1. The Andes, this backbone of South America, have a length of7,600 km (4,800 mi), covering a surface of 2 million square km(800,000 square mi), and having an average height of about 4,000 m(13,000 ft). This is the longest terrestrial mountain range (longerchains are found on the bottom of the oceans).2. The highest peak of the Andes is Aconcagua (6,962 m / 22,841ft), in northwestern Argentina. This is the highest mountain in theAmericas, and the highest mountain outside Asia, the highest peakin both the Western and Southern Hemispheres.3. The Andes are made of several parallel chains that unite, fromplace to place, in orographic knots or depart one from another,forming high plateaus between them, 3,000-4,000 (10,000-13,300 ft)tall. Only in Tierra del Fuego, the Andes crumbles into a multitudeof islands and islets.4. The Andes were the home of one of the greatest civilization inthe New World, the Inca Empire.5. Andes are the result of the head-on collision between twotectonic plates, one (Nazca plate of the Pacific) being driven bysubduction areas and buried underneath the South American plateinto the Earth's mantle. The collision occurred 50 million yearsago. South America is pushed westwards at a rate of 1.5 cm yearlyby the mid-Atlantic ridge and at 160 km of its west shore itcollides with the Nazca Plate, creating an oceanic trench 8 kmdeep.