Sedimentary records from three geographically and climatically distinct South American areas allowed the reconstruction of the rainfall regime during the last 7000 yrs. In south-eastern Amazonia, palynological and sedimentological analyses from cores retrieved in lakes of Carajas region (6°S) demonstrated the existence of several periods during which tropical rainforest fires where related to short-term (a few decades) dry periods. Likewise, in central Brazil, palynological and sedimentological analyses from two cores taken in the Salitre area (19°S) and in the Boa Vista region (27°S), revealed strong synchronous though opposite variations in the vegetation. Finally, on the northern Bolivian Altiplano, paleobathymetric reconstructions performed in Lake Titicaca (14-17°S) also point out to large variations in the precipitation pattern, which can be related to those recorded at Carajas and Salitre. Such variations are similar to those presently related to strong El Nino events.