Red, yellow and green appear on many African flags, but colour alone rarely identifies the country. A star in the middle, a shield, a crescent or a change from vertical to horizontal bands usually settles the question.
These 25 picture questions are grouped into five regional rounds. Read the flag description as well as the image, choose a country, then check the explanation. The rounds are a study aid rather than an official classification of every African flag.
Quick takeaways
- Read colours in order from the hoist.
- Notice central emblems before making a guess.
- Return to any pair you confuse and name one difference aloud.
West Africa: five tricolours to separate
Several neighbours use pan-African colours. Read the bands from the hoist and watch for a star.
1This flag has vertical orange, white and green bands. Which country is it?
Answer: Côte d'Ivoire. Côte d'Ivoire starts with orange at the hoist; Ireland starts with green.2This flag has vertical green, yellow and red bands. Which country is it?
Answer: Mali. Mali's three vertical bands run green, yellow and red.3This flag has vertical red, yellow and green bands. Which country is it?
Answer: Guinea. Guinea reverses Mali's order: red is at the hoist.4This flag has vertical green, yellow and red bands with a green star. Which country is it?
Answer: Senegal. Senegal shares Mali's band order but adds a green star to the middle.5This flag has horizontal red, gold and green bands with a black star. Which country is it?
Answer: Ghana. Ghana's black star sits on the gold middle stripe.
North Africa: crescents, stars and stripes
The crescent appears on several flags. The field colour and placement tell you which one you see.
6This flag has a green five-pointed star on a plain red field. Which country is it?
Answer: Morocco. Morocco's central symbol is a green pentagram, not a crescent.7This flag has green and white vertical halves with a red crescent and star. Which country is it?
Answer: Algeria. Algeria's red crescent and star cross the meeting of green and white.8This flag has a red field with a white disc enclosing a red crescent and star. Which country is it?
Answer: Tunisia. Tunisia places the crescent and star inside a white circle.9This flag has red, black and green horizontal bands with a white crescent and star. Which country is it?
Answer: Libya. Libya's crescent and star appear on the broad black middle band.10This flag has red, white and black stripes with a golden eagle. Which country is it?
Answer: Egypt. Egypt places a golden eagle on the white middle stripe.
East Africa: central symbols
In this round, symbols are often more decisive than the three main colours.
11This flag has a Maasai shield over black, red and green stripes. Which country is it?
Answer: Kenya. Kenya's shield and crossed spears sit in the centre.12This flag has six black, yellow and red stripes with a crane in a white disc. Which country is it?
Answer: Uganda. Uganda repeats the three stripe colours twice and shows a grey crowned crane.13This flag has green, yellow and red stripes with a blue emblem disc. Which country is it?
Answer: Ethiopia. Ethiopia adds a blue circle and yellow emblem over the tricolour.14This flag has a black diagonal band dividing green and blue. Which country is it?
Answer: Tanzania. Tanzania's black diagonal band has yellow borders.15This flag has a wide blue upper stripe with a yellow sun. Which country is it?
Answer: Rwanda. Rwanda's sun sits toward the fly above yellow and green stripes.
Southern Africa: distinctive layouts
These flags are easier to remember by layout than by a list of colours.
16This flag has a green Y shape between red and blue sections. Which country is it?
Answer: South Africa. South Africa's six-colour flag has a green Y with white and yellow borders.17This flag has a black horizontal band outlined in white on light blue. Which country is it?
Answer: Botswana. Botswana uses a pale blue field and a narrow black stripe with white edges.18This flag has a red diagonal band between blue and green with a sun. Which country is it?
Answer: Namibia. Namibia's yellow sun appears in the blue upper-hoist triangle.19This flag has an orange eagle above red, black and orange bars on green. Which country is it?
Answer: Zambia. Zambia places the eagle and three vertical bars near the fly.20This flag has blue, white and green stripes with a black hat. Which country is it?
Answer: Lesotho. Lesotho's black Basotho hat is centered on the broad white stripe.
Central Africa and island states
Finish with diagonal designs and one flag made of four simple stripes.
21This flag has vertical green, red and yellow bands with a yellow star. Which country is it?
Answer: Cameroon. Cameroon's yellow star sits in its red centre band.22This flag has a red diagonal stripe on light blue with a yellow star. Which country is it?
Answer: Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC's red diagonal band is yellow-edged, and its star sits at the upper hoist.23This flag has diagonal green, yellow and red sections. Which country is it?
Answer: Republic of the Congo. The Republic of the Congo uses a broad yellow diagonal between green and red.24This flag has four horizontal bands of red, blue, yellow and green. Which country is it?
Answer: Mauritius. Mauritius has four equally sized horizontal stripes in that order.25This flag has a white hoist band beside red above green. Which country is it?
Answer: Madagascar. Madagascar's red and green occupy the fly side beside a vertical white band.
Five more African flags
A bonus round with flags not shown above.
0 / 5 answered
1This flag has a vertical green band beside yellow over red. Which country is it?
Answer: Benin. Benin combines green at the hoist with yellow and red horizontal bands.2This flag has red above green with a yellow star. Which country is it?
Answer: Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso's yellow star lies at the centre of the red-green bicolour.3This flag has horizontal green, yellow and blue bands. Which country is it?
Answer: Gabon. Gabon uses green, yellow and blue stripes without a central emblem.4This flag has blue, yellow, red, white and green rays spreading from the hoist. Which country is it?
Answer: Seychelles. Seychelles uses five diagonal colour rays from the lower hoist corner.5This flag has a black-and-white shield on a broad red band. Which country is it?
Answer: Eswatini. Eswatini's shield and spears sit over a red band bordered by yellow and blue.
Frequently asked questions
Why do so many African flags share red, yellow and green?
These colours appear across many national designs, but each flag has its own history and proportions. Use the band direction and symbols to identify a flag rather than assuming colour alone is enough.
What is the difference between the two Congos' flags?
The Republic of the Congo uses diagonal green, yellow and red sections. The Democratic Republic of the Congo uses a light-blue field, a red diagonal stripe and a yellow star.
Try the flags you missed again
Pick three flags you confused and write a one-line visual cue for each. Short, specific cues are easier to use than memorising a long list of colours.
Review one region at a time
After the quiz, choose one region and arrange its five flags by band direction and central symbol. Sketch the layouts from memory, then open the images to check the details you missed.
These images come from FlagCDN's maintained collection. For official uses, proportions or colour specifications, check the relevant country's current guidance.
