What is the smallest country in South America by land area?

Suriname is the smallest country in South America by land area.

Located on the continent’s northeastern Atlantic coast, Suriname covers about 163,820 square kilometres. It borders Guyana to the west, French Guiana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Much of its interior is covered by tropical rainforest, while most of the population lives along the northern coastal plain.

Suriname was formerly a Dutch colony known as Dutch Guiana. It became independent from the Netherlands on 25 November 1975. Dutch remains the country’s official language, making Suriname unusual in South America, where Spanish and Portuguese dominate most national language landscapes.

The country’s capital and largest city is Paramaribo, a historic coastal city whose wooden colonial architecture reflects Dutch influence. Suriname is sometimes confused with neighboring Guyana because both have English-related colonial histories and lie on the Guiana Shield. Guyana is larger, while French Guiana is an overseas department of France rather than an independent country.