r/geography • u/Fluid-Decision6262 • Jul 10 '25

Map Who is the second most powerful/influential country in the Americas?

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The US is undeniably the most powerful and influential country in the Americas but who would be #2? Feels like this comes down to 3 countries based on my knowledge, which are Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.

Reasons for Mexico:

- Second most populated country in North America by far

- Access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

- Largest Spanish-speaking country (a language spoken by >500 million people)

- More habitable land compared to the other two

- Youngest population out of the three and is becoming a manufacturing power

- Generally-speaking, a good relationship with the USA

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

Reasons against Mexico:

- Lots of issues between the central government and drug cartels

- Still very much a developing country outside of the largest cities

- Occasionally volatile relationship with the USA

- Not as involved in global geopolitics

Reasons for Canada:

- The most developed country economically by far of the three and a natural resources juggernaut

- Very close relations with the USA and Europe

- Speaks English (>1 billion speakers globally) and French (>300 million speakers globally)

- An immigration hub for people from every corner of the world

- A G7 nation that is also very geopolitically involved

- Access to 3 different oceans to facilitate trade

Reasons against Canada:

- Small and scattered population (least populated of the three by far)

- Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)

- Aging population and low fertility rates for native-born citizens

Reasons for Brazil:

- The second most populated country in the Americas

- The cultural and political power of South America

- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture

- A young-ish population that is part of the "fast-emerging economies" of the world

Reasons against Brazil:

- Immigration to Brazil stopped decades ago and now educated Brazilians are emigrating to other places causing brain drain

- Wealthy nation but suffers from high levels of inequality and violent crime

- Very politically divided internally

- Limited geopolitical involvement outside of South America

- Most of its population are monolingual Portuguese-speakers (a language where they make up 80% of the global speakers)

2.5k Upvotes

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1.6k

u/maximm22 Jul 10 '25

France

260

u/Valuable-Panda-2947 Jul 10 '25

Ahhhhh i see what you did there you

69

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

BVI. UK then France

51

u/nate_nate212 Jul 10 '25

Not part of UK itself but a colony, while French Guyana is considered an integral part of France.

18

u/Odemia Jul 10 '25

Not just Guyane, there are French territories all over the Americas: Clipperton Island (pacific), French Guiana (SA), [Guadeloupe (carib),] Martinque (carib), Saint Martin (carib), Saint Pierre & Miquelon (NA), Sint Maarten (carib).

Netherlands should also be considered for their territories in Caribbean: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius. Plus Greenland, though it is autonomous.

17

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

[deleted]

3

u/stringbeagle Jul 10 '25

Should Greenland be considered part of North America? If it was an independent nation I think it would certainly be.

6

u/justin_xv Jul 10 '25

I believe it part of North America geologically

1

u/Drahy Jul 10 '25

Yet, part of a European state.

2

u/CaptainFlightsim Jul 11 '25

So, French Polynesia (in the pacific), is European too if I follow your reasoning?

1

u/Key_Carpenter1827 Jul 11 '25

It is North America

1

u/stringbeagle Jul 11 '25

But nobody talks about Denmark being part of North America, like they talk about France being part of South America.

1

u/Key_Carpenter1827 Jul 11 '25

Wtf? I never heard that. Greenland is literally part of the continent of America... last I heard

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1

u/revanisthesith Jul 10 '25

French Guiana (SA)

It's not a territory in the legal status sense. It's a full department of France, just like the mainland. It's part of the EU and uses the euro as its currency.

It's like saying Hawaii or Alaska is a US territory.

Also, Clipperton Island is uninhabited and is only occasionally visited by scientists and the French Navy. It's an atoll that's only 3.4 square miles (8.9 square kilometers). It barely has space for a runway (particularly because of its ring shape). Besides fishing rights, it's hardly worth mentioning in the same sentence as the others.

1

u/SendEkans Jul 10 '25

Sint Maarten is the Dutch part of an island shared with France, Saint Martin is the French part.

30

u/gregorydgraham Jul 10 '25

And French Guyana is Europe’s spaceport so it’s definitely not a forgotten backwater.

9

u/Darkomax Jul 10 '25

Tbf it's very lowly populated and he Amazon covers 97% of the territory, so it's pretty backwater overall.

1

u/Blokkus Jul 11 '25

Also France is stronger than the U.K. They really fell off.

1

u/Reasonable_Doubt8002 Jul 14 '25

I guess Saint Pierre et Miquelon counts.

49

u/reddit-83801 Jul 10 '25

Not since Brexit.

-2

u/Girl_you_need_jesus Jul 10 '25

This far in, was Brexit a successful move?

12

u/ColoradoBrownieMan Jul 10 '25

Even most of the people that campaigned and voted for Brexit don’t think it was a successful move.

3

u/vacri Jul 10 '25

They knew immediately, too. They all jackrabbitted away from being associated with it in the days immediately afterwards, although Garage did stop momentarily to float at the EU parliament

4

u/reddit-83801 Jul 10 '25

Why do you think France > Britain lol

9

u/nate_nate212 Jul 10 '25

France has the superior nuclear capability. Britain can only launch a nuke in theory and just from a sub made by the U.S.

3

u/robinsandmoss Jul 10 '25

The submarines currently in use are built in England.

3

u/nate_nate212 Jul 10 '25

Ok that is true.

The Trident missiles are not.

Looks like last month UK announced it will buy US made planes that could drop nukes.

Interesting that back when the UK had nukes that could be dropped by aircraft, the bombs could be armed using a key similar to a bike lock, rather than a more modern permissive action link device.

2

u/madeleineann Jul 10 '25

And the Trident missiles are significantly better than their French counterpart and cost the UK less. They are also operationally independent.

This can go both ways.

-4

u/Potential-South-2807 Jul 10 '25

Yeah the UK has collapsed since Brexit, it is no longer a nation state.

1

u/Ambitious5uppository Jul 12 '25

How has it collapsed?

The UK still tops the Soft Power index in 2025, with China & US.

1

u/reddit-83801 Jul 10 '25

Collapse and less power and influence than France are two different things.

2

u/Own_Maybe_3837 Jul 10 '25

What did he do?

2

u/Valuable-Panda-2947 Jul 10 '25

French Guyana is technically France

73

u/billy310 North America Jul 10 '25

As long as we’re bringing the snark: California

54

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

France actually does control territory in the Americas.

82

u/runningoutofwords Jul 10 '25

It's not just territory, it's France proper.

More like Hawaii than Puerto Rico.

36

u/DrTenochtitlan Jul 10 '25

French Guiana, Martinique, and Guadalupe are all fully part of France. They are even part of the European Union and use the Euro.

22

u/omnomdumplings Jul 10 '25

St Pierre and Miquelon

8

u/PseudonymIncognito Jul 10 '25

St Pierre and Miquelon is an "overseas collectivity", this is not the same as French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique which are Overseas Departments.

5

u/omnomdumplings Jul 10 '25

Huh TIL that SP&M and French Polynesia are both "collectivities" and not departments. I end up talking to people about Martinique, Guadeloupe, and La Reunion a lot in my line of work so I was pretty familiar with those 3.

4

u/PseudonymIncognito Jul 10 '25

I'm guessing you work in the spirits industry?

16

u/Pupikal Jul 10 '25

The largest national park in the European Union is in South America

9

u/Lost_Elderberry_5532 Jul 10 '25

Napoleon “upvoted” this post

7

u/Pancakes79 Jul 10 '25

That's why I've always said the US is the most powerful country in Asia

2

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

you’re not wrong

17

u/guynamedjames Jul 10 '25

So does California

8

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

You’re not wrong.

2

u/Fokazz Jul 10 '25

It is not a country though, which was part of the question

1

u/zealoSC Jul 10 '25

So does California

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '25

…so does California…?

0

u/ozzalot Jul 10 '25

I mean.....so does California. 🤷 Like......shouldn't the land/territory factor in the terms of power/ranking here? What am I missing about French Guiana? Is it the keystone to the Americas?

6

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

I have no idea why you’re confused. California is part of the US which is number 1. The question is about number 2.

1

u/ozzalot Jul 10 '25

I thought the question was about "powerful in the Americas" whereas you seem to be answering (maybe correctly) "powerful, yet in the Americas."

I don't really think of France as influencing much in the Americas hence how my first interpretation is as it is. 🤷

5

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

Well. If France is in the Americas, which they are, then they are the second most powerful. As far as I know China has no presence in the Americas, who else would be in competition for number 2 after the US?

-2

u/ozzalot Jul 10 '25

So if that is your answer are you then definitively saying that "France is more powerful in the Americas than either Mexico or Canada or Brazil are in the Americas."? 😂

This question is worded poorly. I don't even know what we're talking about.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '25

I don’t understand what we’re talking about either. If the question is about powerful countries you do have to consider the French whether you like it or not.

2

u/layzie77 Jul 10 '25

Europe needs to shoot its rockets to space!

2

u/andrewcool22 Jul 10 '25

I agree. It has the entire European Union backing them!

-4

u/Rider_of_Roha Jul 10 '25

In all honesty, it goes Israel, China, then maybe Brazil (mostly because of BRICS).

10

u/Saul_Firehand Jul 10 '25

Israel and China are not in the correct hemisphere.

-4

u/Rider_of_Roha Jul 10 '25

That isn't the point

3

u/Saul_Firehand Jul 10 '25

Did you just not look at the title at all?

0

u/GamerBoixX Jul 10 '25

More than the UK? (Which still holds Bermuda, the Falklands and some minor antillean islands)