National flags and their meaning

[ferreirajl]

http://atlasgeo.span.ch/fotw/images/p/pt.gif

[ferreirajl]

Post your national flag and the meaning of the symbols and colours.

Some flags are better known than others, but all are welcome. Here's an opportunity to learn a bit more from different countries... or maybe even your own :cool:


Portuguese National flag:

2/5 ths Green--> Hope

3/5ths Red --> Blood (from soldiers deffending our country)

5 center shields --> 5 muslim kings defeated in the Battle of Ourique in 1139. (At the time Muslims occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula)

7 castles --> 7 castles conquered to the Muslims in the process of clearing them from our territory

golden sphere --> tribute to portuguese maritime discoveries since the XVth century (Western Coast of Africa, South Africa, Eastern Coast of Africa, maritime connection to India, Brasil, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan)

[Kaushik]

Post your national flag and the meaning of the symbols and colours.

Some flags are better known than others, but all are welcome. Here's an opportunity to learn a bit more from different countries... or maybe even your own :cool:


Portuguese National flag:

2/5 ths Green--> Hope

3/5ths Red --> Blood (from soldiers deffending our country)

5 center shields --> 5 muslim kings defeated in the Battle of Ourique in 1139. (At the time Muslims occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula)

7 castles --> 7 castles conquered to the Muslims in the process of clearing them from our territory

golden sphere --> tribute to portuguese maritime discoveries since the XVth century (Western Coast of Africa, South Africa, Eastern Coast of Africa, maritime connection to India, Brasil, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan)
It was interesting to know what your national flag symbolized. Vasco da Gama was the first person to reach India following the sea route. The Portuguese held the province of Goa until it was wrested from their grasp by India a few decades back. But Portuguese is still widely spoken there. There is a club team of the name of Vasco (da Gama) in the Indian NFL (soccer). There are many Portuguese from Goa residing in Canada at present.

[ferreirajl]

It was interesting to know what your national flag symbolized. Vasco da Gama was the first person to reach India following the sea route. The Portuguese held the province of Goa until it was wrested from their grasp by India a few decades back. But Portuguese is still widely spoken there. There is a club team of the name of Vasco (da Gama) in the Indian NFL (soccer). There are many Portuguese from Goa residing in Canada at present.

Thank you,
I was hoping to see some more flags posted already :(
Can you post Canada's flag and meaning?

come on people...

[1900AFCA1900]

The Dutch flag.

The flag is being used since the 16th century. Freedom fighters in Holland used the flag from the Royal Dutch Family in the war against Spain. The flag was orginally orange, white and blue. Since 1630 it's red, white and blue. Nobody knows why the colours has been changed. Holland was the first country which used this three colours in their flag.

http://www.shipmate.nl/afbeeldingen/vlaggen/vlagwimpkl.jpg

[mcruic]

By tradition the flag is based on a saltire-cross of St Andrew which appeared in the form of clouds in the sky above a battle between the Scots and the Saxons. This encouraged the Scots to victory and ever since the 'sky-blue' flag with a white saltire has been the national flag.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/g/gb-scotl.gif

[ferreirajl]

very nice.... keep em coming.

How come no one has posted the British or the American flag?!

Come on... people have killed and died for these flags... wouldn't you like to know what they mean and what they stand for?!

I thought this would make an interesting topic....

[DanRod78]

Venezuelan flag (same story for Colombia and Ecuador)

In March 12th 1806, Francisco de Miranda (an independence national heroe of Venezuela that also helped Americans fight the british) arrived at "La Vela, Venezuela" with a flag of three colors that would become the venezuelan national flag.
http://www.simon-bolivar.org/bolivar/images/BanderaTricolordeMiranda.gif

This flag was used by "The Great Colombia" (country composed of Colombia, Venezuela, Equador and Panama 1819-1830)
http://www.simon-bolivar.org/bolivar/images/BanderaGranColombia.gif

Venezuela's official flag (Last change was made in 1954)
http://www.simon-bolivar.org/bolivar/images/BanderaNacionalVigente.gif
- Yellow: Riches and gold that we have
- Blue: The sea that separate Venezuela from Spain (so called motherland)
- Red: The blood of the national heroes
- Stars: The first 7 provinces of Venezuela
- And the shield goes on the upper left side

[MightyBees]

check out http://www.niceflag.com/history.htm

[Mane_Garrincha]

http://www.uniweb.cl/xavier.castella/jovenescordillera/eje/BanderaBrasil.jpg

Green: Represents the Amazon
Yellow: Represents Gold
Blue: The Sky
The Stars: The Brazilian States
In the middle it says Order and Progress...

[MightyBees]

http://www.nps.gov/colo/Jthanout/w2stgeor.jpg

In 1603, the year of Queen Elizabeth I's death, England and Scotland existed as completely separate nations, each with their own monarch and parliament. Elizabeth, being a spinster and therefore childless, expressed a deathbed wish that her cousin, King James VI of Scotland, be named as her successor to the English throne. Thus, the Scottish monarch was projected into the unique position of ruling two nations simultaneously. He ruled Scotland as King James VI and England as King James I.

The English national flag at this period consisted of a simple red cross fully imposed upon a plain white field, this being the emblem of St. George, England's patron saint. The Scottish national flag consisted of a diagonal, or X-shaped, white cross, fully imposed upon a medium blue field. This was the emblem of St. Andrew, Scotland's patron saint. In the spring of 1606, to symbolize the monarchical unification of the two nations under himself, James created a banner to this end, by fully superimposing the English red cross (with a narrow white border to represent its normal white field) upon the Scottish flag. This became known as the Union Flag, and it was the forerunner of the present flag of Great Britain.

In the decree of issuance of the new flag, James stipulated that all ships of both English and Scottish registry were to fly this flag from atop their mainmasts. The Cross of St. George was to be flown from the foremasts of the English ships, while the Cross of St. Andrew was to be flown form the foremasts of the Scottish ships. As the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery were of English registry and did not embark upon their historic voyage until December of 1606, it logically follows that on this voyage their flags conformed to the royal decree of the preceding spring.

http://www.nps.gov/colo/Jthanout/w2union1.jpg

The Union Flag, created by James in 1606, continued in use as a purely symbolic banner until 1707. Then, during the reign of Queen Anne, the parliaments of England and Scotland were united to form the new nation of Great Britain, and Anne officially adopted the 101 year old banner as the national flag of the newly created nation. In 1801, when Ireland became a part of Great Britain, the flag was redesigned to include the Cross of St. Patrick (red, diagonal), the patron saint of Ireland. It is in this form that the British flag exists today.

[nergserg]

MEXICAN Flag

http://flagspot.net/images/m/mx.gif

This flag was created in 1821, when the Independence movement had ended victoriously. The basic design is taken from the French Tricolor flag and the red, white and green are the colors of the national liberation army of Mexico.

In addition to the bands of color, our flag also has an emblem. The emblem is based on a legend which tells how the Mexicas traveled from Aztlán in search of the sign that God Huitzilopochtli had told them they would find in the place where they should establish their empire.

The sign was an "eagle perched upon a nopal, devouring a serpent." After a long journey, they finally found it in the Valley of Mexico, on an island near the edge of Lake Anáhuac. The city was to be named Tenochtitlán, and is now present day Mexico City.

http://www.flags.net/elements/gif_flags/MEXC002.GIF

The national coat-of-arms therefore reproduces the sign given to the Aztecs by Huitzilopochtli: the left profile of the eagle standing on its left leg upon a nopal; in its right talon and beak it holds a rattle snake, which represented the renovation of life to the ancient Mexicas.

If you look closely, you will see that the island is bordered by a ribbon with colored bands (same as flag): green represents hope and victory, white symbolizes the purity of our ideals, and red if for the blood our national heroes shed. On the island, there is a nopal with red fruit or tunas, which for the Aztecs, symbolized human hearts.

If you look further down, you will see a garland (an open crown of branches or flowers); the left side bears oak branches symbolizing strength, while the right side is decorated with the laurel branches of victory.

[SoccerFan8270]

TURKISH FLAG

http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/turk/turkey.gif

It symbolizes the national independence war made between 1919 to 1923. In this period the Ottoman empire collapsed and the new Turkish Republic settled after a number of wars where many people have lost their lifes. The red color sybolizes the blood and the star with moon the independence.

[comme]

The St George's cross is taken from St George (who I believe was a Turk met by the crusades) and it was his own personal coat of arms.So the English flag actually comes from Turkey (or the middle East).

I have no idea quite why Wales has a dragon on its flag, although it certainly looks good.

[Excape Goat]

TURKISH FLAG

The red color sybolizes the blood and the star with moon the independence.

Mind my ignorance!!! I always thought the moon is about Islam.

[eldiablito]

http://www.3mtouch.com/us/home_leisure/printscape/images/usa%20flag.jpg

Surprised nobody has mentioned this one yet.

The flag for the United States of America.

The 13 stripes represent the original 13 (British) colonies that rebeled against the motherland and hence liberated us from the tyranny of the monarchy--thank you very much.

The 50 stars in a field of blue represents "a new constellation," in other words--a new nation. Each star represents one of the 50 (united) states. (FYI, the last star in the second row represents my state, Virginia).

As for the colors of the flag, there is conflicting theories as to what the colors symbolize--depending on the source of information. What is certain is that the colors of the Great Seal were adopted to the flag.

Generally, red symbolizes bravery and sacrifice; white symbolizes purity; and blue symbolizes justice.

What everyone can agree on is that the 13 stripes represent the original 13 colonies and that each star represents one of the United States of America.

I found the meaning of Portugal's flag fascinating, btw. :)

[Kaushik]

http://flagspot.net/images/c/ca.gif

As usual Canada follows the US here as well. The following is a link containing the information on the Canadian National Flag: http://flagspot.net/flags/ca.html

[DanRod78]

Mind my ignorance!!! I always thought the moon is about Islam.
I thought it sounded kind of weird that "The moon and the star stand for independence". I thought, well, maybe it makes sense it their culture.

[DanRod78]

Surprised nobody has mentioned this one yet.The flag for the United States of America.
I think that a lot of people see the american flag as a "negative symbol" and I'm sure that most people here had a good idea of the meaning of the flag.
http://www.unitedjustice.com/images/war3.jpg

[ferreirajl]

I think that a lot of people see the american flag as a "negative symbol" and I'm sure that most people here had a good idea of the meaning of the flag.
http://www.unitedjustice.com/images/war3.jpg


I knew about the stars but had no idea what the stripes meant.

Very interesting storys behind all the flags so far.