South America map quiz

Answer key

1. Argentina. Argentina occupies much of southeastern South America, east of the Andes.
2. Bolivia. Bolivia is landlocked in the central-western part of South America.
3. Brazil. Brazil is the continent’s largest country and has a long Atlantic coast.
4. Chile. Chile is the long, narrow country on the Pacific side of the Andes.
5. Colombia. Colombia occupies the northwestern corner of South America and borders Panama.
6. Ecuador. Ecuador lies on the Pacific coast between Colombia and Peru.
7. Guyana. Guyana lies on the northern Atlantic coast, between Venezuela and Suriname.
8. Paraguay. Paraguay is landlocked between Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina.
9. Peru. Peru lies on the Pacific coast, south of Ecuador and Colombia.
10. Suriname. Suriname is the small northern coastal country between Guyana and French Guiana.
11. Uruguay. Uruguay lies between Argentina and Brazil, beside the Río de la Plata and Atlantic.
12. Venezuela. Venezuela lies on the continent’s northern Caribbean coast.
13. Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is Argentina’s capital, beside the Río de la Plata estuary. Its eastern location is far from the Andes along the country’s western edge.
14. Sucre. Sucre is Bolivia’s constitutional capital. La Paz houses the executive and legislature, so a question asking for the seat of government has a different answer.
15. Brasília. Brasília is a planned inland capital built for the federal government. Its location contrasts with Brazil’s major coastal cities.
16. Santiago. Santiago lies inland in central Chile, near the Andes. Chile’s long shape places much of the country far north or south of its capital.
17. Bogotá. Bogotá is in the Colombian Andes, inland from both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. A country with two ocean coastlines can still have an inland capital.
18. Quito. Quito stands high in Ecuador’s Andes, close to the equator. It is an inland mountain capital rather than a Pacific coastal city.
19. Georgetown. Georgetown is on Guyana’s Atlantic coast. That coastal position helps place it north of the country’s forested interior.
20. Asunción. Asunción stands beside the Paraguay River. Paraguay has a riverfront capital despite being one of South America’s two landlocked countries.
21. Lima. Lima lies in Peru’s Pacific coastal region. Cusco, often associated with Peru’s Inca history, is a different city in the Andes.
22. Paramaribo. Paramaribo stands on the Suriname River near the Atlantic coast. It is the capital of Suriname, whose official language is Dutch.
23. Montevideo. Montevideo lies on the Río de la Plata’s northern side. Buenos Aires, across the estuary region, is the capital of neighboring Argentina.
24. Caracas. Caracas lies inland in Venezuela’s northern coastal mountains. Its position near the Caribbean does not make it an island capital.
25. Bolivia and Paraguay. Bolivia and Paraguay have no coastline; all ten other sovereign South American countries reach an ocean or sea.
26. Pacific Ocean. Chile’s long western coastline faces the Pacific Ocean.
27. Atlantic Ocean. Brazil occupies much of eastern South America and faces the Atlantic.
28. Colombia. Colombia borders Panama, joining South America to the Central American isthmus.
29. Andes. The Andes extend along the continent’s western margin, including the border zone between Chile and Argentina.
30. La Paz. La Paz is Bolivia’s seat of government. Sucre is the constitutional capital, so these two civic roles should not be confused.
31. Amazon rainforest. The Amazon rainforest spans several countries, with its largest national share in Brazil.
32. Argentina and Uruguay. Argentina lies to the southwest and Uruguay to the northeast of the Río de la Plata estuary.
33. Chile and Ecuador. Brazil borders every other South American sovereign country except Chile and Ecuador.
34. France. French Guiana is an overseas part of France, not a separate sovereign South American country.
35. Portuguese. Portuguese is Brazil’s official language; neighboring Spanish-speaking countries do not make Brazil Spanish-speaking by default.
36. Dutch. Suriname’s official language is Dutch, although several other languages are widely spoken.
37. English. English is Guyana’s official language. Guyana and neighboring Suriname have different language histories.
38. Ecuador. Ecuador takes its name from the equator, which crosses the country north of Quito.
39. Peru and Bolivia. Lake Titicaca lies on the Peru–Bolivia border in the Andes.
40. Ecuador. The Galápagos are Ecuadorian islands in the Pacific, well west of the mainland map.
41. Argentina and Chile. Patagonia extends across southern Argentina and Chile, on both sides of the Andes.
42. Chile. The Atacama lies in northern Chile, along the dry Pacific side of the Andes.
43. Caribbean Sea. Venezuela has a long Caribbean coast on South America’s northern edge.
44. Argentina and Brazil. Uruguay’s only land neighbors are Argentina to the west and Brazil to the north.
45. Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. Paraguay is enclosed by Bolivia to the northwest, Brazil to the east, and Argentina to the south and west.
46. Guyana. Guyana lies east of Venezuela and west of Suriname on the continent’s northern coast.
47. Guyana. Guyana borders Suriname to the west; French Guiana is to the east.
48. Colombia. Colombia has a northern Caribbean coast and a western Pacific coast.
49. Colombia. Peru’s northern neighbors are Ecuador and Colombia.
50. Argentina. Argentina and Chile share a long border that follows much of the Andes.