South America is comprised of 12 independent countries, 2 British overseas territories, and 1 French overseas region.
The 12 Sovereign States of South America are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The Falkland Islands & South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are British overseas territories. French Guiana is a French overseas region.
There are 21 'large' airports across South America, with a total of over 5,500 airports across the 14 countries. The largest airport being São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport in Brazil (11hr 40min flight time from UK)
South America uses five standard time zones, these range from GMT -6 and GMT -3
Spanish and Portuguese are the most spoken immigrant languages closely followed by English across South America. There are many differnet indigenous languages also spoken across South America.
Each of the 15 areas in South America uses its own currency with the exception of one sovereign country - Ecuador, where the US dollar is used.
The southern hemisphere seasons are reversed - with summer roughly November to February, and winter in June to August. Peru is a year round destination due to its proximity to the equator, however they do have a very rainy season between January - March