Countries of North and Central America quiz

The 23 countries in the quiz

They’re the 23 UN member countries of North & Central America, on a map of the continent. Territories and areas that aren’t asked, such as Greenland, Puerto Rico, and Turks and Caicos Islands, are shown in gray.

7 are so small that they have a circle you can tap; at sea, tapping close to it is enough.

How to play

In Point mode we name a country and you tap it on the map; in Type mode one lights up and you type its name (accents don’t matter); and in Time trial you get 6 seconds per question. If you miss, we show you where it was, which way it lies and a hint drawn from the data: the countries it borders and its capital.

Each game has 10, 20 or all the questions, and at the end you can practice just the ones you missed. Your best score for each mode is saved in this browser only: neither we nor anyone else can see it, and there’s no sign-up.

The hardest ones

The smallest countries are the hardest, since they barely show on the map: Saint Kitts and Nevis (101 sq mi), Grenada (133 sq mi), and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (150 sq mi). Zoom in with the buttons or two fingers to tap them.

Tips to learn them

• Canada, the US and Mexico are easy; the real game is the seven Central American countries, lined up from Guatemala and Belize to Panama, and the Caribbean islands.
• Start with the three largest: Canada, United States, and Mexico cover 97% of the area of North & Central America.
• Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago have no land border with any other country on the map: look for them at sea.
• Guatemala has the most neighbors: it borders 4 countries. Once you place it, you have a landmark for many more.

Playing in class

Put the map on the interactive whiteboard and play in teams: each right answer scores a point, and if one team misses, the other gets a turn.

With the Challenge your class link, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, with no accounts or passwords, and each student sees their own score, time and streak. To practice on paper, there’s a printable worksheet of the same map with an answer key.

List of all 23 countries

1. Antigua and Barbuda Saint John's
2. Bahamas Nassau
3. Barbados Bridgetown
4. Belize Belmopan
5. Canada Ottawa
6. Costa Rica San José
7. Cuba Havana
8. Dominica Roseau
9. Dominican Republic Santo Domingo
10. El Salvador San Salvador
11. Grenada St. George's
12. Guatemala Guatemala City
13. Haiti Port-au-Prince
14. Honduras Tegucigalpa
15. Jamaica Kingston
16. Mexico Mexico City
17. Nicaragua Managua
18. Panama Panama City
19. Saint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre
20. Saint Lucia Castries
21. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown
22. Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain
23. United States Washington