Amazing UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South America

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Historic City of Sucre, Bolivia - Location: Oropeza Province, Chuquisaca Department
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1991
Description: Founded by the Spanish in 1538, Sucre's many old and classic buildings, and especially the religious structures, reflect the fusion of local and European architectural styles.

 

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City of Cuzco, Peru - Location: Cuzco
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1983
Description: The historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th-century Spanish conquest, Cuzco retains many buildings, plazas, streets, and churches from colonial times, and even some pre-Columbian structures.

 

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Pantanal Conservation Area, Brazil - Location: Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso states
Criteria: Natural
Year established: 2000
Description: The Pantanal is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area.

 

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Fray Bentos Cultural-Industrial Landscape, Uruguay - Location: Rio Negro Department
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 2015
Description: The site encompasses the city’s Barrio Anglo, where a meat processing plant founded in 1863 and closed in 1979 stands. The well-preserved ruins of the industrial complex enclose a local history museum.

 

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Historic Town of Ouro Preto, Brazil - Location: Minas Gerais state
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1980
Description: A major gold-producing city during the Brazilian Gold Rush, which started in the 1690s, Ouro Preto today is equally valuable for its large number of preserved Baroque churches, bridges, and fountains.

 

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City of Potosí, Bolivia - Location: Potosí
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1987
Description: One of the highest cities in the world, Potosí was once the location of the Spanish colonial mint following the discovery of the New World’s largest silver reserves in the mid-16th century.

 

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Chan Chan Archaeological Zone, Peru - Location: La Libertad
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1986
Description: Chan Chan served as the capital of the Chimú culture and was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America. The Inca would eventually conquer the Chimú in 1470.

 

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Peninsula Valdés, Argentina - Location: Viedma Department
Criteria: Natural
Year established: 1999
Description: The entire peninsula is an important nature reserve. Numerous marine mammals inhabit the coastline while the interior is home to an equally diverse array of land animals. The over 181 bird species recorded here include the Antarctic pigeon.

 

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Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, Chile - Location: Tarapacá
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 2005
Description: These two former saltpeter refineries located in the Atacama Desert are representative of the saltpeter (potassium nitrate) industry in northern Chile in the 19th and early 20th century.

 

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Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas, Venezuela -

Location: Caracas
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 2000
Description: Designed by Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva and considered a masterpiece of early 20th-century architecture and urban planning, the site includes the Grand Hall, noted for its acoustics, and a collection of famous

 

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Coro and its Port, Venezuela -

Location: Falcón
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1993
Description: Founded in 1527, Coro is the surviving example of the fusion of Caribbean with Spanish Mudéjar (Muslim) and Dutch architecture.

 

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Historic Quarter of Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay -

Location: Colonia
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1995
Description: The many Spanish and Portuguese colonial style buildings include the famous city gate and wooden drawbridge (pictured), as well as the early 19th-century Basílica del Santísimo Sacramento.

 

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Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis, Argentina and Brazil -

Locations: Misiones Province (Argentina), Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1983
Description: San Ignacio Mini (pictured) Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto, and Santa María Mayor in Argentina and the ruins of São Miguel das Missões in Brazil are set in a tropical forest in the land of the Guarani people.

 

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São Francisco Square in São Cristóvão, Brazil -

Location: São Cristóvão
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 2010
Description: Numerous early colonial-period buildings fringe this historic city square, examples of the typical Franciscan architecture of northeastern Brazil.

 

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Central Suriname Nature Reserve, Suriname -

Location: Sipaliwini District
Criteria: Natural
Year established: 2000
Description: A pristine tropical rainforest ecosystem blessed with high biodiversity and a variety of endangered species distinguish this site. The reserve is home to Julianatop, at 4,199 ft (1,280 m) the highest mountain in the country.

 

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Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil - Location: Bahia state
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 1985
Description: Founded by the Portuguese in 1549 as the first capital of Brazil, the colonial old town has preserved an attractive collection of brightly colored Renaissance houses from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

 

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Churches of Chiloé, Chile - Location: Chiloé Province, Los Lagos Region
Criteria: Cultural
Year established: 2000
Description: A unique archaeological phenomenon in the Americas, the churches, built in the 18th and 19th centuries, are the most prominent examples of Chilota wooden architecture fusing European and indigenous traditions.

 

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Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves, Brazil - Location: Paraná, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro states
Criteria: Natural
Year established: 1999
Description: Brazil's Atlantic Forest is remarkable for a high biodiversity with many rare and endemic species.