The following countries belong to South America:
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Similarities:
All these countries have in common the existence of a large amount of Natural Resources and base their economy on the exportation of raw materials and with the exception of Bolivia and Paraguay all have access to the sea.
Most of the South American countries were colonized by Spaniards and are Spanish-speaking, with the exception of Brazil (former Portuguese colony), Suriname (formerly newly independent Dutch colony), Guyana (formerly newly independent English colony) and French Guiana (current colony of France).
Differences:
Brazil and Argentina have a very broad territory and stand out in terms of the degree of industrialization and diversification of the economy. Together with Uruguay and Paraguay, they form MERCOSUR (Common Market of the South), which is an important commercial block of the region.
Chile, Peru and Colombia integrate together with Mexico the (Pacific Alliance), and they stand out by a dynamic growth based on the commercial interchange with countries that have coast towards the Pacific Ocean (the United States, China, Japan, etc.). They export products based on mining, fishing, fruit growing, viticulture) and develop tourism.
Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia base their economy on the mining activity and the export of Oil and Gas. The last decades were characterized by having governments of the current called Socialism of the XXI Century led by Hugo Chávez.
Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana, with certain variations, have precarious economies based on trade with their respective metropolises and on self-survival.
According to the IMF (2015), the GDP for purchasing power parity of the South American countries ranged between 25,814 million dollars (Guyana) and 3,172,815 million dollars (Brazil); and GDP per capita for purchasing power parity varies between $ 7,512 (Bolivia) and $ 26,864 (Chile).
