Throughout fifth grade, my social studies teacher quizzed us on dozens of flags from around the world. In the (almost) 20 years since, there has never been a practical application for this information. If you had a similar experience (or you’re just well-traveled), now’s your chance to flaunt that knowledge.
In today’s quiz, you’ll find 12 flags, including some of the more bizarre designs out there. Can you guess which country, state, territory or province it represents?
Take the Quiz: Flags of the World
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WOW! 12 out of 12. Great quiz.
posted by MikeTrig on 11-3-2009 at 12:08 pm
Is that a machine gun and a hoe on the Mozambique flag? Seriously?
posted by Adrienne on 11-3-2009 at 12:12 pm
11 of 12! I don’t think I’d seen that first one before. Very fun quiz.
I had a teacher who drilled the state flags into us, but not the world flags.
posted by Justin on 11-3-2009 at 12:13 pm
Perhaps “(The Hard Ones)” wasn’t necessary. So far, the average score is 81%. Your fifth-grade social studies teachers would be proud.
Adrienne: Flagspot.net has a description, taken from the Constitution of Mozambique:
“On the left side, there shall be a red triangle, in the centre of which there shall be a gold star. Above this there shall be a crossed hoe and gun, superimposed upon a book. The star shall symbolise the spirit of international solidarity of the Mozambican people. The book, hoe and gun shall symbolise study, production and defence.”
posted by Jason English on 11-3-2009 at 12:18 pm
9 of 12!
@ Adrienne: That is not just a machine gun, that is the AK-47, or Kalashnikov assault rifle. This Russian-made rifle figures prominently in Mozambique’s history as a symbol of independence gained from Portuguese colonial rule.
The hoe is just a hoe, lol
posted by Mojo Jojo on 11-3-2009 at 12:38 pm
I only missed the first one – I guess my time spent playing Geography Challenge on facebook taught me something ;)
posted by Kelly on 11-3-2009 at 1:00 pm
12 outta 12. Wooo!
posted by Zach on 11-3-2009 at 1:20 pm
12 out of 12! I actually did some “best guessing” but I’ve always had a thing for flags so it didn’t seem that hard. Great quiz though! I could take flag quizes all day.
posted by Tim on 11-3-2009 at 2:00 pm
I somehow guessed my way into 100%. I only really knew about 4 or 5, most of those by elimination (i.e. I KNEW what the flag of the other place really looked like). This was a lot of fun! :)
posted by Chanel on 11-3-2009 at 2:16 pm
I got 10 out of 12, mostly by process of elimination also.
A tougher quiz would be to give the name of a country/territory/state, show TWO flags, and choose the correct one!
-”BB”-
posted by Bicycle Bill on 11-3-2009 at 2:22 pm
There was something wrong with the site some of the flags were not even shown but I must be one heck of a guesser I got 11 out of 12 right.
posted by Kari on 11-3-2009 at 2:30 pm
I only missed Monaco/Sicily.
posted by Dennis on 11-3-2009 at 2:42 pm
75% (under the average).
Thought New Zealand was somehow a trick question for some reason. (Too easy)
Would have got 100% if I didn’t second-guess the 3 I missed.
posted by Nerak on 11-3-2009 at 3:10 pm
9/12 (75%) – I’ll take it.
posted by Steve from San Diego on 11-3-2009 at 3:53 pm
I’m with Kelly–Geo Challenge on Facebook is a great way to learn this stuff!
9/12…not too bad
I second-guessed myself about Argentina. D’oh!
posted by Gretchen on 11-3-2009 at 4:47 pm
11 of 12 – missed Sicily.
Who knew there were any three legged flags in the world, let alone two of them?!
posted by John on 11-3-2009 at 5:09 pm
100%! But I gotta confess that Virgin Islands and the Louisiana was a lucky guess. They do not teach those in europe!
posted by NM on 11-3-2009 at 6:35 pm
100% first try, and I had to guess the American ones.
posted by Chris Martin on 11-3-2009 at 7:44 pm
Anyone know what three legs on a flag are supposed to mean?
I thought the Argentina flag was Uruguay, but fortunately that wasn’t a choice! This quiz could have been a lot harder if it paired countries with similar flags like that (Columbia vs. Venezuela, for example).
posted by Bob on 11-3-2009 at 9:23 pm
12 of 12 – woohoo!
posted by Anna on 11-3-2009 at 10:07 pm
11/12–what a bunch of lucky guesses on my part.
posted by Meghan on 11-4-2009 at 5:21 am
11/12—missed New Zealand also– same thing–thought it was a trick with two Crown Colonies, but the Southern Cross should have been the deciding clue.
posted by SWFLguy on 11-4-2009 at 8:31 am
12/12, nice to see my home state of Louisiana there at the end. New Zealand was the only one I wasn’t 100% sold on.
posted by Kerry P on 11-4-2009 at 12:36 pm
11 out of 12 — hooray! I did cheat on the Argentinian flag, though. Asked my co-worker (who’s from there) for help. How sad is that: cheating on an on-line quiz?!
posted by Rachel on 11-4-2009 at 2:34 pm
12/12 If you wanted to make it really hard (although flags of territories and state flags are tough challenge) you should have put flags from Middle East – most of them are variations of red, white and black…
posted by gabal on 11-4-2009 at 3:24 pm
10/12 and I missed the last one, which I should have gotten… missed Argentina, too…
posted by ann on 11-5-2009 at 4:16 pm
12/12! I’m so proud of my inferences and guesses, and my mom will be, too.
posted by Sylvie on 11-5-2009 at 5:29 pm
12/12!!!! I’m a geography expert!
posted by Karl on 11-6-2009 at 8:09 am
I also only missed New Zealand.
posted by NYCGirl on 11-7-2009 at 6:43 pm
100%. Some of them I took an educated choice on some. It is a strong point of mine. And my wife would have killed me if I got New Zealand wrong
posted by Terry on 11-9-2009 at 4:02 am
12/12. I’ve always been a bit of a flag geek though. :)
posted by Jackie on 11-10-2009 at 7:03 pm
I got 12/12. Yay!!
posted by Kelly on 11-11-2009 at 9:48 pm
no idea how i just got 12 out of 12.
posted by adam on 11-21-2009 at 11:55 pm
I got 12. I’m very surprised. Must be psychic powers because I was only sure of Libya, NZ & Mozambique.
posted by Hannah on 12-17-2009 at 7:43 pm
10 out of 12. :)
Only got #2 & #6 wrong.
posted by James on 3-1-2010 at 4:42 pm
great! 12 of 12! i used to love looking at different flags in high school… it was cool to see what i remembered.
posted by brain-anator on 3-3-2010 at 12:03 pm
The only one I’ve seen (and remembered) is New Zealand, but I pulled off 11/12 :)
posted by Rachel on 3-3-2010 at 8:20 pm
Eh: 10/12 ain’t bad… Glad it was multiple choice! :-)
posted by ALG on 3-29-2010 at 11:34 pm
12/12!!! Yeah!!! Nice quiz!!! :)
posted by Jobe on 4-25-2010 at 8:24 am
11/12! Not bad. :)
posted by Abby on 4-25-2010 at 8:17 pm
9/12 good i guess.
posted by jacob on 5-1-2010 at 10:14 pm
100%! I love flags! The only one I did not recognize was #11. Thanks for this.
posted by elizabutt on 5-6-2010 at 5:15 pm
11-12
Missed Mozambique. The AK could easily fit into the history of either country – but the colors should have pushed me to a country on the African continent.
Wow. I thought that I was the only flag geek out there… Love all sorts of geography stuff, much to my long-suffering wife’s amusement / incredulity.
posted by DavidS on 5-6-2010 at 9:46 pm
11/12. Got the last one wrong.
posted by Jason on 5-7-2010 at 9:48 am
11/12, mostly through elimination, although I was pleased that I remembered the pelican is associated with LA
posted by Cathy J on 5-7-2010 at 10:37 am
12/12. Most of them were easy.
posted by Uncle Flo on 5-7-2010 at 8:32 pm
I was going to leave a comment along the lines of “New Zealand shouldn’t be on a list of “hard” flags of the world”, but then I read a lot of people didn’t know it. Poor kiwis.
posted by Carolyn on 5-10-2010 at 12:42 am
11 out of 12 – a shocker since I guessed on quite a few of them! Have to admit NZ was an easy one, having lived here for 3 years now. :)
posted by Logan on 5-10-2010 at 4:46 am
12/12 woohoo!
posted by jasmina on 5-10-2010 at 4:43 pm
11/12. Great quiz!!
posted by jda on 9-10-2010 at 4:49 pm
12/12 Grew up all over the world as a GI Brat and as a member of the USAF – Always been fascinated by other countries’ flags
posted by Al Kimball on 9-24-2010 at 4:14 pm
11 out of 12! ^_^
posted by kristina on 9-24-2010 at 5:54 pm
11 of 12 – Damn you Sicily!
posted by Mark on 10-19-2010 at 8:46 am
9 out of 12. I’m so ashamed – I’m in the Foreign Service!
posted by Elizabeth on 10-28-2010 at 7:21 pm
I have no idea how I got all 12 correct! Awesome!
posted by Alie on 5-14-2011 at 11:37 pm
12 out of 12! XD
posted by Shivangi on 7-23-2011 at 10:50 am
9/12… And I have to say, there are some WEIRD flags out there. This was another fun one: http://www.sporcle.com/games/europeflags.php Probably not too hard for people who are into this stuff :)
posted by andiekaufman on 8-9-2011 at 8:06 pm
flawless 12/12 :)
posted by Pero on 9-1-2011 at 6:21 am
12/12, I always knew the geography :)
posted by godra on 9-1-2011 at 6:45 am
Great Quiz. Like many, I was able to get a few by the process of elimination. I got 10 out of 12.
posted by Steve Dugan on 9-27-2011 at 2:23 am
Mental Floss quizzes are usually pretty tough, so I was surprised to get 12 out of 12. A couple of them I was crossing my fingers and hoping I was right, though.
posted by Joel on 10-23-2011 at 6:16 pm
OOO 12/12!!
But I think I’ve taken this quiz before … =(
posted by melissakfc on 1-27-2012 at 8:26 am
If you follow international football, just match the shirt colour to the flag.
posted by Leslie on 1-31-2012 at 12:24 pm
AUGH, why do all the state flags have to have [RANDOM STUFF] on blue?
I was expecting Louisiana to have a French motto and I messed myself up. Sigh.
posted by Spiff on 1-31-2012 at 10:39 pm