South America Map Quiz: Find All 12 Countries

How to play the South America map quiz

The map shows South America from Colombia and Venezuela in the north to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip, with Panama and the Caribbean islands gray at the top. French Guiana and the Falkland Islands are gray because they are territories, not countries.

• Click the map. The quiz names a country ("Click Peru") and you click it. A wrong click tells you which country you picked.
• Type the name. One country lights up; type its name. Accents are optional, so "Peru" and "Perú" both work.
• Multiple choice. Pick the highlighted country from four names. Neighbors make the wrong answers, which is good practice for Paraguay and Uruguay.
• Drag labels. Drag the 12 names onto the map, or tap a name and then the country.

Practice has no timer and brings missed countries back later. The Quiz is timed, with three tries per country, and counts first-try answers. Challenge lasts 60 seconds; every five in a row multiplies your points. Because the list is short, the Quiz becomes a race against your own best time.

The 12 countries of South America and their capitals

Languages: why Brazil is different

Brazil is the largest country in South America, with about 212 million people, and it speaks Portuguese, not Spanish. That goes back to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which split newly claimed lands between Spain and Portugal. Most other South American countries speak Spanish. Guyana speaks English, Suriname speaks Dutch, and French Guiana, as part of France, speaks French. That's a helpful memory clue on the map: the three small countries on the northeast coast are the "non-Spanish" corner.

Physical geography of South America

Learning the land makes the countries easier to place:

• The Andes run about 7,000 km down the whole west side of the continent through Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. They are the longest mountain range above sea level in the world. Aconcagua in Argentina, at 6,961 m (22,838 ft), is the highest point in the Americas.
• The Amazon River flows east across northern Brazil to the Atlantic. It carries more water than any other river on Earth. The Amazon rainforest around it covers parts of eight countries and French Guiana, with about 60 percent in Brazil.
• The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is one of the driest places on Earth; some weather stations there have never recorded rain.
• Lake Titicaca, on the Peru–Bolivia border, is one of the highest navigable lakes in the world at about 3,800 m.
• Patagonia is the cold, windy south of Argentina and Chile, ending at Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn.

Is South America part of Latin America?

Yes, mostly. Latin America is a cultural name for the countries of the Americas where Spanish, Portuguese or French is the main language, which takes in Mexico, Central America, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and ten of South America's twelve countries. Guyana and Suriname are the exceptions in South America, because English and Dutch are their official languages. South America is a continent, defined by geography: it starts at the border between Panama and Colombia, where the narrow land bridge of Central America ends, and runs south to Cape Horn.

That's why US children often meet the same countries in two different lessons. Geography units use the continent; history and Spanish classes often use Latin America. The Latin America map quiz covers the 20 Latin American countries from Mexico to Argentina.

How big is South America?

South America is the fourth-largest continent, about 17.8 million km² (6.9 million sq mi), a little smaller than North America. About 440 million people live there, and Brazil alone has nearly half of them. Most people live near the coasts; the Amazon basin and the high Andes are thinly settled. The continent also stretches remarkably far from north to south, from about 12° north of the equator in Colombia to about 56° south at Cape Horn, so it has rainforests, deserts, high grasslands and glaciers.

Tips to memorize South America

1. Start with Brazil. It covers almost half the continent. Every other country (except Chile and Ecuador) touches it, so it's the anchor for everything else.
2. Go down the west coast. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile: say them in order from north to south. Chile is the long, thin strip, and Ecuador sits right on the equator.
3. Find the two landlocked countries. Bolivia and Paraguay sit in the middle with no coast. Bolivia is higher and bigger; Paraguay is south of it.
4. Separate Paraguay and Uruguay. Uruguay is the small country on the coast between Brazil and Argentina. Paraguay is inland. "U" for Uruguay on the ocean, "P" for Paraguay in the plains.
5. Group the northeast three. Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana run west to east along the Atlantic coast. Only the first two are countries; French Guiana is part of France.
6. Add capitals once the map is easy. Switch Ask about to Capitals, start with multiple choice, and then type them.
7. Finish on paper. The blank map of South America has a word bank, so even young children can complete it.

Keep learning about the Americas

Next, try the Latin America map quiz, which adds Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, or the Central America map quiz. The Americas flags quiz covers every flag from Canada to Argentina. Many families pair South American geography with a little Spanish or Portuguese; language apps and travel-themed subscription boxes are popular choices, and scholarship programs on Edulist may cover some of them.