Which South American country is the largest by area?

Brazil is the largest South American country by area. Its territory covers about 8.5 million square kilometres, nearly half of the continent’s land area.

Brazil stretches from the Amazon Basin in the north to subtropical regions in the south. Its Atlantic coastline runs for more than 7,000 kilometres, while its interior includes rainforests, wetlands, savannas, plateaus and major river systems. The Amazon River and much of the Amazon rainforest lie within Brazilian territory.

Brazil borders every independent South American country except Chile and Ecuador. Argentina is the continent’s second-largest country, but it covers only about one-third as much area as Brazil. Peru and Colombia are also large by regional standards, yet neither comes close to Brazil’s scale.

Its size helps explain Brazil’s extraordinary geographic and cultural variety. Portuguese is the official language, making Brazil distinct from most of its Spanish-speaking neighbours, and its population is also the largest in South America.