South America is a continent.
Brazil ( listen ) , is the largest country in both South America and Latin America . Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east , Brazil has a coastline of 7491 km It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47.3 % of the continent 's land area . This is a list of all major continents ' population . South America . The reference to South America instead of other regions ( like Latin America or the Southern Cone ) has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics ( in particular , the rise of Brazil ) .