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

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

Suriname covers about 163,820 square kilometres on the continent’s northeastern Atlantic coast. It borders Guyana to the west, French Guiana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Much of its territory is covered by Amazonian rainforest, while most people live in the northern coastal zone around the capital, Paramaribo.

Suriname was formerly a Dutch colony known as Dutch Guiana. It became independent from the Netherlands on 25 November 1975. Dutch remains the official language, making Suriname unusual in South America, where Spanish and Portuguese dominate among sovereign states.

Uruguay is often mistaken for the smallest South American country because it has a smaller population than Suriname, but Uruguay has a larger land area. French Guiana is smaller than Suriname, yet it is an overseas department of France rather than a sovereign country. Those distinctions make Suriname the correct answer for sovereign states by area.