The South American continent is surely famous for its name ‘” the continent of extremes”. If you know this, then you know Peru is a great starting point to explore all the richness that nature has blessed the continent with. South America needs no introduction as the Great Amazon and the many ancient heritage sites scattered all over the continent will do the convincing.
We’ve compiled these interesting South America trivia questions, so if you want to give yourself a real challenge on the best things to know about South America, then this trivia quiz is for you!
1. How many countries are there in South America?
Answer: 12.
2. Which country covers about 47,3% of the continent and is the largest country in the continent both by population and land area?
Answer: Brazil.
3. From whose last name is the name of ‘Colombia’ derived?
Answer: Christopher Columbus.
4. The great river of Brazil is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river in the world in comparison to the Nile. What is it called? Answer: The Amazon River.
5. What Indian tribe lived in Peru and had their capital city at Cuzco?
Answer: Incas.
6. What was the name of an 18th-century rebel leader in Bolivia, the last indigenous leader of the Incas, and an American rapper?
Answer: Tupac.
7. The national anthem of Uruguay is the longest national anthem in terms of duration worldwide. How long does it take to sing it?
Answer: 6 minutes.
8. In which South American country will you find the slums called ‘Favelas’?
Answer: Brazil.
9. Which Italian city did Venezuela get its name from?
Answer: Venice.
10. Which island sitting off the coast of mainland Ecuador served as the inspiration for Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution?
Answer: The Galapagos Islands.
11. By what name was Columbia formerly known?
Answer: New Grenada.
12. What is the English interpretation of Uruguay’s official national motto: “Libertad o Muerte?”
Answer: “Liberty or Death”.
13. Which South American country got its name because the Equator passes through it making it the only country in the world named after a geographical feature?
Answer: Ecuador.
14. What are the two major languages that are widely spoken in South America?
Answer: Spanish and Portuguese.
15. The ‘Cuy’ traditional meal of the South Americans of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru is made from which animal?
Answer: Guinea pig.
16. What is the smallest country in the South American continent?
Answer: Suriname.
17. Which is the largest city in South America?
Answer: Sao Paulo.
18. Which drug, the first that was used to prevent and treat malaria, is obtained from the bark of the tree called Cinchona that grows in Ecuador, South America?
Answer: Quinine.
19. What is the world’s largest living rodent that is found in South America?
Answer: Capybaras.
20. Which place in Colombia was once “the murder city of the world” with 17 murders every day in 1991?
Answer: Medellin.
21. What are the two UNESCO Heritage Sites that were the first in the world to ever be marked by UNESCO as Heritage sites?
Answer: The Galápagos Islands and the City of Quito.
22. What color of dolphins are found in Columbia?
Answer: Pink.
23. What Christian denomination serves as the main religion in all of South America, with over 90% of the continent’s population practicing it?
Answer: Roman Catholicism.
24. Montevideo is the capital of which country?
Answer: Uruguay.
25. Which South American country was the first country in the world to abolish the death penalty when it officially abolished capital punishment in 1863?
Answer: Venezuela.
26. Which South American carnival occurs just before the Catholic Christian tradition of Lent?
Answer: The Rio Carnival.
27. Which former president of Uruguay earned a monthly salary of 12,000 USD during his time as president, yet donated 90 percent of it to charity and eventually earned himself the nickname “world’s poorest president”?
Answer: José Mujica.
28. Which Venezuelan leader in the Spanish-American wars of independence is Bolivia named after?
Answer: Simón Bolívar.
29. Which two countries in South America do not have coastlines?
Answer: Paraguay and Bolivia.
30. What is the name of the nutritious grass found in South America, which is considered a “superfood” because it’s loaded with the vitamins your body needs to generate new cells and boost your immune system?
Answer: Alfalfa.
31. From where does the great Amazon river rise and in which ocean does it fall into?
Answer: It rises from the Andes mountains and falls into the Atlantic Ocean.
32. What is the official home of the President of Argentina called?
Answer: Casa Rosada or Pink House.
33. The indigenous corn pancake sandwiches popular in Venezuela and Colombia are known as?
Answer: Arepa.
34. What was the venue for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games?
Answer: The Maracanã Stadium.
35. In which South American country will you find that there are no doorbells, instead visitors clap their hands for a few seconds to announce themselves?
Answer: Paraguay.
36. Which reptile found in the Amazon is the largest snake in the world?
Answer: The Green Anaconda.
37. Why did Uruguay ban salt shakers from restaurants and schools?
Answer: To tackle obesity rates.
38. Which is the first country in the world to grant constitutional rights to nature (i.e. the ecosystem is a legal entity that can sue or be sued in a court of law)?
Answer: Ecuador.
39. Which place in the South American continent is the driest place on Earth?
Answer: The Atacama Desert in Chile.
40. Which country on this continent has won the highest number of FIFA World Cups?
Answer: Brazil.
41. In which country will you find Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world?
Answer: Venezuela.
42. The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the world happened on the South American continent on May 22, 1960. What was it called?
Answer: The “Great Chilean Earthquake”.
43. What lake found in Peru is often credited as the highest navigable lake in the world?
Answer: Lake Titicaca.
44. What is the Bolivian capital that has an elevation of 11,942ftabove sea level, which makes it the highest city in the world by elevation?
Answer: La Paz.
45. The tallest mountain outside of Asia, is found in South America. What is it called?
Answer: Aconcagua.
46. Which indigenous dance of South America, coined from the black ancestors that used to live in Brazil’s favelas, is the most featured during the Rio Carnival?
Answer: The Samba dance.
47. The two highest sand dunes in the world are found in South America. What are they?
Answer: Duna Federico Kirbusand Cerro Blanco.
48. Which country is the only member state of the Commonwealth of Nations in South America?
Answer: Guyana.
49. Which South American country is one of the 16 countries in the world with two official capitals?
Answer: Bolivia
50. Which university in Peru is the oldest officially established university in the Americas?
Answer: The National University of San Marcos in Lima.
51. What is the most venomous spider in the world?
Answer: The Brazilian Wandering Spider.
52. What is the name of the hotel in Bolivia built entirely out of salt blocks?
Answer: El Palacio de Sal.
53. Who was the Colombian drug lord who was responsible for 80 percent of the world’s cocaine production in the latter half of the 20th century?
Answer: Pablo Escobar.
54. Which island in Brazil is classified as the deadliest place in the world?
Answer: “Snake Island”.
55. Which country in South America is famous for its emerald mines and is the world’s largest producer of emeralds?
Answer: Cambodia.
56. What are the cowboys of Argentina known as?
Answer: The Gauchos.
57. The local plantations in South America were mainly concentrated in sugar and coffee production in the 19th century. Is known as what?
Answer: Fazendas.
58. From which South American country does the Panama Hat take its origin?
Answer: Ecuador.
59. Which 3 territories form the Guianas in South America?
Answer: Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana.
60. On what occasion was the longest hot dog in the world made in Paraguay?
Answer: The celebration of the country’s 200 years of independence.
61. What other river flows below the Amazon River?
Answer: The Hamza River.
62. What mountain range in South America is the longest in the world?
Answer: The Andes.
63. In Bolivia unmarried people are only allowed to vote when being at least 21 years old. What is the least voting age for married people?
Answer: 18.
64. What town in the Peruvian Andes which sits 10,000ft above sea level, is the highest permanent settlement in the world?
Answer: La Rinconada.
65. What notorious festival of South America involves a fighting fiesta where men brutally fight each other for several days?
Answer: Tinku.
66. Which country was the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage?
Answer: Argentina.
67. Which Uruguayan city set a world record for hosting the largest barbecue ever?
Answer: Minas.
68. What is the only English-speaking country in South America?
Answer: Guyana.
69. Which South American country is one of only two countries in the world whose flag looks different on each side?
Answer: Paraguay.
70. Which mountain in the Peruvian Andes is striped in seven different colors due to its specific mineralogical compositions?
Answer: The Rainbow Mountain.
71. What South American city is the largest city in the world not accessible by road but only by plane or ship?
Answer: Iquitos.
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