Flags & Vexillology Trivia Quiz

Answer: Australia

The 'Union Jack' in Australia's flag is representative of the country's link to Great Britain. The Australian flag was introduced in 1903 after a competition in which more than 30,000 suggestions were submitted.

Answer: Cyprus

The UN launched a contest for a new Cyprus flag on January 28, 2003. It is a worldwide competition to design a flag and compose a new national anthem for Cyprus in an attempt to accelerate the momentum for an early end to 29 years of conflict. Copper is the proper colour of the Cypriot flag, and yellow is the usual. The Ancient Greeks got most of their copper from the island, and the Romans imported a good deal as well. The Greek word for copper (from which the English is derived) actually means "Cyprus metal".

Answer: Blue, Yellow, Black, Green, Red

Created in 1913 at the instigation of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, although the five rings themselves have been the symbol of the Olympic Games since 1906. They represent the five continents (Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania), and also symbolise fraternity and friendship.

The flag was hoisted for the first time at the Olympic Games of 1920 (the 7th International Olympic Games at Antwerp). At least one of the colours of the rings appears in the flag of every country in the world.

Answer: Panama

The order in which the colours appear on Panama's flag white on the top left corner with a blue star. A solid red colour is displayed in this flag's top right corner. The bottom right corner is white with a red star and the bottom left corner is made up of a solid blue colour.

The flag was devised by the first President of the country, Manuel Amador Guerrero, and was hoisted for the first time on 3 November 1903. The white stands for Peace, the red and blue, for the liberal and conservative parties.

The stars are to symbolise loyalty and strength.

Answer: The number of stars

The Australian flag has 6 white stars, five of which represent the constellation 'Southern Cross'. New Zealand's flag has four red stars, all of which represent the Southern Cross. The stars on the NZ flag are not a "true" cross, they fall at the relative positions of the stars Acrux, Mimosa, Gacrux and delta Crucis, and as such the "crossbar" doesn't intersect the upright at 90 degrees.

Answer: Louisiana

The design consists of the pelican group from the state seal, in white and gold, and a white ribbon bearing the state motto, "Union, Justice, and Confidence", on a field of a solid blue. The flag was adopted in 1912.

Answer: Red

The Austrian flag is made up of three horizontal 'stripes'. Red, white, red. The Austrian red, white and red flag can be traced back to 1230, and it is therefore, one of the oldest flags in the world. It was, however, more a dynastic or war banner than a National Flag until 1786, when the Emperor Joseph II made it the basis of a new war flag, national flag and merchant flag with the Coat of Arms in the centre. Since 1919, the flag without the Arms has been the National and Merchant Flag of Austria.

Answer: Iceland

These arms were incorporated into the arms of the Kings of Denmark, and so were a part of the Danish Royal standard until this century. Incidentally, it was also part of several Greek royal flags, since the Greek royal family was related to that of Denmark. As Iceland went with Norway in union with Denmark, the Danish flag was used also in Iceland.

Answer: Chad

Chad's flag is made of three equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, and red. The flag design was based on the flag of France, and is similar to the flags of Romania and Andorra.

Answer: Libya

Libya's all-green flag was adopted in 1977, after leaving the Federation of Arab Republics. Green is the national colour of Libya as well as a symbol of devotion to Islam. Libya's previous flag with a red, black and green stripe with a superimposed crescent and star was adopted on independence in 1951.

The stripes represented the three constituent provinces of Cyrenaica (black), Fezzan (red) and Tripolitania (green). With the overthrow of the regime in 2011, the previous flag (1951) was re-adopted.