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South American Geography Quiz #1

Can you answer these random South American geography questions?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 5, 2019
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First submittedFebruary 13, 2016
Times taken27,672
Average score65.0%
Rating4.52
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Question
Answer
What is the longest river in South America?
Amazon
What is the longest mountain range in South America?
Andes
In what city would you find Sugarloaf Mountain and Ipanema Beach?
Rio de Janeiro
What two capital cities are located on the Río de la Plata?
Buenos Aires
Montevideo
What is the name of the region of fertile grasslands in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil?
(Hint: Starts with P)
Pampas
What islands are called the Islas Malvinas by Argentinians?
Falkland Islands
What country owns the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao?
Netherlands
What is the most spoken language in South America?
Portuguese
What is the largest lake in South America, found at an elevation of 12,500 feet?
Lake Titicaca
What Chilean desert is the driest non-polar desert on Earth?
Atacama Desert
What type of fertilizer was mined from Peru's Chincha Islands in the 19th century?
Guano
What waterfall, found in Venezuela, is the world's tallest?
Angel Falls
What city in the middle of the Amazon rainforest was once home to
fabulously wealthy rubber barons?
Manaus
What island chain is located on the far south of the continent?
Tierra del Fuego
What passage allows people to sail between the above and the South American mainland?
Strait of Magellan
What "lost city" of the Incas is a popular tourist attraction?
Machu Picchu
What is the second biggest city in Colombia?
Medellin
What are the two capital cities of Bolivia?
La Paz
Sucre
+1
Level 79
Feb 14, 2016
A pleasant quiz but very easy, and the time is far too generous. Could you not knock off two minutes?
+1
Level ∞
Feb 14, 2016
Reduced from 5 minutes to 4.
+11
Level ∞
Feb 14, 2016
Interesting fact about Angel Falls. They were unknown outside of the local vicinity until 1933, when Jimmie Angel flew over them in a plane. The interior of South America is very remote!
+1
Level 44
Mar 4, 2018
Oh wow that's a very cool fact Quizmaster! I never knew that! (just so you know, i'm not being sarcastic)
+2
Level 76
Feb 14, 2016
I'd say they Falklands are always called Islas Malvinas by Argentina! Enter "Falkland Islands" in Wikipedia español, and you're redirected to Islas Malvinas.
+4
Level 86
Feb 16, 2016
In the same way, in French, they are called "Îles Malouines", named after the sailors of Saint-Malo who settled on those islands.
+1
Level 67
Mar 11, 2021
Interestingly enough, the name Malvinas comes from Malouines.
+2
Level 69
Feb 2, 2022
Islas Malvinas is the Spanish translation for Falkland islands, and it is so for all Spanish-speaking countries, not just Argentina :-)
+1
Level 85
Feb 15, 2016
If Trinidad & Tobago is in North America, why are the ABC Islands in South America?
+2
Level ∞
Feb 16, 2016
Why not?
+8
Level 76
Feb 28, 2016
Maybe Trinidad and Tobago should be placed in South America? It's is tucked up very close to South America, and is closer to the SA mainland than the ABC islands. From Wikipedia: Trinidad and Tobago lies on the continental shelf of South America, and is thus geologically considered to lie entirely in South America.
+1
Level 62
Apr 20, 2017
Cyprus lies on the Anatolian plate and thus geologically would seem like it would be Asian. However it's a European country
+2
Level 77
Oct 28, 2019
Jerry928, IMO, Trinidad is part of South America (it lies close and has similar fauna) whereas Tobago is not (it lies further away and its fauna resembles that of the rest of the Caribbean).
+2
Level 68
Nov 2, 2020
And yet jetpunk considers Trinidad and Tobago North American, and Cyprus Asian. I agree that it's inconsistent.
+3
Level 67
Dec 23, 2016
I'm going to try and answer this. Trinidad and Tobago is usually placed in North America. Not in the same geographical way that Cyprus is really near to Asia. You could say culturally, but if you follow the island chain of the greater and lesser Antilles, it goes in a line, then a curve near St Kitts, into a line again and follow that, it seems as if Trinidad is part of the island chain, even though Trinidad is really near South America. But then again that could be complete rubbish.
+1
Level 37
Mar 9, 2019
I concur that, along with the ABC islands, Trinidad is in South America as they are all on the South American geologic plate.
+1
Level 74
May 30, 2019
Seen many references as Tobago being North and Trinidad being South America. That would legitimate to group "all" island nations in the North. Even though it's just as easy to place T&T in South America.
+1
Level 75
Mar 11, 2021
It's pretty clear that both Trinidad and Tobago are continuations of the South American mainland, not the Antilles chain. Definitely should be considered S Am...
+1
Level 63
May 18, 2016
I tried Attacama, Ataccama and Attaccama. Then I thought I was wrong. Didn'´t know it was written the easiest way with one T and C.
+1
Level 25
May 20, 2016
The most spoken language is Spanish.

Portuguese is only used in Brazil.

+21
Level 62
Apr 20, 2017
Portuguese may only be spoken in Brazil, but there's a Brazillian people living in that one country
+3
Level 74
May 30, 2019
As of 2019, the margin is extremely small. Spanish is definitely spoken in more places, but Brazil simply has more people...
+6
Level 82
Feb 29, 2020
I make it as roughly 198m Spanish speakers on the continent vs 206 million Portuguese speakers. It's close, but Portuguese has a non-negligible edge. One factor working against Spanish is that whereas very few Brazilians speak native languages significant portions of the populations of Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay do, cutting into those countries' contributions to the total number of Spanish speakers. Though Paraguay is a little confusing as the vast majority of its population is bilingual - Wikipedia says 90% speak Guarani and 87% speak Spanish. Breaking that down into a single 'first language' is virtually impossible/irrelevant.
+1
Level 70
Mar 11, 2021
I get the feeling that in Paraguay the mixed version of Spanish and Guarani, Jopará, is most common, with the balance changing between more Guarani or more Spanish depending on the setting. I've no idea how the statistics account for that however.
+1
Level 74
Mar 11, 2021
If you add up the number of Spanish speakers from South America from this website, then you'll see that the number comes to about 213 million speakers (not including the Spanish speakers in Brazil).

According to this website, there are almost 209 million people in Brazil, basically all of whom speak Portuguese.

That's a pretty small difference. So if you include all the Portuguese speakers from Spanish-speaking countries, it's about even. I am curious where QM got his data though, because I'm having trouble finding a solid source myself.

+1
Level 31
May 22, 2016
I thought the largest lake in South America was Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Lake Titicaca is second.
+3
Level 57
Jun 25, 2016
good for you
+5
Level 67
Dec 23, 2016
Lake Maracaibo is not a lake. It more of a bay.
+1
Level 82
Feb 29, 2020
I'd go with lagoon. But whatever.
+2
Level 45
Aug 17, 2016
Hey tubbyj,

If you look at a map "Lake" Maracaibo is actually not inland, it is a bay.

+1
Level 67
Dec 23, 2016
I only just noticed that comment.
+1
Level 73
Nov 8, 2018
Rio de la Plata looks like a bay or a gulf to me too. It's about 290 km long and 220 km wide at its mouth. The river parts are the Parana and Uruguay rivers.
+1
Level 78
Mar 11, 2021
It is classified by various geographers as a river, an estuary, a gulf, or a marginal sea and if it is a river, it would be the widest river in the world.
+1
Level 79
Jan 30, 2017
pantanal for pampas?
+1
Level 81
May 4, 2019
I wrote 'Mangellan' and it didn't get it right, ffs
+2
Level 66
Jul 5, 2019
Magallanes should be accepted for Magellan
+3
Level 82
Feb 29, 2020
The general rule appears to be only spellings commonly used in English are accepted. So Zhongguo or Deutschland wouldn't be accepted for China and Germany respectively, despite those being the native names for those countries. Similarly, I haven't encountered the Magallanes spelling in English usage, only in Spanish.
+3
Level 74
Jul 26, 2019
"Pampa" should be accepted as "Pampas" is. (Although I see the point to call it/them as a global geographic area)
+1
Level 72
Apr 29, 2020
Extremely easy quiz, I am astonished at the low percentages (after nigh on 10000 entries). The rubber barons qu. was the only one that made me stop and think, then enter the only plausible answer. I am not going to rehash the discussion about the ABC islands but I do find it odd to say they (or any other place) are "owned" by a country. I guess you prefer the brevity.
+1
Level 43
Mar 13, 2021
Do you people ever stop and think that maybe this isn't such a breeze for everyone? I think you do and you're just bragging rudely
+1
Level 68
Sep 4, 2020
Got them all except Lake Titicaca and Guano! Nice quiz :)
+1
Level 65
Oct 13, 2020
Agree with JoanSR, as in Spanish the area is known as La Pampa (singular, not plural)
+2
Level 18
Mar 11, 2021
I CAN FINALLY COMMENT!!!!!
+3
Level 75
Mar 14, 2021
Time to go forth and argue about Cyprus.
+1
Level 85
Mar 1, 2022
Cyprus is part of South America!!!
+1
Level 43
Mar 13, 2021
Titicaca
+2
Level 40
Mar 13, 2021
Can you accept Pampa for Pampas?
+1
Level 46
Mar 14, 2021
Bruh I thought it'd be Patagonia 🤦🏼‍♂️
+1
Level 77
Mar 15, 2021
Should accept BAT SH*T for fertilizer question.
+1
Level 65
Nov 22, 2022
"La Pampa" and "Las Pampas" should be accepted.
+1
Level 66
May 21, 2023
Do guano mining and phosphate mining sometimes refer to the same thing?

I guess in Nauru, phosphate mining, is mining the rock that the island is made of? And on the Chincha islands of Peru, it looks like guano mining, is just hauling away a protruding mountain of guano.

+1
Level 63
Sep 24, 2023
why was i thinking macchu picchu was chichen itza i am so dumb