South America contains at least five countries and these countries contain people who speak at least Spanish or Portuguese.
It includes twelve sovereign states -LRB- Argentina , Bolivia , Brazil , Chile , Colombia , Ecuador , Guyana , Paraguay , Peru , Suriname , Uruguay , and Venezuela -RRB- , a part of France -LRB- French Guiana -RRB- , and a non-sovereign area -LRB- the Falkland Islands , a British Overseas Territory though this is disputed by Argentina -RRB-.
As the world 's fifth-largest country by both area and population , it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas.
With a mainland area of 2780400 km2 , Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world , the second largest in Latin America , and the largest Spanish-speaking one.
Spanish is the official and predominant language , although 36 indigenous languages also have official status , of which the most commonly spoken are Guarani , Aymara and Quechua languages.
The main spoken language is Spanish , although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages.
Spanish is the official language and is spoken by a majority of the population , though 13 Amerindian languages are also recognized , including Quichua and Shuar.
