World Heritage Sites in South America

Canaima National Park is located in southeastern Venezuela, along the border between Guyana and Brazil, partially covered by table mountain formations. The sheer cliffs and waterfalls that include Angel Falls, the world's highest, form a spectacular landscape.

The Archipiélago de Colón (Galápagos Islands) are volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 600 miles west of continental Ecuador. The archipelago is known for its large number of endemic species and were studied by Charles Darwin during the second voyage of HMS Beagle.

The Atlantic Forest Southeast Reserves contain some of the best and most extensive examples of Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The 25 protected areas that make up the site display the biological wealth and evolutionary history of one of the most threatened biomes in the world.

Colonia del Sacramento is located at the tip of a short peninsula with a strategic position on the north shore of Uruguay's Río de la Plata. The Historic Quarter is a fusion of Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial styles. The buildings date from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Brasília is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. Laid out along an east-west axis crossed by a north-south axis, curved to follow the topography as a transportation thoroughfare, Brasília is a definitive example of 20th century modernist urbanism.

The Southern Atlantic submarine ridge forms the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago and Rocas Atoll off the coast of Brazil which represents a large proportion of the island surface of the South Atlantic. Their waters are important for the breeding and feeding of tuna, shark and marine mammals.

The Central Amazon Conservation Complex makes up the largest protected area in the Amazon Basin and is one of the planet’s richest regions in terms of biodiversity. It is where the majority of the ecosystems recorded in the Amazon are found.

The Central Suriname Nature Reserve comprises nearly 4 million acres of primary tropical forest. It protects the upper watershed of the Coppename River and the headwaters of the Lucie, Oost, Zuid, Saramaccz and Gran Rio rivers. It covers a range of ecosystems of notable conservation value.

The site of the Cerrado Protected Areas includes the Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks, located in the Brazilian central plateau in the State of Goias. Both parks help protect the Cerrado biome, one of the oldest and most diverse ecosystems in the world.

Chan Chan was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America. It was the seat of the ancient Chimú civilization before it fell to the Incas. It is now an archaeological site near Trujillo on northern Peru's desert coast.