South America Map Quiz

Locate every South American country on a blank map.

Place all twelve South American countries on a blank map — the most finishable map quiz on the site.

Twelve countries, one sitting

South America is the best continent to start map practice on. Twelve countries, several with unmistakable shapes, and a structure that is easy to reason about once you see it.

The structure

Brazil occupies roughly half the continent, on the eastern side. Learn Brazil first and everything else is positioned relative to it.

The Andean spine runs down the western edge: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, north to south. That is a single line and it covers five countries.

The southern cone is Argentina, Chile and Uruguay at the bottom.

The northern coast holds Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, left to right.

Four groups, twelve countries.

The easy shapes

Chile is unmistakable — a ribbon over four thousand kilometres long and rarely more than about two hundred wide. It is arguably the most recognisable country outline in the world.

Brazil is simply the enormous one.

Argentina tapers to a point at the southern tip of the continent.

The ones that need work

Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana sit side by side on the northern coast and are small, similar in shape and easy to confuse. Left to right the order is Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana — and remembering that French Guiana is French, not independent, keeps the country count right.

Paraguay and Uruguay are both small, landlocked-ish and easy to swap. Paraguay is genuinely landlocked and sits inland; Uruguay is on the Atlantic coast between Brazil and Argentina.

Ecuador is small and often skipped entirely, wedged between Colombia and Peru.

Border facts that help

Brazil borders every South American country except Chile and Ecuador. That single fact tells you a great deal about the map — if you know where Brazil is and which two countries it does not touch, you have most of the adjacency structure.

Where to go next

South American Capitals and South American Flags cover the same twelve countries, and doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than working each skill globally.

Frequently asked questions

How many countries are on a South America map quiz?

Twelve sovereign states. French Guiana appears on the map but is an overseas department of France rather than an independent country, which is why some quizzes show thirteen territories but count twelve.

Which South American country is easiest to recognise?

Chile, by a wide margin — an extremely long, narrow ribbon down the west coast, over four thousand kilometres north to south and rarely more than about two hundred wide. It is one of the most distinctive outlines in the world.

What is the difference between Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana?

Guyana and Suriname are independent countries — English-speaking and Dutch-speaking respectively. French Guiana is an overseas department of France, uses the euro, and is where the European Space Agency launches. Left to right on the coast the order is Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana.

Which countries does Brazil not border?

Chile and Ecuador. Brazil borders every other South American country, which makes it the single most useful anchor for learning the continent's adjacency structure.

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