Fun-damental Geography of South America Quiz

Answer: Guinea

Guinea is located in Africa. The three others are small and located between the Atlantic Ocean and Brazil. French Guiana is an overseas department of France. Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, was a British colony and still has English as its official language. Suriname is a republic which was a Dutch colony and still has Dutch as its official language.

Answer: Parana

The Parana River has its headwaters in Brazil. It then travels over 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) through Paraguay and into Argentina. The Uruguay River merges with it to form the Rio de la Plata which empties into the Atlantic Ocean near Buenos Aires.

Answer: Uruguay

The Tropic of Capricorn is just over 23 degrees latitude south of the equator. The latitude of Cape Horn is just short of 56 degrees south. For comparison, New York City is just under 41 degrees north, London is 51.5 degrees north and Stockholm is nearly 60 degrees north.

Answer: Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay

Iguazu is the largest system of waterfalls in the world with approximately 275 distinct falls. The longest drop is 279 feet (82 meters).

Answer: Argentina

Aconcagua's peak is listed as being 22,837 feet (6961 meters) high. It is in the Andes mountain range just 9 miles (15 kilometers) from Argentina's border with Chile.

Answer: Patagonian

The Patagonian Desert is located mostly in Argentina in the southernmost part of the country. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Andes mountains to the west. The Atacama Desert is the second largest and is considered the driest non-polar region in the world.

Answer: It marks the boundary between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Cape Horn is the northern boundary of the Drake Passage and marks where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. It was first rounded by Dutch explorers in 1616. The Diego Ramírez Islands, which are also part of Tierra del Fuego, are about 65 miles (105 kilometers) west-southwest of Cape Horn and therefore the southernmost part of South America.

They are uninhabited but an important nesting site.

Answer: Suriname

Suriname is not only the smallest country in South America, it is one of the least densely populated countries in the world with approximately 613,000 inhabitants. It lies near the equator and most of it is dense rainforest.

Answer: Paraguay and Bolivia

Bolivia is the fifth largest country in South America and the largest landlocked country in the southern hemisphere. It is an historically poor country but making strides due to significant levels of natural resources including minerals and natural gas. Paraguay does have access to the ocean via the Parana-Paraguay Waterway. Paraguay's economy has gradually become more driven by agriculture, especially soybeans.

Answer: Peru

The westernmost point of contiguous South America is at Punta Pariña, a cape in northwestern Peru. Easter Island is a special territory of Chile and would be the westernmost part, if included. The Galapagos Islands are a province of Ecuador and are also farther west than Punta Pariña.