ABSTRACT
South America is the fourth largest land mass in the world, after Asia, Africa, and North America, with 17,840,000 square kilometers and has the fifth largest population, after Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. As with Africa, most of the countries were colonies at one point, in the case of South America mostly colonies of either Spain or Portugal. Most South American countries gained their independence in the early 19th century, so the period of colonization did not have an important impact on the pattern of air service that was established in the latter part of the 20th century.
