Western South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Ecuador.

10 00 S, 76 00 W

South America.

Area:

Total: 1,285,215.60 sq. kilometers. (496,225 sq. miles).

Land: 1.28 million sq km

Water: 5,220 sq km

Three times the size of the State of California.

Slightly smaller than Alaska.

Tand boundaries:

Total: 6,940 kilometers.

Border countries:

Bolivia 900 kms.

Brazil 1,560 kms.

Chile 160 kms.

Colombia 1,496 kms.

Ecuador 1,420 kms .

2,414 kms.

Continental shelf: 200 mile maritime dominion.

Varies from tropical in east to dry desert in west.

Coastal area, arid and mild.

Andean region, temperate to frigid.

Eastern lowlands, tropically warm and humid.

Western coastal plains (costa).

Central high and rugged mountains (Andes).

Eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin. Tropical forests (selva).

Lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m.

Highest point: Nevado Huascarán 6,768 meters above sea level.

Copper, silver, gold, petroleum, timber, fish, iron ore, coal, phosphate, potash, hydropower.

Arable land: 3%

Permanent crops: 0%

Permanent pastures: 21%

Forests and woodland: 66%

Other: 10% (1993 est.)

12,800 sq. kms. (1993 est.)

Earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides, mild volcanic activity.

Deforestation (some the result of illegal logging); overgrazing of the slopes of the costa and sierra leading to soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in Lima; pollution of rivers and coastal waters from municipal and mining wastes.

Party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol.

Shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake, with Bolivia; remote Lake McIntyre is the ultimate source of the Amazon River.