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Top 10 American Countries by Coastline

Name the countries that have the longest coastlines in the continents of North and South America.
Estimated coastline within the Americas only
One answer filled in to avoid being unnecessarily confusing
Quiz by gjcsarris
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Last updated: April 19, 2019
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First submittedApril 26, 2016
Times taken63,873
Average score90.0%
Rating4.93
1:30
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Kilometers
Country
137,000
Canada
67,100
United States
43,700
Denmark (Greenland)
31,300
Chile
18,700
Brazil
15,600
Mexico
Kilometers
Country
5,910
Argentina
5,750
Cuba
5,480
Venezuela
3,780
Bahamas
3,560
Colombia
+4
Level ∞
Apr 18, 2019
Redid the quiz to use our new and better source, but with some slight modifications to remove Hawaii, Guam, etc...
+4
Level 62
Aug 25, 2019
Chile’s coastline is 5x longer than Argentina’s?
+27
Level 48
Sep 14, 2019
Southern Chile has an extremely irregular coastline.
+7
Level 76
Mar 10, 2020
Also, much of northern Argentina is blocked by Brazil and Uruguay
+1
Level 82
Aug 4, 2022
Chile's fjords are both spectacular and very messy, whereas Argentina's coast is pretty neat. At similar latitudes, you see the same thing in NZ, where the west coast, or at least the southern part of it, is a jumble of fjords and islands, whereas the east coast is largely straight. Same also goes for the Antarctic Peninsula. I don't know if that's all a coincidence, or there's some reason for it.
+6
Level 82
Apr 19, 2019
Top 10 Countries in the Americas by Coastline*

Fixed the title for you. You got it right in the caveats.

+43
Level 70
Sep 14, 2019
The title wasn't wrong. "American" can refer to North, Central or South America. USA just happens to be the only country that chooses to define itself as American.
+6
Level 82
Sep 15, 2019
I didn't say it was wrong. I said I fixed it. As is it is very confusing as this is an extremely peculiar use of the adjective "American." Language is a tool for conveying meaning. Unless you are intentionally trying to be vague, to mislead, to suggest, to be passive aggressive, for comic effect etc, the best language conveys meaning clearly to the most people. My suggested title would do that perfectly and unambiguously, and so is superior. There are currently 5-6 billion people on Earth who first think the USA when they hear or read "American," it's not just Americans who do that.
+31
Level 72
Sep 15, 2019
I'd usually agree with you, Kal. But since it's a top 10, it's kind of obvious that "American" refers to the continent and not the USA, don't you think?
+1
Level 82
Sep 15, 2019
yes but the title I suggested would still be more clear. This title is clear if you think about it for a few seconds or a few minutes depending on how much exposure you've had to this strange use of the demonym. Mine is clear from the get-go.
+5
Level 67
Sep 16, 2019
I agree with Kal on this one. Not a big issue, but I originally read this as top 10 American counties, not countries, as I (a Canadian) would never refer to myself as an American.

In fact, if someone called Canada an American country, I would assume they meant a country under American influence rather than being part of these two continents.

+5
Level 65
Oct 17, 2019
a few minutes... seriously?? come on..
+2
Level 71
Jul 21, 2020
I also agree with Kal and Scott. When I first read the title, my knee jerk reaction was to assume it was about the United States, which isn't surprising considering that there are many JetPunk quiz titles that use the word "America" (or "American") as a synonym for the US.
+3
Level 78
Jun 22, 2021
A total non-issue that didn't need further comment or clarification.
+1
Level 89
Aug 4, 2022
I somehow missed the word "American" and started guessing places like Australia and Russia.
+1
Level 48
Oct 16, 2023
Hah
+2
Level 76
Sep 16, 2019
'Murica.
+1
Level 82
Sep 16, 2019
good point. oh, wait...
+10
Level 68
Oct 3, 2020
The title seems fine as is. For most people, America is a continent - not one country on one out of two continents named that.
+2
Level 82
Aug 4, 2022
You couldn't be more wrong about this. You know you are wrong about this. And you continue to make comments that deliberately mislead and confuse, pretending as if you don't know you are wrong about this. You remind me a lot of a certain prominent public figure in American politics. It's not a good look.

It's certainly not "most people" who think this. Even in Germany and France. Even in Latin America. And even amongst that tiny, tiny minority of people, they are certainly aware of the more common use of the demonym, but choose to use it to mean something else for one of the reasons I outlined above. There is nobody alive on Earth today who would be confused by using American to refer to things from the USA, even if they are among the tiny handful who prefer using the term differently. it's impossible that you don't already know this. You're being disingenuous at best.

+2
Level 79
Mar 13, 2021
I agree that 'countries in the Americas' would be clearer. I almost started typing in American states instead.
+6
Level 41
Sep 14, 2019
Peru??
+2
Level 47
Sep 14, 2019
Ikr I was wondering where Peru was
+8
Level 59
Apr 8, 2020
I'm shocked. I can' believe Peru has 2414 km of coastline. It's coastline looks MUCH longer than Venezuelan
+2
Level 79
May 13, 2020
But then, Peru's coastline is quite straight and Venezuela's isn't on closer inspection on Maps.
+1
Level 75
Aug 4, 2022
Peru has a fairly uniform desert Pacific coast for most of its coastline, and not a lot of islands (25 or so).

I'd have guessed Ecuador before Peru in fact, even though it's much smaller, although looking at the source Peru is [just!] ahead of Ecuador.

Colombia and Venezuela are more jagged, especially in the Caribbean, and have a lot more islands (about 75 and 300 respectively).

Chile is the Norway of South America, especially in the south where you can't move for all the coastline...

+4
Level 51
Sep 16, 2019
And Bolivia ?!? Ah yeah ... They don't have access to sea 😓
+1
Level 61
Jan 16, 2020
not since a while no.
+1
Level 64
Oct 6, 2019
1:05
+2
Level 24
May 7, 2020
does really cuba have more coastline than Peru??
+2
Level 71
Jul 21, 2020
Not really surprising considering it's an island.
+9
Level 70
May 24, 2020
I just spilled a drink on the floor and now I’m sad
+4
Level 75
Jan 6, 2021
I hope you've bounced back now James :)
+1
Level 28
Feb 7, 2021
I got the Bahamas with 0.01 seconds left.. And it was a guess..
+1
Level 25
Oct 25, 2021
lucky you
+1
Level 56
Nov 16, 2021
lol, how did I miss Mexico?
+1
Level 40
Sep 23, 2022
How tf did I miss usa