Tropical Rainforest Locations

Introduction

Where are tropical rainforest located? Tropical rainforest biomes are found in locations throughout the world in a band around the equator known as the "tropics". The tropics wrap around the world in a band approximately 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) wide between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

On this page of Tropical Rainforest Facts is a list of many of the world's tropical rainforest with some facts about each. This information includes where these forest are located along with other interesting facts about each; written in a kid-friendly format.

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As mentioned above, tropical rainforest are typically found in a band around the equator between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The equator is an imaginary line running around the earth and segmenting the earth from east to west, the Tropic of Cancer is an imaginary line to the north and running parallel to the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn is an imaginary line to the south and running parallel to the equator.

Latin America Tropical Rainforest

• Over half of the world's tropical rainforest are found in Latin America with about one third of the world's tropical rainforest, including the Amazon Rainforest, located in Brazil.
• The largest tropical rainforest on earth is the Amazon Rainforest. This rainforest is mostly located in Brazil but overflows into Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname.
• El Yunque National Forest, known as El Yunque, is a tropical rainforest located in Puerto Rico. It is found on the north east part of the island along the slopes of the Sierra de Luquillo Mountains.

Africa Tropical Rainforest

• The tropical rainforest in Africa are found along the west coast and mostly in middle Africa in the Congo Basin; which is the basin of the Congo River, the fifth longest river in the world.
• The size of the Congo Basin rainforest is second only to the Amazon Rainforest.
• The Congo Basin rainforest is mainly found in the Democratic Republic of Congo but also extends into Central African Republic, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon.
• Located along the coast of West Africa is the Guinean forests. These tropical rainforest take up about 35,000 square miles (90,650 kilometers).
• The Guinean forests, which consist of the Upper Guinean forests and the Lower Guinean forest, run along Africa's west coast through countries including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon.
• The huge African island of Madagascar has tropical rainforest located in a strip along the east coast. Unfortunately Madagascar has lost nearly ninety percent of its original rainforest due to human expansion.
• Approximately ninety percent of West Africa's rainforest have been destroyed due to numerous reasons including logging and human settlement expansion.

Southeast Asia Tropical Rainforest

• The tropical rainforests found in Southeast Asia stretch across numerous countries and islands including Indonesia, India, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei, and the Philippines.
• Indonesia is home to the most rainforest in Southeast Asia and contains about ten percent of all the tropical rainforest on earth.
• The tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia are the oldest on earth and the most biologically diverse.