Anational flag is aflag that represents andsymbolizes a givennation. It isflown by thegovernment of that nation, but can also be flown by itscitizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colors and symbols, which may also be used separately from the flag as a symbol of the nation. The design of a national flag is sometimes altered after the occurrence of important historical events.
Historically, flags originated asmilitary standards, used asfield signs. Throughout history, various examples of such proto-flags exist: the white cloth banners of theZhou dynasty's armies in the 11th century BC, thevexillum standards flown by the armies of theRoman Empire, theBlack Standard famously carried byMuhammad which later became the flag of theAbbasid Caliphate, and the various "Raven banners" flown byViking chieftains.Angelino Dulcert published a series of comprehensivePortolan charts in the 14th century AD, which famously showcased the flags of several polities depicted – although these are not uniformly "national flags", as some were likely the personal standards of the respective nation's rulers.
The practice of flying flags indicating the country of originoutside of the context of warfare became common with themaritime flag. During the 13th century, the republics ofGenoa andVenice both used maritime flags;William Gordon Perrin wrote that the republic of Genoa was "one of the earliest states to adopt a national flag".[1]
The current design of theflag of the Netherlands originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-bluePrinsenvlag ("Prince's Flag"), that was used in theDutch War of Independence (1568–1648), evolving in the early 17th century as the red-white-blueStatenvlag ("States Flag"), the naval flag of theStates-General of theDutch Republic, making the Dutch flag perhaps the oldesttricolour flag in continuous use, although standardisation of the exact colours is of a much later date.[2][3]
During theAge of Sail in the early 17th century, theUnion Jack finds its origins, whenJames VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones (as James I). On 12 April 1606, the new flag representing this regal union between England and Scotland was specified in a royal decree, according to which theflag of England (a red cross on a white background, known asSt George's Cross), and theflag of Scotland (a whitesaltire on a blue background, known as the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross), would be joined, forming the flag of Great Britain and first Union Flag[4] - but then without the redCross of St. Patrick. It continued in use until 1 January 1801, the effective date of the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland, when the Cross of St. Patrick (a red diagonal cross on white) was incorporated into the flag,[4] giving the Union Jack its current design.
With the emergence ofnationalist sentiment from the late 18th century national flags began to be displayed in civilian contexts as well.[5] Notable early examples include theUS flag, which was first adopted as a naval ensign in 1777 but began to be displayed as a generic symbol of theUnited States after theAmerican Revolution, and theFrench Tricolor, which became a symbol of theRepublic in the 1790s.[6]
Mostcountries of Europe standardised and codified the designs of their maritime flags as national flags, in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The specifications of theflag of Denmark, based on a flag that was in continuous use since the 14th-century, were codified in 1748, as a rectangular flag with certain proportions, replacing the variant with asplit (swallow-tail).[7] Theflag of Switzerland was introduced in 1889, also based on medieval war flags.
In Europe, the red-white-blue tricolour design of theflag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands became popular, since it was associated with a republican form of government through that country's long war of independence against theSpanish Crown. That association was greatly reinforced after theFrench Revolution (1789), when France used the same colours, but with vertical instead of horizontal stripes. Other countries in Europe (likeIreland,Italy,Romania andEstonia) and in South and Central America selected tricolours of their own to express their adherence to the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity as embodied in the French flag, although some adopted a monarchical form of government with a constitution instead of a republican government.[8]
A 1919 painting depicting theBrazilian flag being embroidered by a family.
TheOttoman flag (now theflag of Turkey) was adopted in 1844. Other non-European powers followed the trend in the late 19th century, the flag ofGreat Qing being introduced in 1862, that ofJapan being introduced in 1870. Also in the 19th century, mostcountries of South America introduced a flag as they became independent (Peru in 1820,Bolivia in 1851,Colombia in 1860,Brazil in 1822, etc.)
The national flag is often mentioned or described in a country'sconstitution, but its detailed description may be delegated to a flag law passed by the legislature, or evensecondary legislation or in monarchies adecree.
Thus, the national flag is mentioned briefly in theBasic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany of 1949 "the federal flag is black-red-gold" (art. 22.2Die Bundesflagge ist schwarz-rot-gold), but its proportions were regulated in a document passed by the government in the following year. TheFlag of the United States is not defined in the constitution but rather in a separate Flag Resolution passed in 1777.
Minor design changes of national flags are often passed on a legislative or executive level, while substantial changes have constitutional character. The design of theflag of Serbia omitting the communist star of theflag of Yugoslavia was a decision made in the1992 Serbian constitutional referendum, but the adoption of a coat of arms within the flag was based on a government "recommendation" in 2003, adopted legislatively in 2009 and again subject to a minor design change in 2010. The flag of the United States underwent numerous changes because the number of stars represents the number of states, proactively defined in aFlag Act of 1818 to the effect that "on the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag"; it was changed most recently in 1960 with the accession ofHawaii.
On 17 March 1861, there was theproclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, a formal act that sanctioned, with a normative act of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the birth of the unified Kingdom of Italy.[9] On 15 April 1861, the flag of theKingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, in the form of a green, white and red tricolour, was declared theflag of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.[10] The tricolour therefore continued to be the national flag also of the new State, although not officially recognised by a specific law,[11][12] but regulated with regard to the shape of military banners.[13][14][15] With the royal decree nº 2072 of 24 September 1923 and subsequently with the law nº2264 of 24 December 1925, the Italian tricolour officially became the national flag of the Kingdom of Italy.[16][17] On 13 June 1946, theItalian Republic was officially founded and the lastking of ItalyUmberto II, who succeeded his fatherVictor Emmanuel III on 9 May 1946, left the country on 13 June into exile. On the same day, the tricolour with the Savoy coat of arms in the centre was lowered from theQuirinal Palace.[18] The Italian flag was modified with the decree of the president of the Council of Ministers No. 1 of 19 June 1946. Compared to the monarchic banner, the Savoy coat of arms was eliminated.[19][20][21] This decision was later confirmed in the session of 24 March 1947 by theConstituent Assembly, which decreed the insertion of article 12 of theItalian Constitution, subsequently ratified by theItalian Parliament.
A change in national flag is often due to a change of regime, especially following acivil war orrevolution. In such cases, the military origins of the national flag and its connection to political ideology (form of government, monarchy vs. republic vs. theocracy, etc.) remains visible. In such cases national flags acquire the status of apolitical symbol.
Following thefall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, the revolution flag, a modified version of the independence flag, began to be used within the country[24][25][26] by theSyrian parliament[27] and the Syrian caretaker government,[28][29] and at Syrian embassies abroad.[30][31][32] On 13 March 2025, aninterim constitution made the independence flag the primary flag.[33] However, the final text ultimately retained the revolution flag.[34]
There are three distinct types of national flag for use on land, and three for use at sea, though many countries use identical designs for several (and sometimes all) of these types of flag.
On land, there is a distinction betweencivil flags (FIAV symbol),state flags (), andwar or military flags ().Civil flags may be flown by anyone regardless of whether they are linked to government, whereasstate flags are those used officially by government agencies.War flags (also calledmilitary flags) are used by military organizations such as Armies, Marine Corps, or Air Forces.
In practice, many countries (such as theUnited States and theUnited Kingdom) have identical flags for these three purposes;national flag is sometimes used as a vexillological term to refer to such a three-purpose flag (). In a number of countries, however, and notably those inLatin America, there is a distinction between civil and state flags. In most cases, the civil flag is a simplified version of the state flag, with the difference often being the presence of a coat of arms on the state flag that is absent from the civil flag.
Very few countries use a war flag that differs from the state flag.Taiwan,Japan, andChina are notable examples of this.Swallow-tailed flags are used as war flags and naval ensigns inNordic countries and charged versions as presidential or royal standards. ThePhilippines does not have a distinctive war flag in this usual sense, but theflag of the Philippines is legally unique in that it is flown with the red stripe on top when the country is in a state of war, rather than the conventional blue.
The flag that indicates nationality on a ship is called anensign. As with the national flags, there are three varieties: thecivil ensign (), flown by private vessels;state ensigns (also calledgovernment ensigns;), flown by government ships; andwar ensigns (also callednaval ensigns;), flown by naval vessels. The ensign is flown from anensign-staff at thestern of the ship, or from a gaff when underway. Both these positions are superior to any other on the ship, even though themasthead is higher. In the absence of a gaff the ensign may be flown from theyardarm. (SeeMaritime flags.) National flags may also be flown by aircraft and the land vehicles of important officials. In the case of aircraft, those flags are usually painted on, and those are usually to be painted on in the position as if they were blowing in the wind.
There is a great deal of protocol involved in the proper display of national flags. A general rule is that the national flag should be flown in the position of honour, and not in an inferior position to any other flag (although some countries make an exception for royal standards). The following rules are typical of the conventions when flags are flown on land:
When a national flag is displayed together with any other flags, it must be hoisted first and lowered last.
When a national flag is displayed together with the national flags of other countries, all the flags should be of approximately equal size[citation needed] and must be flown at an equal height, although the national flag of the host country should be flown in the position of honour (in the centre of an odd number of flagpoles or at the far right — left from an observer's point of view — of an even number of flagpoles).
The flags ofSaudi Arabia,Iraq,Iran, andAfghanistan are often wrapped from left to right (which appears right to left from an observer's point of view) because they contain Arabic text that must be displayed correctly.[citation needed]
When a national flag is displayed together with flags other than national flags, it should be flown on a separate flagpole, either higher or in the position of honour.
When a national flag is displayed together with any other flags on the same flagpole, it must be at the top, though separate flagpoles are preferable.
When a national flag is displayed together with any other flag on crossed flagpoles, the national flag must be on the observer's left and its flagpole must be in front of the flagpole of the other flag.
When a national flag is displayed together with another flag or flags in procession, the national flag must be on the marching right. If there is a row of flags, it should be in the position of honour.
When a national flag, with some exceptions, is flown upside down it indicates distress. This however is merely tradition. It is not a recognised distress signal according to theInternational regulations for preventing collisions at sea. Further, a nation's flag is commonly flown inverted as a sign of protest or contempt against the country concerned. As of now, only theflag of the Philippines recognises the distress symbolism of the reverse flag.
Most flags are hung vertically by rotating the flag pole. However, some countries have specific protocols for this purpose or even have special flags for vertical hanging; usually rotating some elements of the flag — such as the coat of arms — so that they are seen in an upright position.[35]
Examples of countries that have special designs for vertical hanging are:Austria,Cambodia (coat of arms must be rotated 90° and blue strips are narrowed),Dominica (coat of arms must be rotated and reverse always showing),Germany,Hungary,Liechtenstein (crown must be rotated 90°),Mexico,Montenegro (coat of arms must be rotated 90° to normal position),Nepal,Slovakia (coat of arms must be rotated 90° to normal position), andSaudi Arabia (shahada must be rotated 90°). A vertical banner is used instead of the horizontal flag forMalaysia.
Theflag of Nepal is the only national flag which is not a quadrilateral.
The art and practice of designing flags is known asvexillography. The design of national flags has seen a number of customs become apparent.
Most national flags are rectangular, or have a rectangular common variant, with the most notable exception being theflag of Nepal. Theratios of height to width vary among national flags, but none is taller than it is wide, again except for the flag of Nepal. The flags ofSwitzerland and theVatican City are the only national flags which are exact squares.
As of 2011 all national flags consist of at least two different colours. In many cases, the different colours are presented in either horizontal or vertical bands. It is particularly common for colours to be presented inbands of three.
TheCambodian flag features a depiction ofAngkor Wat in the center, a temple historically associated with both Hinduism and Buddhism.[36]
It is common for many flags to feature national symbols, such ascoats of arms. National patterns are present in some flags. Variations in design within a national flag can be common in the flag's upper left quarter, or canton. A third of the world's 196 countries currently have national flags that include religious symbols.[36] This has led to controversy in somesecular states in regard to theseparation of church and state, when the national symbol is officially sanctioned by agovernment.[37]
The most common colours in national flags are red, white, green, dark blue, yellow, light blue, and black.[38] The only national flag not to include the colors red, white, or blue isJamaica's.[39] The occurrence of each colour in all the flags is listed in detail in the table below.[38] The table shows that the colours light brown, dark brown and grey are only present in very small quantities. To be more precise these colours are currently only present in some of the symbols found within a few flags, such as in the case of theSpanish flag.
Although the national flag is meant to be a unique symbol representing a nation, many countries have highly similar flags. Examples include the flags ofMonaco andIndonesia, which differ only slightly in proportion and the tint of red; the flags of theNetherlands andLuxembourg, which differ in proportion as well as in the tint of blue used; the flags ofRomania andChad, which differ only in the tint of blue, and the flags ofCuba andPuerto Rico, which differ only in proportion, placement and tint of colors.
The flags ofIreland andIvory Coast and the flags ofMali andGuinea are (aside from shade or ratio differences) vertically mirrored versions from each other. This means that the reverse of one flag matches the obverse of the other. Unlike horizontally mirrored flags (likePoland andIndonesia) the direction in which these flags fly is crucial to identify them.
Due to the common arrangement of the same colours, at first sight, it seems that the only difference between theItalian and theMexican flag is only thecoat of arms of Mexico present in the latter; in reality the Italian tricolour uses lighter shades of green and red, and has different proportions than the Mexican flag—those of the Italian flag are equal to 2:3, while the proportions of the Mexican flag are 4:7.[40] The similarity between the two flags posed a serious problem in maritime transport, given that originally the Mexican mercantile flag was devoid of arms and therefore was consequently identical to the Italian Republican tricolour of 1946; to obviate the inconvenience, at the request of theInternational Maritime Organization, both Italy and Mexico adopted naval flags with different crests.[41]
Many other similarities may be found among current national flags, particularly if inversions of colour schemes are considered, e.g., compare theflag of Senegal to that ofCameroon andIndonesia toPoland andMonaco. Also theflag of Italy and theflag of Hungary use the same colours, although the order and direction differ (the Italian flag is vertical green-white-red and the Hungarian flag is horizontal red-white-green). The same goes for theflag of France and theflag of the Netherlands (the French flag is vertical blue-white-red and the Dutch flag is horizontal red-white-blue).
While some similarities are coincidental, others are part of a flag family, flags rooted in shared histories. For example, the flags ofColombia, ofEcuador, and ofVenezuela all use variants of theflag of Gran Colombia, the country they composed upon their independence fromSpain, created by the Venezuelan independence heroFrancisco de Miranda; and the flags ofKuwait, ofJordan, and ofPalestine are all highly similar variants of theflag of the Arab revolt of 1916–1918. The flags ofRomania andMoldova are virtually the same, because of the common history and heritage. Moldova adopted the Romanian flag during the declaration of independence from theUSSR in 1991 (and was used in various demonstrations and revolts by the population) and later theMoldovan coat of arms (which is part of theRomanian coat of arms) was placed in the centre of the flag. AllNordic countries, with the exception ofGreenland, use theNordic Cross design (Iceland,Denmark,Norway,Sweden,Finland, in addition to the autonomous regions of theFaroe Islands andÅland), a horizontal cross shifted to the left on a single-coloured background. TheUnited States andUnited Kingdom both have red, white, and blue. This similarity is due to the fact that the first 13 states of the U.S. were formerly colonies of the United Kingdom. Some similarities to theUnited States flag with the red and white stripes are noted as well such as theflag of Malaysia and theflag of Liberia, the latter of which was an American resettlement colony. Also, several former colonies of the United Kingdom, such asAustralia,Fiji andNew Zealand include theUnion Jack in the top left corner.
^Perrin, William Gordon (1922).British flags, their early history, and their development at sea; with an account of the origin of the flag as a national device. Cambridge University Press. p. 25.
^abBartneck, Christoph; Adrian Clark (2014). "Semi-Automatic Color Analysis For Brand Logos".Color Research and Application.40:72–84.doi:10.1002/col.21853.
Bellocchi, Ugo (2008).Bandiera madre – I tre colori della vita (in Italian). Scripta Maneant.ISBN978-88-95847-01-6.
Busico, Augusta (2005).Il tricolore: il simbolo la storia (in Italian). Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Dipartimento per l'informazione e l'editoria.SBNIT\ICCU\UBO\2771748.
Maiorino, Tarquinio; Marchetti Tricamo, Giuseppe; Zagami, Andrea (2002).Il tricolore degli italiani. Storia avventurosa della nostra bandiera (in Italian). Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.ISBN978-88-04-50946-2.
Tarozzi, Fiorenza; Vecchio, Giorgio (1999).Gli italiani e il tricolore (in Italian). Il Mulino.ISBN88-15-07163-6.
Villa, Claudio (2010).I simboli della Repubblica: la bandiera tricolore, il canto degli italiani, l'emblema (in Italian). Comune di Vanzago.SBNIT\ICCU\LO1\1355389.
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