South America Capitals
| Country | Capital | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Buenos Aires | 3,100,000 |
| Bolivia | Sucre (constitutional capital), La Paz (seat of government) | 300,000 (Sucre), 2,840,000 (La Paz) |
| Brazil | Brasília | 3,055,149 |
| Chile | Santiago | 5,614,000 |
| Colombia | Bogotá | 7,412,566 |
| Ecuador | Quito | 2,671,191 |
| Guyana | Georgetown | 235,017 |
| Paraguay | Asunción | 525,000 |
| Peru | Lima | 9,751,717 |
| Suriname | Paramaribo | 240,924 |
| Uruguay | Montevideo | 1,305,000 |
| Venezuela | Caracas | 2,938,000 |
Argentina: Buenos Aires
The capital of Argentina is called Buenos Aires. This is Spanish and means “good air” . When it was founded, the city was located where there was no more malaria , a disease that at that time was attributed to bad air. According to another explanation, the name refers to the favorable winds that blow here.
Buenos Aires is located on the Río de la Plata, a wide estuary on the Atlantic . Buenos Aires is one of the most modern cities in South America. There are many high-rise buildings and a subway. The city is also known as the Paris of South America. She looks very European. Buenos Aires is also the world capital of tango. Tango stars perform daily and show the dance in bars, but also on the street.
Three million people live here. Buenos Aires is therefore also the largest city in the country. If you include the region around the city, 14 million people live here. Some don’t have it so well because they have to live in slums on the outskirts of the city.
Brazil: Brasília
The capital of Brazil is Brasília. It is inland. Brasília was not always the capital. Before that, Salvador de Bahía (1549-1763) and Rio de Janeiro (1763-1960) had this function. Brasília was built specifically to become the capital.
The planned city has the shape of a cross. Because one axis was bent because of the landscape, it now looks more like the shape of an airplane from the air. Only 205,000 people live in the city itself, but the region around the city has now developed significantly – around three million people live here. The center of Brasília has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The city emerged from nowhere and is considered a milestone in urban development.
The largest and probably better known cities in Brazil, on the other hand, are São Paulo and Río de Janeiro. Both are on the coast. With a population of almost twelve million, São Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world. As many as 20 million people live in the region. It is the most populous city in the southern hemisphere. 6.4 million people live in Rio.
Colombia: Bogotá
The capital of Colombia is Bogotá. 8 million people live in the city. If you add up the population of the region, you get 13 million people. Many people live in slums, especially on the outskirts. The residential areas of the wealthier are in the north of the city. Bogotá is a center of drug trafficking and crime. Bogotá is located in the mountains at an altitude of 2640 meters. As a result, the average annual temperatures of 13 degrees are not too high and the climate is moderate.