Flag families are sets ofnational and otherflags with similarities in their design, often based on a shared history, culture, or influence. Families do not include flags with coincidental similarities. Flags may be in multiple flag families. Only twelve current national flags existed before the 19th century, when large-scale flag use began. Seven of these flags (Denmark,France,the Netherlands,Russia,Turkey,the United Kingdom, andthe United States) are the inspiration for more than 130 current national flags andensigns.^[1]

The firstflag of Portugal (c.1100 AD)

The 12th century flag of theDuchy of Gascony

The 12th century flag of theKingdom of Jerusalem

AChristian cross flag is any flag with a cross or crosses as a central element of its design (as opposed to flags like those ofMalta andSerbia, which use crosses as smaller embellishments). It is the oldest flag family. The first flag purported to have such a cross was the flag of Portugal, beginning in around 1100.^[2] The flag design became the most common design for merchant ships across Europe for several centuries.^[3] Flags in this family usedifferent types of crosses, including theLatin cross (†), theGreek cross (✚), and theMaltese cross (✠) — The Maltese cross does not appear on Malta's national flag, only itscivil ensign — thecross of Jerusalem, and thesaltire (✖).

Flags in the Nordic cross family feature crosses stretching the width and length of the flag, with the center offset tohoist. Thecross design representsChristianity,^[4][5][6][7] and was first seen in theDannebrog, the national flag of Denmark since the 14th century. The otherNordic countries adopted national flags of the same design later on. Though the design is strongly associated with Nordic countries, cities and territories outside the region use this design.Greenland is the only Nordic region that does not use the Nordic cross.^[8]

Flags with crescents are recorded as being used in the region ofMiddle East and North Africa as early as the 14th century.^[9] These designs often featured a white crescent open toward the top on a solid-colored field. During the 19th century when national flags became common, theOttoman Empire was the only Muslim state considered aworld power.^[10] Its flag popularized the crescent design for other Muslim nations when they later adopted flags.^[3] Most Muslim crescent flags also have one or more stars near or within the circle formed by the crescent. The crescent appears on several flags of non-Muslim subnations and municipals. These crescent flags have symbolism unrelated to Islam.

The three mainensigns of the United Kingdom, informally also called "dusters", from the top:

1. the civilRed Ensign
2. the navalWhite Ensign

3. the stateBlue Ensign

TheBritish Civil Air Ensign

TheRoyal Air Force Ensign

The British Ensign family is composed of flags with theUnion Jack in thecanton. The Union Flag adopted in 1606 combined theSaint George's Cross of England and theSt Andrew's saltire of Scotland to form the Union Flag.^[11] TheSt Patrick's saltire was superimposed on the flag in 1801. In the mid-19th century, the British government declared thewhite ensign for use exclusively by theRoyal Navy, ablue ensign for all vessels "belonging to, or permanently in, the service of the Colonies", and ared ensign for non-government vessels.^[12] As theBritish Empire expanded, so too did the use of variations of the ensigns, especially the blue ensign.^[3] Of the original fifty-three independent nations in theBritish Commonwealth, all but four had the Union Jack on their flag. Forty-four have removed the Union Jack from their flags.^[13]

The flag of theBritish East India Company that inspired subsequent stars and stripes designs.

Flag of the United States (1776–1777). A similar design was used at the time for theflag of the East India Company.

The stars and stripes flag family is composed of flags of alternating stripes with a field in thehoist (often the canton)charged with an emblem (often, but not always, a star or stars).^[14]

Early versions of theflag of the United States were based on ensigns of the United Kingdom, with the Union Flag on the canton. Instead of a solid-colored field, they had stripes inspired by theflag of the East India Company. In 1777, theContinental Congress of the United States resolved to replace the Union Flag with thirteen stars.^[14]

The first nation to adopt a similar flag was theHawaiian Kingdom,^[15] and many other nations wanting to express ideals of liberty and democracy followed suit.^[3]

Dutch and pan-Slavic colors are a family of flags, usually with red, white, and blue stripes, inspired by the Dutch and later Russian flags. The first flag of simple stripes were thelivery colors ofWilliam I, Prince of Orange, used in the mid-16th century. Thesestripes of orange, white, and blue became the firstflag of the Netherlands.^[16] In the 17th century, the orange was replaced by red.^[17]TsarPeter the Great personally designed amerchant flag ofRussia based on the colors of the flag of the Netherlands.^[18] The Russian flag, in turn, inspired many flags of countries in theSlavic region. Most retained the white, blue and red, butBulgaria changed the blue stripe on theflag of Russia into a green stripe symbolising liberty.^[19]

Flag of France from 1790 to 1794

Flag of Austria from 1230 to present

A tricolor is any flag following theflag of France in its design of three vertical stripes of equal width, each distinct in color. On the eve of theFrench Revolution, 13 July 1789, red and bluecockades were given to the militia of Paris. Soon afterward,Louis XVI added one to his royal white cockade.^[20] These colors, arranged as stripes, became the flag of France in 1794. In this way, vertical tribands of three colors became associated with movements forrepublicanism and were adopted by many nations transitioning to republican governance,^[3] although their use was never exclusive to such states. Unlike tricolour, the triband design may contain two identical colors, such as flags of Nigeria and Peru.

A number of triband flags have a central band that is exactly twice the width of others, a design known asSpanish fess (horizontal) orCanadian pale (vertical). On some flags, this is not the central band, such as forColombia orRwanda.

Flags in the pan-African family use a combination of some or all of the colors red, yellow, green, and black. Some pan-African flags also have white and, less commonly, blue, but these are not considered^{[by whom?]} pan-African colors. The designs of flags in this family vary considerably. The colors red, yellow, and green became associated with pan-African colors throughthe Ethiopian flag.^[21] Black was later added byMarcus Garvey, an activist and organizer for the firstblack unification movement in the United States.^[22] Inspired by the pan-African colors' growing association with post-colonial independence, many countries in theCaribbean andthe Guianas with large populations in theAfrican diaspora also adopted pan-African colors.^[23]

The colors green, yellow, and red have been historically important in Ethiopia since the early 17th century.^[24] Along with Liberia, Ethiopia was the only currently existing nation to avoidEuropean colonization during thescramble for Africa.^[25] Its flag, therefore, was the inspiration for many countries that gained independence after colonization. The modern flags ofBolivia,Lithuania, andMyanmar also use these three colors, but their origins are unrelated to the Ethiopian flag.^[26][27]

Marcus Garvey'sPan-African flag has influenced the current flags ofKenya (1963),Malawi (1964) andSouth Sudan (2005)

Theodosia Okoh'sflag of Ghana has influenced the designs of the current flags ofGuinea-Bissau (1973) andSão Tomé and Príncipe (1975)

TheJamaicanpan-Africanist leaderMarcus Garvey inspired two independent sets of national African flags. In 1917, he proposed a red, black, and green flag for his organization, known as theUniversal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.^[22] According to Garvey:^[28]

"Red is the color of the blood which men must shed for their redemption and liberty; black is the color of the noble and distinguished race to which we belong; green is the color of the luxuriant vegetation of our Motherland."

Thesethree decorative colors ofMarcus Garvey were the inspiration behind theflag of Kenya, theflag of Malawi, theFlag of South Sudan and other historic flags such as theflag of Biafra.^[29] Independently, Marcus Garvey also created theBlack Star Line, a shipping company between the United States andWest Africa that transported manyAfrican-Americans toAfrica and vice versa.^[30] The eponymous black star of thehouse flag of the company later became a part of three national flags in West Africa, starting with theflag of Ghana designed byTheodosia Okoh.^[31][32]

Theflag of the Arab Revolt or the flag of theKingdom of Hejaz, was the first to combine the four Arab Revolt colors (1916)

Nasseristtricolorflag of Egypt (1952–1958), was the first to combine the threeArab Liberation colors (1952)

The pan-Arab flag family is a set of flags featuring three or four of the colors red, black, white, and green. The flags have three horizontal stripes, often with an emblem in the center or an overlapping shape in the hoist. According to biographers ofMuhammad, he used both flags of white andflags of black.^[33] Each color of the pan-Arab flags is associated with acaliphate of Islam. White and black flags were used by theUmayyad andAbbasid dynasties respectively.^[34] Although green is often identified as the color of theFatimid dynasty by vexillological sources,^[35][36][37] that is not correct: their dynastic color was white.^[38][39][40] Green is now considered thecolor of Islam.^[35] Red was the color of theHashemites.^[34] These colors were also described by the 14th-centuryIraqi poetSafi al-Din al-Hilli: "White are our deeds, black are our battles, green are our ranches, red are our swords."^[41]

In 1911, members of a Turkish literary club chose these four colors as the colors of the modern Arabic flag.^[3] The colors were combined in theflag of the Arab Revolt in 1916, and many countries adopted these colors as the colors of their national flags upon gaining independence from theOttoman Empire at the end ofWorld War I.^[42]

Iran adopted a flag with green, white, and red stripes in the mid-19th century.^[43] The flag has undergone changes since, but the three stripes remain. When the newly independent republic ofTajikistan changed its flag from itsformer Soviet version, it chose to use the same stripes in reverse order as a nod to itsclose cultural ties with neighbouring Iran.^[44] Theflag of Kurdistan, ageo-cultural region overlapping with Iran, uses the green-white-red stripes of the pan-Iranian flag charged with a 21-rayed golden sun that symbolizes the festival ofNewroz marking the arrival of spring and the new year inKurdish culture on thevernal equinox of 20 March.

Pre-discoverialcoat of arms of theColumbus dynasty has influenced theFrancisco de Miranda's tricolorflag of Venezuela (1806)

Francisco de Miranda's tricolorflag of Venezuela (1806) has influenced the current flags ofColombia andEcuador

Flag of theGran Colombia (1821–1831)

The Pan-Colombian colors family is made up of flags of countries in theSouth American former area ofGran Colombia. They have three horizontal stripes of yellow, blue, and red taken from the pre-discoverialcoat of arms of theColumbus dynasty.Venezuelan revolutionary leaderFrancisco de Miranda personally designed theflag of Gran Colombia, a historic state that included modernColombia,Ecuador,Panama, Venezuela, and parts ofBrazil andGuyana.^[45] The flag of Gran Colombia had three colours signifyingHispanic America (yellow), theAtlantic Ocean (blue), and "bloodySpain" (red).^[3] Miranda attributed the inspiration for these colors to a late-night conversation with theGerman writer and color theoristJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, who is described as saying^[46]

Yellow is the most warm, noble and closest to light ... blue is that mix of excitement and serenity, a distance that evokes shadows ... red is the exaltation of yellow and blue, the synthesis, the vanishing of light into shadow.

The flag of Gran Colombia was first hoisted in 1806. It led to the current designs of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.^[3]

The Belgrano flag family is composed of flags ofCentral andSouth America with blue and white stripes. In 1812, the Argentine revolutionary generalManuel Belgrano raised a flag inRosario, Argentina, of three horizontal stripes of blue-white-blue. It was formally adopted by theGovernment of Argentina in 1816.^[47] Six years later, commander-general ofEl SalvadorManuel José Arce took the "Argentine colours of Belgrano" as a new national flag of that province, becoming the first additional flag of the family.^[3][48] Building on this, the flag of theFederal Republic of Central America had blue and white stripes, and all of the countries that were once part of that republic retain those stripes in some way in their flags.El Salvador andNicaragua have also retained the triangular emblem of the former republic; theflag of Costa Rica has an additional red stripe. Argentina's and Uruguay's flags now have theSol de Mayo.^[3]

The red banner flag family is the family of flags that use large red fields orred stars as symbols of communism. The color red became associated with revolution when it was adopted by theJacobins during the early days of theFrench Revolution as a symbol of their willingness to shed blood for their cause.^[49] After being used by theParis Commune in 1871, the color became closely associated withsocialism.^[50] TheBolsheviks used these flags as inspiration during theRussian Revolution, adopting theflag of the Soviet Union upon their victory in 1922. As a result, the color red became more closely associated withcommunism than socialism.^[51] The flag also featured ahammer and sickle and a red star fimbriated by gold, two symbols that also became closely associated with communism. As communism spread during the 20th century, many countries, especially in Asia and Africa, adopted red flags and stars to symbolize their support for the political movement. Every formerSoviet state once flew red banners.^[52] All but Belarus, which simply removed the traditional communist hammer and sickle, has adopted a different flag since thefall of the Soviet Union. Similarly, the currentflag of Mongolia removed the communist star from its flag in 1992, but kept all of the other elements.^[53]

Trucial State flags are a flag family from the southern and eastern coasts of thePersian Gulf. They consist of red flags with white stripes, cantons, or borders. Red is a traditional color of theKharijite Muslims who lived in this region, and they historically used all-red banners.^[54] It was the British who added the white to the flags of the region. When the region became aBritish protectorate in 1820, the treaty drafted by the United Kingdom said^[55]

the friendly Arabs shall carry by land and sea a red flag, with or without letters in it, at their option, and this shall be in a border of white...

Instead of borders, most of the states adopted a stripe. Nearly all of these states are now member emirates of theUnited Arab Emirates. While theflag of the United Arab Emirates is not a Trucial States flag, the flags of the individual member emirates still are. In the 1930s, the independent countries within the Trucial State flag family,Bahrain andQatar, both adopted serrated edges from their earlier straight-edge designs.^[56] Theflag of Qatar is unique in the Trucial State flag family for having a darker shade of red or maroon, a color made using traditional shell-based dye from the area.^[57]

The United Nations flag family includes theflag of the United Nations and subsequent flags that borrowed design elements from the flag including the colors, symbols, or both. The UN adopted its emblem and flag in 1947.^[58] The flag came to represent the neutrality and cooperation of the UN, so similar flags are often adopted for regions in states of conflict or instability. The first such national flag was theflag of Eritrea from 1952 to 1962, which symbolized peace between the Christians and Muslims in the newly formed country.^[3] The current Eritrean national flag, adopted in 1993, has less of the UN blue, but still retains the UN olive branches from the first design.^[59] Theflag of Cyprus, adopted 1960, has no UN blue, but has the laurel wreath and a map as the central emblem.^[60] Most national flags inspired by the UN's were flags ofUnited Nations trust territories, colonies that transitioned to independence with support and administration from the UN. These include theflag of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (which later inspired the flags ofMicronesia and theNorthern Mariana Islands) the flag of theTrust Territory of Somaliland (which is the design of the currentflag of Somalia), and theFlag of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (which was replaced by the currentflag of Cambodia that is not in the UN flag family).^[61]

TheSouthern Cross orCrux, is aconstellation visible in theSouthern Hemisphere, close to the position of theSouth Celestial Pole, just as the Pole StarPolaris is currently positioned very close to theNorth Celestial Pole of thecelestial sphere. This constellation is visible mostly in the southern hemisphere and it therefore symbolises the southern location of its users. It is depicted onflags andcoats of arms of various countries and sub-national entities. It is most closely associated with nation states and territories ofOceania, primarily, but to a much lesser degree alsoSouth America, with it appearing in varying orientations on the flags of a large number ofBrazilianmunicipalities.

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