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Flags of the Americas Quiz

Drag the flag of every country of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean onto a flat map, three tries each. No labels.

Three families of flags from Guatemala to Argentina

Five flags in the middle of this map are blue, white and blue because their countries once formed one state, the Federal Republic of Central America, in the years after independence from Spain. Honduras kept the horizontal stripes and added five blue stars for the five members. El Salvador and Nicaragua kept them too and put their arms in the centre, a triangle with five volcanoes for the same five states. Guatemala turned the stripes vertical and placed a quetzal on a scroll in the middle. Costa Rica added a wide red stripe in 1848, so its flag is blue, white, red, white and blue.

Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela share yellow, blue and red from the flag of Gran Colombia, the state Bolívar assembled after the Spanish left. Colombia's yellow takes the top half and the flag is otherwise plain; Ecuador's yellow also takes half, but the coat of arms sits in the centre; Venezuela has three equal stripes and an arc of eight white stars on the blue. Argentina and Uruguay both carry the Sun of May, which recalls the May Revolution of 1810 in Buenos Aires: Argentina in the middle of light blue, white and light blue, Uruguay in the canton of nine white and blue stripes for its nine original departments.

Single stars, an eagle and a Bible

Chile is white over red with one white star on a blue square at the hoist. Cuba is three blue and two white stripes with a red triangle and a white star. Panama is quartered, white with a blue star, red, blue, and white with a red star, in the colours of the two parties that dominated its politics at independence in 1903. Mexico's green, white and red carry the eagle on a cactus with a snake in its beak, the sign that, in the Aztec founding legend, marked the place to build Tenochtitlan. Brazil's blue globe holds twenty-seven white stars, one per state and one for the Federal District, under a band reading Ordem e Progresso. Paraguay's red, white and blue has different emblems on its two faces, the only national flag that does; the deck shows the front, with the state arms. The Dominican Republic's white cross divides blue and red quarters around a small coat of arms with an open Bible, the only one on a national flag. Haiti is blue over red with its arms on a white panel. Peru and Canada are both red, white and red in vertical bands: Canada has the maple leaf, and Peru's white band is plain or carries the arms.

The Caribbean and the Guianas

Jamaica is a gold saltire on green and black, the only national flag with no red, white or blue. Trinidad and Tobago is red with a black diagonal band edged in white. Barbados is blue, gold and blue with a black trident head whose shaft is broken, for the break with colonial rule. The Bahamas is aquamarine, gold and aquamarine with a black triangle at the hoist. Grenada has a red border with six gold stars, a seventh in a red disc in the middle of yellow and green triangles, and a nutmeg at the hoist for the spice trade. Dominica is green with a cross of yellow, black and white and a sisserou parrot on a red disc ringed by ten green stars, one of the very few national flags with purple on it. Saint Lucia is blue with the two Pitons drawn as a gold and black triangle; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is blue, yellow and green with three green diamonds; Saint Kitts and Nevis is green and red split by a black band with two white stars; Antigua and Barbuda is a rising sun over blue and white on black inside a red V. Belize is the only national flag with people on it, two woodcutters beside a mahogany tree, and uses more colours than any other. Guyana's Golden Arrowhead is a gold triangle on green with a red one inside it; Suriname is green, white, red, white and green with a yellow star.

Look-alikes and what settles them

Four flags are light blue, white and light blue: Argentina has the sun, Honduras five small stars, and El Salvador and Nicaragua each an emblem in the middle. El Salvador's triangle sits inside a wreath of green branches with a ring of gold lettering, on a deeper blue; Nicaragua's triangle has no wreath, just a ring of text, on a lighter blue. Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela go plain, arms, stars, with Venezuela's stripes equal and the other two top-heavy with yellow. Peru and Canada differ by the maple leaf. Cuba and Chile both have one white star: Cuba's is in a red triangle, Chile's on a blue square in the corner. Saint Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago both run a black diagonal from the hoist, but Saint Kitts has two stars on it and green and red fields, Trinidad a plain red field.

All 35 countries and their capitals

35 countries are on this map, listed in alphabetical order with their capitals, area, population and one thing worth knowing about each — the same card Learning opens on the globe. All of them are in the deck.

1. Antigua and BarbudaSaint John's442 km² · 94,300 peopleClaims 365 beaches — one for every day of the year.
2. ArgentinaBuenos Aires2,780,400 km² · 45.7 million peopleHome to Aconcagua, at 6,961 m the highest mountain outside Asia.
3. BahamasNassau13,943 km² · 401,000 peopleAbout 700 islands and cays, only around 30 of them inhabited.
4. BarbadosBridgetown430 km² · 282,000 peopleBecame a republic in 2021, replacing the British monarch with an elected president.
5. BelizeBelmopan22,966 km² · 411,000 peopleThe only Central American country whose official language is English.
6. BoliviaSucre1,098,581 km² · 12.4 million peopleHas two capitals: Sucre is the constitutional one, La Paz the seat of government.
7. BrazilBrasília8,515,767 km² · 212 million peopleThe world's largest Portuguese-speaking country; Brasília was purpose-built as the capital in 1960.
8. CanadaOttawa9,984,670 km² · 39.7 million peopleHas the world's longest coastline and more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
9. ChileSantiago756,102 km² · 19.8 million peopleStretches 4,300 km from north to south but averages only 177 km wide.
10. ColombiaBogotá1,141,748 km² · 52.9 million peopleOne of the most biodiverse countries on Earth, with more bird species than any other.
11. Costa RicaSan José51,100 km² · 5.2 million peopleAbolished its army in 1949 and runs almost entirely on renewable electricity.
12. CubaHavana109,884 km² · 11 million peopleThe largest island in the Caribbean; classic 1950s American cars still fill Havana's streets.
13. DominicaRoseau751 km² · 67,000 peopleThe Nature Island: nine volcanoes, 365 rivers and the world's second-largest boiling lake.
14. Dominican RepublicSanto Domingo48,671 km² · 11.4 million peopleSanto Domingo, founded in 1496, is the oldest European city in the Americas.
15. EcuadorQuito276,841 km² · 18.1 million peopleNamed after the equator; the Galápagos Islands inspired Darwin's theory of evolution.
16. El SalvadorSan Salvador21,041 km² · 6.3 million peopleThe smallest country in Central America and the only one without a Caribbean coast.
17. GrenadaSt. George's344 km² · 117,000 peopleThe Spice Isle: a leading nutmeg producer, and a nutmeg appears on its flag.
18. GuatemalaGuatemala City108,889 km² · 18.4 million peopleHeart of the ancient Maya civilisation; Tikal's temples rise above the rainforest.
19. GuyanaGeorgetown214,969 km² · 831,000 peopleThe only South American country with English as its official language.
20. HaitiPort-au-Prince27,750 km² · 11.8 million peopleThe first Black-led republic, independent since 1804 after a successful slave revolution.
21. HondurasTegucigalpa112,492 km² · 10.8 million peopleCopán holds some of the finest Maya sculpture; the term 'banana republic' was coined about Honduras.
22. JamaicaKingston10,991 km² · 2.8 million peopleBirthplace of reggae and of Usain Bolt; its flag is one of the few without red, white or blue.
23. MexicoMexico City1,964,375 km² · 130 million peopleGave the world chocolate, corn and chillies; Mexico City is built on a drained lake.
24. NicaraguaManagua130,373 km² · 7 million peopleLake Nicaragua is the largest lake in Central America and once held freshwater sharks.
25. PanamaPanama City75,417 km² · 4.5 million peopleThe Panama Canal shortens the voyage between the Atlantic and Pacific by about 13,000 km.
26. ParaguayAsunción406,752 km² · 6.9 million peopleIts flag is the only national flag with a different emblem on each side.
27. PeruLima1,285,216 km² · 34.2 million peopleMachu Picchu was built by the Incas around 1450; the potato was first domesticated here.
28. Saint Kitts and NevisBasseterre261 km² · 47,000 peopleThe smallest country in the Americas by both area and population.
29. Saint LuciaCastries616 km² · 180,000 peopleThe only country named after a woman; the twin Pitons appear on its flag.
30. Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesKingstown389 km² · 101,000 peoplePirates of the Caribbean was filmed in its harbours; Bequia still builds boats by hand.
31. SurinameParamaribo163,820 km² · 634,000 peopleThe smallest South American country; Dutch is the official language and 90% is rainforest.
32. Trinidad and TobagoPort of Spain5,130 km² · 1.4 million peopleBirthplace of calypso, limbo and the steelpan — the only acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century.
33. United States of AmericaWashington D.C.9,372,610 km² · 340 million peopleAlaska is bigger than the next three largest states combined; the flag has changed 27 times.
34. UruguayMontevideo181,034 km² · 3.4 million peopleWon the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 as host; gets over 90% of its electricity from renewables.
35. VenezuelaCaracas916,445 km² · 28.4 million peopleAngel Falls, at 979 m, is the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world.

Questions about these flags

Which flag of the Americas is different on each side?

Paraguay's. The front bears the state coat of arms, a yellow star in a wreath; the back bears the seal of the Treasury, a lion beneath a cap of liberty and the words Paz y Justicia. No other national flag has different emblems on its two faces. The deck shows the front.

Which flag on this map has no red, white or blue?

Jamaica's: a gold saltire with green triangles above and below and black ones at the hoist and fly. Since Mauritania added red stripes to its flag in 2017, Jamaica has been the only national flag in the world without any red, white or blue.

What do the stars on the Brazilian flag show?

Twenty-seven white stars on the blue globe, one for each of the twenty-six states and one for the Federal District. They are laid out as the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 15 November 1889, the day the republic was proclaimed, with the band Ordem e Progresso across it.

More maps

Capitals on the same map: Capitals of the Americas. Other maps: Europe, Asia, Africa. All 235 flags of the world with their capitals: Flags of the world · all modes.