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Which South American country has coastline on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean?

Answer

Colombia

Colombia occupies the northwestern corner of South America, where the continent narrows toward the isthmus, and that position gives it shores on two different bodies of water. The Caribbean coast holds Cartagena and Barranquilla and faces the old Spanish treasure routes, while the Pacific side is a hot, extraordinarily wet expanse of rainforest around the Chocó region with far fewer people and the port of Buenaventura. Between and behind them the Andes split into three parallel ranges as they enter the country, separated by the valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers, and that fragmented terrain is a large part of why Colombia's regions developed such distinct identities and why overland travel was historically so difficult. Panama had the same double coastline while it was a Colombian department, but it separated in 1903, which is why the trivia answer depends on where you draw the line between South and Central America.

The Darién Gap, a stretch of roadless swamp and forest on the Colombia-Panama border, is the one break in the Pan-American Highway.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Peru. Peru has a long Pacific coastline but no Caribbean shore at all.
  • Venezuela. Venezuela faces the Caribbean along its whole northern coast and has no Pacific frontage.
  • Ecuador. Ecuador is purely Pacific-facing, with the Galápagos far offshore in the same ocean.

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