is a facinating continent, etched with and culture, with many places speaking due to colonisation.

These include , Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The continent used to be split into viceroyalties, created by Spain to govern its territories.

The Viceroyalty of Peru was the second of the four viceroyalties, the others being the Viceroyalties of Brazil, New Granada and New Spain in North America.

Established in 1543, the Viceroyalty of Peru at first included all of South America under Spanish control. This was except for the coast of what is now Venezuela.

After Napoleon Bonaparte's occupation of the Spanish peninsula in 1808, most of Spain's South American colonies removed themselves from European control and functioned as sovereign states.

Following the defeat of Napoleon, Spain despatched an army to Venezuela and New Granada. This expedition, while initially successful, ultimately failed.

Independence movements that began in the early 19th century led to the gradual disintegration of Spanish colonial authority on the continent, and, by the mid-1820s, the country had lost its territories in Mexico, Central America, and South America.

But some places on the continent primarily use another tongue.

Portugal was also a colonial power in the region, and evidence of this endures today as Brazilians converse in Portuguese.

Guyana, meanwhile, has English as its official language because of its British colonisation, .

This ended with the country's independence in 1966. Guyana is the only South American country where English is the majority official language.

But there is a mix of other languages due to its multicultural population, which includes communities of Indian, African, Amerindian, Chinese, and Portuguese origin.

Creole languages, such as Guyanese Creole, are also widely spoken in informal contexts.

Suriname, the smallest country in South America, has Dutch as its official langauge.

This is due to its past as a colony of the Netherlands until 1975, when the country gained independence.

Also resident in Suriname are Hindu, Creole, Javanese, Maroon, Amerindian, and Chinese groups.

Apart from Dutch, many local languages, such as Sranan Tongo, an English-based Creole); Surinamese Hindi, Javanese, and various Amerindian dialects are used.

Trinidad and Tobago, even though located in the Caribbean Sea, is considered an extension of the continental territory of South America.

It is located just 11 kilometres off the northeast coast of Venezuela.

The two islands have English as their official language due to their history as a British colony.