Capitals of South America

Brazil covers almost half of South America, and its capital was built from scratch in under four years.

Mountains on one side, rainforest on the other

South America covers about 17.8 million square kilometres. The Andes run along its whole western edge for about 7,000 kilometres, the longest mountain range on any continent, and Aconcagua in Argentina reaches about 6,960 metres, higher than any peak outside Asia. To the east lies the Amazon basin, the largest tropical rainforest on Earth, drained by the Amazon River, which carries more water than any other river. On the Pacific coast of Chile the Atacama Desert is one of the driest places in the world.

There are 12 independent countries, few enough to learn in one sitting. Spanish is the main language in nine of them, Portuguese in Brazil, English in Guyana and Dutch in Suriname. French Guiana, on the northeast coast, is not a country: it is part of France and uses the euro. The Falkland Islands are a British territory that Argentina also claims. Neither appears in the quiz. Because twelve is a small number, the flashcards below cover every country on the continent, so one pass through the deck is a complete review.

Large and small countries

Brazil, at about 8.5 million square kilometres, is the fifth largest country in the world and borders every other South American country except Chile and Ecuador. Argentina is second on the continent. The smallest country is Suriname, at about 164,000 square kilometres, which is still larger than many countries in Europe. Bolivia and Paraguay are the only two landlocked countries. Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879 to 1884) and still keeps a navy on Lake Titicaca.

A capital built in the middle of nowhere

Brazil’s first capital was Salvador, on the northeast coast. Rio de Janeiro took over in 1763 and stayed the capital for almost two centuries. In 1956 President Juscelino Kubitschek began building a new capital on the empty central plateau, to pull people and money away from the crowded coast. The planner Lúcio Costa drew a city shaped like a bird or an aeroplane, and the architect Oscar Niemeyer designed its main buildings. Brasília was inaugurated on 21 April 1960, and in 1987 UNESCO added it to the World Heritage List as a rare example of a whole city planned at once.

Bolivia has two capitals. The constitution names Sucre, where the highest courts sit, while the president and the legislature work in La Paz. At about 3,650 metres above sea level, La Paz is the highest seat of government in the world. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is the highest official capital at about 2,850 metres, and in 1978 its old town was one of the first places ever put on the World Heritage List.

Going round the continent is a good way to fix the capitals in order. Start in the north with Caracas (Venezuela) and Bogotá (Colombia), which sits at about 2,600 metres in the Andes. Then come Quito (Ecuador) and Lima (Peru), a coastal city founded by the Spanish in 1535, while the old Inca capital, Cusco, lies high in the mountains. Chile is more than 4,000 kilometres long but on average less than 200 kilometres wide, and its capital Santiago sits in a valley in the middle. On the small northeast coast are Georgetown (Guyana) and Paramaribo (Suriname), and next to them Cayenne, the main town of French Guiana.

Easy to mix up