Interesting Facts about Flags

  • Oldest found map is a flag made of bronze found in Iran from 3rd millennium BC.
  • Oldest state flag still in use the flag of Denmark. It dates back to 13th century.
  • Oldest tricolor is flag of the Netherlands. Its three colors, in one shape or another can be traced to 9th century.
  • The only national flag that is not quadrilateral is the flag of Nepal. It is in the shape of two stacked triangles. They represent the Himalaya Mountains and the two religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Sun and moon symbolize longevity and immortality.
  • Only two national flags are exact squares: Flag of Switzerland and the flag of Vatican City.
  • The flag of Paraguay has two different sides.
  • The flag of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was the only flag that had only one color - green.
  • Science that deals with flags, their history, symbolism and usage is called vexillology. Art of designing flags is called vexillography.
  • Flag of Ireland is green, white and orange. Green represents the Catholics, orange Protestants and white peace and unity.
  • There are six United States flags on the surface of the Moon.
Blue Flags
  • The largest national flag in the world is the Greek flag. It has 1500 square feet and weighs 130 kilos.
  • Union Jack, the national Flag of the United Kingdom, is a combination of three flags: Flag of Scotland (white saltire on blue), Flag of England (red cross on white) and Flag of Ireland (red saltire on white). In other words, combination of three flags of patron saints: St. George, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew
  • Napoleon designed the Italian flag to look like a flag of France but replaced blue color with green which was his favorite color.
  • Many Eastern European countries designed their flags under the inspiration from Russian white, red and blue flag which was in turn inspired by the flag of Netherlands.
  • National flag flown at sea is called ensign. It can be same as national flag or different.
  • Light blue color as a background of the national flag of Somalia is in honor if UN forces that maintained piece in Somalia for many years.
  • Flag of the United States have 13 stripes for each of the thirteen original colonies and a star for each state.
  • Flag of Liberia imitates flag of United States because Liberia was founded by freed slaves from United States and they wanted to represent ideals of the United States of America in their flag.
  • Flags are used in communication between ships or between ship and the shore. They can represent alphabet and numeric symbols and spell words; each can have complex meaning; one or more flags can represent code which can have meaning or signalmen can use two flags (each in one hand) and relay a message by changing positions of flags where each position is a symbol.
  • If a French ship meets another French ship at the sea, protocol says that it must lower and raise ensign as a greeting. If a merchant ship meets a naval ship, it must greet three times.
Blue Flags