Flags Missing Key Elements Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vatican City

The yellow and white vertical stripes (in heraldic terms gold and argent) are unique to Vatican City. In the middle of the white stripe, there should be an emblem consisting of two keys (referring to Saint Peter, who received the Keys of Heaven) and a papal mitre.
San Marino has a flag with a white and blue horizontal stripe, and the state emblem placed in the centre of the field.
Andorra combines three vertical stripes (blue - yellow - red) with the state emblem in the centre.
Liechtenstein has a blue and red horizontal stripe, with a crown in the blue canton.

Answer: An elephant

The white stripe of the Mexican flag shows us the state emblem: an eagle devouring a serpent, while sitting perched on a cactus. According to legend, the Aztecs wanted to found their capital city only on the spot where they sighted this scene. Tenochtitlan (nowadays Mexico City) was founded on such a location.
The elephant is not native to Central-America, so it is not portrayed on any of the Central-American flags. It featured quite prominently on the flag of Laos until 1975, and on the flag of Siam (now Thailand) until 1915.

Answer: Portugal

The armillary sphere is a medieval instrument to aid navigation at sea. Its presence on the Portuguese flag serves as a reminder of their great naval history - after all they were the first Europeans to find a sea route to India. The national escutcheon (shield) portrays seven castles and five little shields, with in each of the little shields five small circles.

It is said that the number of circles would refer to the thirty pieces of silver Judas was awarded for betraying Christ, but the actual number does not correspond.

The seven castles would refer to seven strongholds conquered from the Moors, but this theory doesn't withstand the test of history. Indeed: there have been other numbers of castles portrayed (sixteen castles during the reign of King Afonso III, twelve castles during the reign of King Joao I). Bangladesh has a green flag with a red circle. Morocco has a red flag with a green pentagram. Transnistria, the rebelling region in Moldova, flies a flag with red-green-red horizontal stripes, sometimes with a yellow hammer and sickle in the upper right canton.

Answer: Orange

The flag of Cyprus is one of the few flags featuring the country's outline. Other examples are Kosovo, the United Nations (a world map) and the Australian territory Christmas Island.
There was a national competition to design the flag prior to the independence (1960). As there were already at that time some issues between the Greek speaking community (mostly inhabiting the western part of the island) and the Turkish speaking community (mostly living in the eastern part of the island), the design was subject to the condition that neither of the emblems of both other countries (Greek cross, Islamic crescent) nor their colours (blue for Greece, red for Turkey) would be used.
The winning entry was the country map in copper orange (reminding of the abundance of copper mines in more ancient times), with two olive branches (international symbol of peaceful relations).
Incidentally, the green map is represented on the flag of Christmas Island and the white map decorates the flag of the United Nations. The blue map was proposed for the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the end they chose for a number of stars.

Answer: Lebanon

Lebanon adopted the aforesaid flag in 1943, after the end of the French mandate. Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1915, and then adopted a white flag with the Lebanon cedar. In 1920, the French assumed a mandate over Lebanon, and changed the flag to the French tricolored (red-white-blue) with a Lebanon cedar in the white stripe. At the end of the French mandate in 1943, the ex-consul of Austria Henri Pharaon designed the flag with three horizontal stripes (red-white-red) and a Lebanon cedar in the centre of the white stripe.
The Lebanon cedar has been mentioned as typical of the landscape already in the Old Testament (Book of Psalms). To the Lebanese people, this tree symbolizes hope and freedom: whatever people govern the region, the tree will always grow (as long as the environment allows it).
The flag of Belize contains the coat of arms of this country: an escutcheon crowned by a mahogany tree. Equatorial Guinea's flag also contains the country's coat of arms: an escutcheon with a silk cotton tree. The Haitian flag was originally the same as that of Liechtenstein, but includes since 1986 the Haitian coat of arms: a green lawn with a palm tree, two cannons, six flags and a motley association of other items.

Answer: The temple of Angkor Wat

The flag of Cambodia consists of three stripes (blue-red-blue), with a stylized version of the temple of Angkor Wat in the middle of the red stripe.
Angkor Wat is one of the best known buildings in Cambodia, and has been declared a Unesco world heritage site in 1992. Construction started probably in the first half of the Twelfth Century near the lake Siem Reap. This temple has five towers, but on the flag (as it was from 1863 until 1979, and as it is from 1993) only three towers are represented. During the period 1979-1991 all five towers were depicted.
The flag of Cambodia has been modified various times since 1863. But only at two brief occasions the temple was not depicted on the flag: at the end of the Japanese occupation, when they had King Norodom Sihanouk declare independence from France (March- October 1945); and during the UNTAC transitional government (February 1992 - May 1993). When UNTAC prepared a democratic election, the Cambodian coat of arms still displayed the temple of Angkor Wat - the flag was purely an outline of the country with the name inscribed in it.
Although Cambodia is of course associated with the Khmer civilization, the people have never depicted a Khmer warrior on their flags nor coats of arms. The river Mekong flows through the eastern regions of Cambodia, but is too hard to depict on a flag. The cow is featured on the flags of Andorra and Moldova.

Answer: Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea shows on its flag a species of the bird of paradise, a genus of birds native only to this country and a few coastal regions of Australia. This bird is known for the exquisite plumage, in bright colours. The Raggiana bird of paradise drawn on the flag of Papua New Guinea is in real life a quite large bird (about 34 cm tall), reddish-brown in colour - with a yellow crown for the males.
Of course using the real life colours of the Raggiana bird of paradise on a red background would not go well, so the Papuans have chosen to depict their bird in yellow.
A green parrot can be found on the flag of Dominica. Kiribati's flag shows a frigate bird flying over the waves of the ocean. And the Bolivian coat of arms (also depicted on the Bolivian flag) is crowned by an Andean condor.

Answer: Trident

The history of Barbados is not well documented until the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese explorers around 1500. These conquistadores were the reason that the original inhabitants fled the island, so that around 1540 the island was not inhabited any more. Around 1620 the English claimed the island and settled there. During the era as a British colony (up till 1966), the colonial badge showed the mythical figure Brittania holding a trident. As soon as Barbados became an independent state (although still part of the British commonwealth, and in a personal union with the British monarch), the trident became the key element on the national flag.
Only the trident head is displayed - the shaft (which would symbolize British government and administration) has been "broken off", only a tiny part of the shaft (perhaps symbolizing the British monarch) is still present. I put "broken off" between quotation marks, because this is the official indication - but the drawing shows no sign of an irregular breaking point, it seems to be a clear cut.
An automatic gun (sometimes identified as a Kalashnikov AK 47, but details are unclear) is portrayed on the flag of Mozambique. A shield is predominantly present on the flags of Kenya and Swaziland, to name some examples. A movement in Australia has suggested redesigning the Australian flag by including a boomerang.

Answer: Angola

It is the Angolan flag we're looking for. The machete symbolizes the agrarian labourers, and the cog wheel symbolizes the industrial workers. The way in which these symbols are depicted reminds me of the classical hammer and sickle symbol of the former Soviet Union (perhaps no coincidence: after the independence in 1974 and a bloody civil war, the communist movement MPLA assumed the government).
The red top stripe can signify either the bloodshed during the struggle for independence and the ensuing civil war, or the socialist (communist) ideals. The black stripe at the bottom may symbolize the African continent. Another interpretation states that the combination of red and black would stand for "Freedom or Death". The yellow colour would indicate abundance of minerals in the soil.
The flag of Brunei contains no machete, but a parasol as most striking element. Sri Lanka's flag shows a lion holding a sword. Ugandan flags depict a crane bird.

Answer: Machu Picchu

On the Peruvian coat of arms, we find in the left upper corner a vicugna (normally written with an n crowned by a tilde, but this can provoke odd renderings on your computer screen), one of the camelids native to the Andes region (as are also the llama, and the alpaca - the latter one being displayed on the Bolivian flag). The animal symbolizes not only the typical fauna of Peru, but also pride and freedom.
In the upper right corner, we find the cinchona tree - the bark of which is used to obtain quinine. It represents the blessings of Peruvian flora.
The lower half of the escutcheon shows us a cornucopia : a horn filled with gold coins, representing the rich Incan inheritance and the abundance of minerals.
Although Machu Picchu is a famous World Inheritance Site in Peru, it does not feature on the Peruvian flag nor coat of arms.