South America is a continent that is completely located in the Western Hemisphere, with the majority of its territory being in the Southern Hemisphere and just a tiny part located in the Northern Hemisphere. It is sometimes referred to as the southern subcontinent of the Americas in certain circles. Because of shifting geopolitical dynamics, there has been an increase in the use of the term "South America" rather than other areas (such as Latin America or the Southern Cone) in recent decades (in particular, the rise of Brazil).
It is surrounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean; the northwest is bordered by North America and the Caribbean Sea; the southeast is bordered by Mexico. According to the most recent census, the continent is made up of twelve sovereign states: Venezuela; two dependent territories: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and one internal territory: French Guiana. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela are the countries that make up the continent. Ascension Island (a British Overseas Territory), Bouvet Island (a Norwegian Dependency), Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are all regarded to be portions of South America.