Flags of the Americas Quiz

Central America is a family of blue–white–blue flags descended from the old federation. Guatemala runs its bands vertically and adds a quetzal; Honduras has five stars; El Salvador and Nicaragua each carry a coat of arms, and Nicaragua's is a triangle with a rainbow; Costa Rica breaks the pattern with a wide red stripe.

The Andean trio of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela share yellow, blue and red from Gran Colombia. Colombia is plain with a double-height yellow band; Ecuador keeps that proportion and adds arms; Venezuela uses three equal bands and an arc of eight white stars. Argentina and Uruguay both show a sun: Argentina's sits centred on a white band, Uruguay's in the corner of nine blue-and-white stripes.

The Caribbean rewards a good memory rather than a rule: Jamaica is the only national flag with no red, white or blue; Trinidad and Tobago is a single black diagonal; Barbados a broken trident; Dominica a sisserou parrot; Belize is the only national flag with human figures. Cuba's blue-and-white stripes with a red triangle are the reverse of Puerto Rico's colours. Puerto Rico is not in this quiz, which trips people up.