Flags and capitals of the Americas

The Americas run from the Arctic islands of Canada to Cape Horn at the tip of Chile, and take in Central America and the islands of the Caribbean on the way. In AtlasGenie they form one region, so a single game can jump from Ottawa to Buenos Aires to Port of Spain.

The large mainland countries are usually the easy part. The real test is the Caribbean, where small island nations such as Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have similar names and bold, modern flags that are easy to swap. Dominica and the Dominican Republic are a classic mix-up: they are different countries on different islands, with very different flags.

Several groups of flags are near-twins. Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela share yellow, blue and red bands from the flag of Gran Colombia. Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador share blue-white-blue stripes from the Federal Republic of Central America. Cuba and Puerto Rico use the same design with the colours swapped. Learning one small detail for each, such as stars, a coat of arms or the width of the bands, is usually enough.

Capitals hold surprises as well. Brazil's capital is Brasília, not Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo. Canada's is Ottawa, not Toronto, and Australia is not in this region at all, despite how often Canberra and Ottawa are confused. Bolivia lists Sucre as its constitutional capital while the government sits in La Paz.

Spanish is official in most of Latin America, Portuguese in Brazil, French in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole, Dutch in Suriname and English across much of the Caribbean, in Guyana and Belize. Some countries also recognise Indigenous languages: Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay among them, with Quechua, Aymara and Guaraní.

Browse the table below, review the look-alikes, then start a quiz with the Americas already selected.