern tip reaches far out into the Atlantic toward Africa.
Key Takeaways
- South America is mostly southeast of North America, not directly south.
- Lima, Peru and Washington, D.C. share nearly the same line of longitude.
- Most of South America lies east of Florida.
- Central America curves toward the east, connecting the two continents at an angle.
