Lost in South America Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mendoza

Aconcagua is in the Argentinian Andes, about fifteen miles from the border with Chile, in the province of Mendoza. Although it is the highest mountain in South America, in mountaineering terms it is not a difficult climb. The north ascent can be done without specialist equipment.

The first recorded ascent was in January, 1897, when Matthias Zurbriggen reached the summit. There is no direct evidence that the Incas ever reached the summit, but the discovery of an Inca mummy at 5,400m does show that they certainly explored it.

Answer: Ecuador

Quito is a UNESCO World Heritage site because it has the least altered historic centre in South America. Ecuador, so named because it sits on the equator, is one of only two countries in South America that does not have a border with Brazil. It gained independence from Spain in 1830, but retained Spanish as the official language. Overall it does not normally feature highly in international affairs, but did come to attention when, in 2012, it granted asylum in its London embassy to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Answer: Chile

Easter Island, home to several hundred of these extraordinary stone statues, as well as the best collection of petroglyphs in Polynesia, has been a special territory of Chile since 1887. It has a small resident population, around 4,000, many of whom are descended from the original inhabitants.

It is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, being around 1200 miles from Pitcairn Island. The whole island is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Answer: Peru

Peru is a diverse country. Around 60% of it lies within the Amazon rain forest, yet is also has the Andes mountains. Thanks to natural resources of gold and copper, which it exports, it is reasonably wealthy. Lima, the capital city, was founded by Pizarro in 1535.

As well as some fine colonial architecture it has a modern financial centre, and is also home to the oldest university in the Americas. The National University of San Marcos started in 1551, and has been continually functioning as a university ever since.

Answer: Brazil

A former Portuguese colony, Brazil is the largest country in South America. Although famous to the rest of the world for football and samba, it does in fact have one of the largest and fastest growing world economies. Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro is world famous and is a tourist attraction in its own right.

The geometric wave design of the pavement that runs alongside it was designed by Roberto Marx in the 1930s. It was not completed until the 1970s, but the same design has been used throughout.

Answer: Bolivia

Laguna Verde or Green Lake, is in Bolivia, very close to the border with Chile. Its amazing colour comes from copper minerals in the sediment. The whole area is known for hot springs and beautiful scenery. Bolivia also has vast areas of salt flats, and if you go at the right time of year you can often see flamingos on them.

Bolivia is completely landlocked, and the climate varies from glaciers to tropical rain forest. There are several national parks in the country, as well as large modern cities such as La Paz, Sucre and Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Answer: Peru

The Nazca lines are in the Nazca Desert of southern Peru. Their construction is simple. The reddish stones and pebbles that make up the surface have been removed to expose the grey, dry ground beneath. Because the high plateau is dry with no wind they remain in a very stable state.

The patterns made range from fairly simple lines to birds, spiders, trees and flowers. There are hundreds of individual patterns from the very small to ones over sixty feet in size. Although they are probably best seen in their entirety from the air they can also be seen from the top of the surrounding foothills.

As to their purpose, most scholars are agreed on some sort of religious reason behind them, although more bizarre theories, such as runways for alien spacecraft have also been suggested (and rejected).

Answer: Colombia

Colombia was the only bidder to be host nation for the 1986 Word Cup. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties in the country, in 1982 they announced they were handing back the tournament. This left FIFA with the task of finding a new host nation who could be ready in just four years. Mexico ended up being the host nation. The tournament was won by Argentina, and featured the famous, or infamous Diego Maradona "Hand of God" incident.

Colombia is the fourth largest country in South America. Bogota is the capital city and the official language in Spanish.

Answer: Uruguay

Montevideo is an interesting mix of colonial and modern architecture. The capital of Uruguay, about half the population live here. Uruguay is not a large country, it is the second smallest in South America. This however does not stop it from having world class port and container handling facilities, as well as a first class airport.

It has also produced several well known literary figures, including Juan Carlos Onetti and Jose Enrique Rodo. Unlike many South American countries it has no official religion, church and state are completely separate, and freedom of speech and religion are guaranteed under the constitution.

Answer: Railway service

The Palacio de Lopez in Asuncion is both the seat of government and the office of the President. Asuncion is the capital city. Most of the population of Paraguay live in the south east region of the country. This is mainly because the western area consists primarily of marshy plains. Politically Paraguay has been one of the less stable countries in South America.

The first President was Carlos Antonio Lopez, who was elected in 1844 after some years of dictatorship. He initiated the building of the first railway service in South America, as well as encouraging the building of schools and factories. Between 1904 and 1954 there were no less than thirty one presidents. Most of them were forced out of office.

This was followed by some thirty years of dictatorship, which did benefit the country economically, but led to allegations of torture and killing of political opponents.

It is now a republic. Despite having had good economic growth in recent years it remains one of the poorer countries in the region.