South American Flags Quiz

Identify every flag in South America.

All twelve South American flags. A small block, a shared colour history, and three flags that are genuinely hard to separate.

A continent you can finish in one sitting

South America has twelve sovereign states, which makes this the most completable flag quiz on the site. Most people can get all twelve reliably within a couple of sessions — the obstacle is not volume, it is that three of them are near-identical.

The Gran Colombia three

Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador were one country until the 1830s, and their flags still show it. All three are horizontal bands of yellow, blue and red in that order from the top.

The separations: - Colombia — the yellow band is double the height of the other two, and there is no emblem. That double-height yellow is the fastest tell on the continent. - Venezuela — equal bands with an arc of white stars across the blue. - Ecuador — equal bands with a coat of arms in the centre, including a condor.

If you learn only one thing about South American flags, learn that Colombia is the one with no emblem and a fat yellow stripe.

The rest, briefly

Brazil — green field, yellow diamond, blue globe with a banner reading Ordem e Progresso. The stars are a real depiction of the night sky over Rio.
Argentina — light blue and white bands with a golden Sun of May in the centre. Uruguay also uses a Sun of May, but on nine stripes with a white canton, so the two are separable at a glance once you know to count.
Chile — a white and red field with a blue canton holding one white star. Frequently confused with the US flag by people going fast; Chile has no stripes in the lower half, just solid red.
Peru — three vertical bands, red-white-red. Clean and distinct.
Bolivia — red, yellow, green horizontal with the coat of arms. Bolivia also flies the Wiphala, a square rainbow-checkered flag, alongside it.
Paraguay — red, white, blue horizontal, and the one genuine oddity: it carries a different emblem on each side.
Guyana — the Golden Arrowhead, a green field with a gold arrow and red triangle. Unmistakable.
Suriname — green, white, red bands with a large yellow star.

The two that catch people

Chile and Texas look alike, which matters because a lot of flag quizzes include sub-national flags. And Argentina and Uruguay share the Sun of May, which is a shared independence symbol rather than a coincidence.

Where to go next

South American Capitals pairs naturally with this, and it is the harder half — Sucre, Quito, Montevideo and Asunción are far less familiar than the flags they belong to.

Frequently asked questions

How many countries are in South America?

Twelve sovereign states: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. French Guiana is an overseas department of France rather than an independent country, which is why quiz counts sometimes differ.

Why do Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador have similar flags?

They were a single country, Gran Colombia, until it dissolved in the 1830s, and all three kept the yellow, blue and red bands. Colombia dropped the emblem and doubled the height of the yellow band; Venezuela added a star arc; Ecuador added a coat of arms.

Which South American flag has different sides?

Paraguay. It carries the national coat of arms on the obverse and the treasury seal on the reverse, making it one of very few national flags in the world that is not identical on both sides.

What do the stars on Brazil's flag mean?

They depict the actual night sky over Rio de Janeiro, with real constellations, and each star stands for a state or the federal district. The banner across the globe reads Ordem e Progresso — order and progress.

Play S. American Flags offline in the app

South American Flags Quiz and the rest of the arcade are in the free Geography Quiz Arcade app: Get it on Google Play · Download on the App Store.