List Of South American Countries And Capitals In Spanish | Spell Them Right

South America has 12 sovereign countries, and their Spanish country and capital names get easier once you group the spellings and accents.

If you need a list of South American countries and capitals in Spanish, start with the 12 sovereign states and learn the few spelling traps that trip people up. Many names look close to English, but Spanish changes some country names, keeps accent marks where they belong, and treats Bolivia a bit differently from the rest.

That mix is why a plain geography list can turn messy once you write it from memory. One clean set of names, plus a few memory cues, makes the whole topic easier to hold onto for class notes, quizzes, bilingual labels, or travel writing.

Why The Spanish List Gets Mixed Up

Some country names shift once you move from English into Spanish. Brazil becomes Brasil. Peru becomes Perú. Suriname becomes Surinam. Then you hit capitals such as Bogotá and Asunción, where the accent marks matter and missing one can make the word look unfinished.

There is also the question of what belongs on the list. For a standard geography list, South America has 12 sovereign countries. The United Nations Statistics Division country list is a solid way to confirm which states count in that set.

Once you have the country count, spelling is the next hurdle. The RAE’s list of países y capitales is useful here because it gives the standard Spanish forms for country names and capitals, including entries that differ from English.

The Bolivia Entry Needs Extra Care

Bolivia is the name that catches most people. In Spanish reference works, you will see two capital references tied to the country: Sucre and La Paz. Sucre is the constitutional capital. La Paz is the seat of government. If you want the cleanest classroom answer, write both unless your teacher or style sheet asks for one form only.

Spellings That Deserve A Second Look

• Brasil, not Brazil.
• Perú takes an accent mark.
• Bogotá and Asunción also take accent marks.
• Surinam is the standard Spanish country name.
• Guyana stays Guyana on modern Spanish country lists.

País	Capital	Nota útil
Argentina	Buenos Aires	Country and capital keep the same form used in many English lists.
Bolivia	Sucre / La Paz	Sucre is the constitutional capital; La Paz is the seat of government.
Brasil	Brasilia	Spanish drops the z from the country name and writes the capital as Brasilia.
Chile	Santiago	You may also see Santiago de Chile in longer labels, but Santiago is enough.
Colombia	Bogotá	The country has no accent mark; the capital does.
Ecuador	Quito	One of the easiest pairs to memorize because both names stay short.
Guyana	Georgetown	The country name stays Guyana in Spanish; the capital keeps its English form.
Paraguay	Asunción	The accent on Asunción is easy to miss when writing from memory.
Perú	Lima	The country takes an accent mark; the capital does not.
Surinam	Paramaribo	Spanish uses Surinam, not Suriname.
Uruguay	Montevideo	Both names usually stay the same across English and Spanish lists.
Venezuela	Caracas	Another pair that usually feels familiar right away.

List Of South American Countries And Capitals In Spanish By Region

Grouping the list makes it easier to learn than running through twelve pairs in random order. Once you sort the countries into rough blocks, the names start to feel less like isolated facts and more like a map you can picture in sequence.

Southern Cone

• Argentina — Buenos Aires
• Chile — Santiago
• Uruguay — Montevideo

These three are often the easiest place to start. The country names look familiar, and only one capital in this group stretches beyond a single word.

Andean Strip

• Colombia — Bogotá
• Ecuador — Quito
• Perú — Lima
• Bolivia — Sucre / La Paz
• Venezuela — Caracas

This block carries most of the accent-mark pressure. Bogotá and Perú need close attention, and Bolivia is the one pair that asks you to hold two capital references at once.

Interior And Atlantic Side

• Brasil — Brasilia
• Paraguay — Asunción

These are easy to pair once you notice the sound pattern: Brasil and Brasilia almost echo each other, while Paraguay and Asunción form one of the sharpest contrasts between country and capital on the continent.

The Guianas

• Guyana — Georgetown
• Surinam — Paramaribo

This is the pair many learners mix up because the country names sit next to each other on the map and the capitals do not sound like Spanish capitals at all. Learn them as a duo and they stick better.

Accent marks are part of the job here, not decoration. The RAE’s accent rules explain why forms such as Perú, Bogotá, and Asunción must keep their written stress marks in standard Spanish.

Nombre	Señal para recordarlo	Error común
Brasil	Spanish drops the z	Writing Brazil
Brasilia	Capital echoes the country name	Adding the Portuguese accent
Perú	Accent on the last vowel	Writing Peru
Bogotá	Accent on the last a	Writing Bogota
Asunción	Accent on the ó sound	Dropping the accent mark
Surinam	Ends in -m in Spanish	Writing Suriname
Guyana	Keeps y in standard Spanish lists	Switching to another spelling at random

How To Memorize The Capitals Without Mixing Them Up

You do not need a giant drill sheet to learn this list. A short routine works better because each pass gives your brain one clear job.

1. Start with the map order. Go north to south, then east to west. That stops the list from feeling scrambled.
2. Learn the easy pairs first. Argentina—Buenos Aires, Ecuador—Quito, Uruguay—Montevideo, Venezuela—Caracas. Early wins make the harder names less annoying.
3. Circle the spelling traps. Mark Brasil, Perú, Bogotá, Asunción, and Surinam. If you tame those five, the rest feel lighter.
4. Treat Bolivia as its own card. Write “Sucre / La Paz” on one line and read it aloud a few times. That single step saves a lot of second-guessing later.

One more trick works well for school use: copy the full list by hand once, then cover the capital column and fill it back in from memory. On the next round, cover the country column instead. Switching direction builds a cleaner recall than always reading left to right.

Where These Spanish Forms Matter Most

This list is handy far beyond a geography quiz. Spanish spellings show up in bilingual worksheets, subtitles, map labels, classroom posters, travel notes, and cross-language databases. If you use English forms in one line and Spanish forms in the next, the page starts to look uneven.

That is why consistency matters more than flair here. Pick the Spanish forms, keep the accent marks, and stay steady from top to bottom. Once you know that Brasil, Perú, Bogotá, Asunción, Guyana, and Surinam are the names that need the closest attention, the rest of the continent becomes much easier to write cleanly.

The Full Set In One Pass

Here it is again in plain text: Argentina—Buenos Aires; Bolivia—Sucre / La Paz; Brasil—Brasilia; Chile—Santiago; Colombia—Bogotá; Ecuador—Quito; Guyana—Georgetown; Paraguay—Asunción; Perú—Lima; Surinam—Paramaribo; Uruguay—Montevideo; Venezuela—Caracas. Read that line a few times, then write it once from memory, and the list starts to stick.