I think including ancient civilization can be misleading… Egypt and Mesopotamia jump started due to good access to water and fertile lands. These aren’t as important nowadays.
Final point worth making is that the vast majority of South America is in the tropics, which is in general not conducive to “developed” civilization – large heavy manufacture, family farms and multiple-crop agribusiness, etc. In fact, there is very little land area in the South Temperate Zone, and what there is, is generally as developed as in the North Temperate Zone.