144 Fun Facts About Flags of the World

Which country adopted its present flag only in 1965, after a parliamentary battle remembered as the Great Flag Debate?

Canada argued for six months before choosing George Stanley's single maple leaf over Prime Minister Lester Pearson's favourite, three leaves between blue bars; the new flag first flew on 15 February 1965.

Which country is the only one in the world with a non-rectangular national flag?

Nepal's flag joins two pennants into one, and its moon and sun express the hope that the country will endure as long as they do.

Which country's flag is a simple red disc on a white background?

Japan's sun-disc flag, the Hinomaru, was used for more than a century before any law made it official: the Diet only adopted it as the national flag in 1999, together with the anthem.

Which country's red flag bears a white cross set off-centre toward the pole?

Denmark's Dannebrog is said to have fallen from the sky during a battle in Estonia in 1219; Guinness lists it as the oldest national flag in continuous use, counting from 1625.

Which country's flag has the Union Jack plus a large white seven-pointed 'Commonwealth Star'?

Australia's flag pairs the Union Jack with the seven-pointed Commonwealth Star; the star had six points for the federating states until a seventh for the territories was added in 1908, the design winning a 1901 competition.

Which nickname for the American flag did sea captain William Driver coin for the flag on his own ship?

Old Glory was Driver's name for a 24-star flag sewn by his mother and friends in Salem; during the Civil War he hid it inside a coverlet in Nashville to keep it from Confederates.

Which African country's flag is a green, white, and green vertical tricolor?

Nigeria's green-white-green flag came from student Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi's winning entry in a 1959 competition of almost 3,000 designs; judges removed his red quarter-sun before adoption at independence on 1 October 1960.

Which country's flag features a large yellow five-pointed star centered on a red background?

Vietnam's red flag with a yellow star was North Vietnam's; the South's yellow flag with three red stripes fell with Saigon in 1975, and the red flag became the whole country's in 1976.

What word, coined by Whitney Smith and first printed in 1959, names the study of flags?

Vexillology comes from vexillum, the Latin for a flag or banner; Whitney Smith coined it as a teenager in 1957 and went on to design the flag of Guyana while still a Harvard student.

What animal appears on the flag of Wales?

The dragon was Henry VII's emblem: he marched under a red dragon standard at Bosworth in 1485, and the flag's green and white are the livery colours of his Tudor dynasty.

Which two countries have square-shaped national flags?

Switzerland and Vatican City fly the only square national flags; Swiss ships are the exception, flying a rectangular version adopted in 1941 so they could be identified on the Rhine and at sea.

Which country's flag is an off-centre blue cross on a plain white field?

Finland adopted its blue cross in May 1918, months after independence; the design is traditionally credited to the poet Zachris Topelius, who proposed white for the snow and blue for the lakes.

Which country's flag shows a single white crescent and star on a plain red background?

Turkey's flag descends from an Ottoman naval flag of 1793; its star had eight points until about 1844, when the five-pointed version still flown today took over.

Which country's flag has two blue stripes inspired by the stripes of a traditional prayer shawl?

Israel's flag was the Zionist movement's banner for half a century before the state existed; its stripes echo the tallit, and the star between them is the Star of David.

Which country has the only national flag that is different on its front and back sides?

Paraguay's flag shows the national arms on the front and the Treasury seal, a lion beneath a liberty cap, on the back; its red, white and blue were borrowed from the French Tricolour under the dictator Francia.

What weapon is depicted on the flag of Mozambique?

The AK-47 rifle, crossed with a hoe over an open book, stands for defence, production and study; the opposition has long called for its removal, but a 2005 contest to redesign the flag changed nothing.

Which Pacific nation's flag shows a gold frigatebird over a rising sun and three wavy stripes?

Kiribati based its flag on the colony's 1937 coat of arms; when heralds in London redrew it with a bigger bird and sun, islanders insisted on the original, hoisted at independence in 1979.

Which group of stars appears on the flag of New Zealand?

The Southern Cross is shown as four red stars edged in white; in 1869 the stars replaced the letters 'NZ' that had marked the colony's blue ensign since 1867.

Which country's flag centres on an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent?

Mexico's emblem shows the sign that, in Aztec legend, marked where to found Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City; the eagle wore a crown under Mexico's emperors and lost it under the republic.

Which European country's white-over-red flag looks like Indonesia's turned upside down?

Poland's white and red come from its coat of arms, a white eagle on a red shield that has been in use since the 13th century.

Which country's green flag carries the Islamic declaration of faith in white script above a sword?

Saudi Arabia's flag bears the shahada, the Muslim creed; because the words are sacred the flag is never lowered to half-mast, and it is made double-sided so the script reads correctly from both sides.

Which country's flag features a red circle on a green background?

Bangladesh's flag of the 1971 independence struggle carried a gold map of the country inside the red disc; in January 1972 the map was dropped and the disc shifted slightly toward the hoist.

Which Middle Eastern country's flag has a green cedar tree across its central white stripe?

Under the French mandate Lebanon's cedar sat on a French Tricolour; in 1943 a new flag kept the tree but swapped the French colours for red and white stripes.

Which North African country's red flag carries a green five-pointed star drawn as an interlaced pentagram?

Morocco flew a plain red flag, the colour of its ruling dynasty since the 17th century, until 1915, when the green pentagram known as the Seal of Solomon was added to its centre.

Which country's flag features a trident head?

Barbados took the trident from its colonial badge and left off the shaft: only the head appears, to mark the break with British rule at independence in 1966.

What is the most common color found on national flags around the world?

Red appears on roughly three-quarters of national flags, only just ahead of white; blue, for all the red-white-and-blue tricolours, is on about half.

Which country's flag shows its own outline in copper above two crossed green branches?

Cyprus adopted a deliberately neutral design at independence in 1960: the whole island above two branches of peace, avoiding the colours and symbols of both its Greek and Turkish communities.

Which country's flag has light blue, white and light blue bands with a sun bearing a human face?

Argentina added the Sun of May in 1818 in memory of the revolution of May 1810 that began its break from Spain; Uruguay's flag carries the same sun.

From 1977 to 2011, which country's national flag was a single plain colour with no design?

Libya's plain green flag was Gaddafi's own choice in 1977; after his fall in 2011 the country went back to the red, black and green flag of independence.

From top to bottom, what are the colours of the three horizontal stripes on the German flag?

Black, red, and gold were the colours of the 1848 revolutionaries and the Weimar Republic; in 1949 the Federal Republic chose that democratic tradition over the Empire's black-white-red.

Which Asian country's flag has a white crescent and star on dark green with a white vertical stripe?

Pakistan's flag is the Muslim League's green banner with a white stripe added at the hoist to stand for the country's religious minorities.

Which Central American country has a flag with a coat of arms featuring five volcanoes?

El Salvador's five volcanoes stand for the five states of the old Central American federation, whose blue-white-blue flag it revived in 1912 after decades under a design modelled on the Stars and Stripes.

What bird appears on the flag of Albania?

The eagle was the emblem of Skanderbeg, Albania's national hero, who raised a red flag with a black two-headed eagle over the fortress of Kruje in 1443 in defiance of the Ottomans.

Which African country's flag bears a Maasai shield and two crossed spears?

Kenya's 1963 flag adapts the banner of the independence party KANU: thin white borders were added between its black, red and green stripes, and the shield was redrawn after those carried by the Maasai.

Which Central American country's flag shows two men with woodcutters' tools standing beside a mahogany tree?

Belize's arms recall the logging trade that first brought British settlers; the flag began in the ruling party's blue and white, and red stripes were added at independence in 1981 for the opposition.

Which Caribbean nation's flag features a purple sisserou parrot ringed by ten green stars?

Dominica's sisserou is a rare parrot found only on the island, set on a green field for its forests; the ten stars around it stand for the country's ten parishes.

Which flag has a red field and a blue canton bearing a white sun with twelve rays?

Taiwan's flag became the flag of all China in 1928 and has flown only on Taiwan since 1949; the sun's twelve rays stand for the twelve two-hour periods of the traditional Chinese day.

Which African country's flag features a black star on a horizontal red, gold, and green tricolor?

Ghana's black star was borrowed from the flag of the Black Star Line, the shipping company Marcus Garvey founded in 1919; Theodosia Okoh designed the flag for independence in 1957.

Which country's flag is an off-centre yellow cross on a blue field?

Sweden's blue and yellow are thought to come from the royal arms, gold on blue; the flag law itself dates only from 1906, the year after the union with Norway broke up.

Which country's flag is often confused with that of Chad because they are nearly identical?

Romania's flag still carried a communist emblem when Chad adopted its tricolour in 1959; once the emblem was torn out in the 1989 revolution the two flags matched, and Romania's president refused to change his in 2004.

Which country's saffron, white and green flag has a navy-blue 24-spoke wheel?

India's Ashoka Chakra, the wheel of law carved on the emperor Ashoka's pillars, replaced the spinning wheel of the Congress party flag in July 1947, weeks before independence.

Which country's flag features a red and white checkered shield?

Croatia's flag carried a red star at its centre under Yugoslavia; the red and white chequerboard returned in 1990, topped by a crown of five shields for the country's historic regions.

Which country's flag sets its coat of arms on an armillary sphere over green and red?

Portugal's flag, adopted on 30 June 1911 after the 1910 republican revolution, places the national arms on a gold armillary sphere — the navigators' instrument of the Age of Discovery — over unequal green and red fields.

Which country's red-white-blue tricolour is almost identical to Luxembourg's, differing mainly in a darker blue?

The Netherlands' flag began in the 1570s as the orange-white-blue Prince's Flag, with red replacing the orange by about 1660; Luxembourg's colours come separately from its ducal coat of arms.

Which country's flag has a golden lion holding a sword, with a bo leaf in each corner?

Sri Lanka's lion and maroon field stand for the Sinhalese, the four bo leaves for Buddhist virtues, and the green and orange hoist stripes, added in 1951, for the Muslim and Tamil minorities.

Which Pacific nation's flag shows a yellow bird of paradise on red and black diagonals?

Papua New Guinea's flag was drawn in 1971 by 15-year-old schoolgirl Susan Karike, after islanders showed little enthusiasm for a tricolour proposed by the Australian administration.

Which country's gold, green and black flag is the only national flag with no red, white or blue?

Jamaica's flag was first drawn with horizontal stripes but looked too like Tanganyika's, so a saltire was chosen instead; since Mauritania added red bands in 2017 it is the only national flag without red, white or blue.

Which European country's white-blue-red tricolour carries a shield with a white double cross on three blue hills?

Slovakia added its arms in 1992 because the plain tricolour matched another country's flag; the three hills under the double cross are read as the Tatra, Fatra and Matra ranges, the last now in Hungary.

Which country's flag is red with five yellow stars in its upper hoist corner?

China's large star stands for the Communist Party and the four small ones for the social classes united behind it, which is why each small star points one tip at the centre of the large one.

Which country's flag is a plain bicolour of blue above yellow?

Ukraine's flag is blue above yellow; the Verkhovna Rada adopted it on 28 January 1992, reviving the colours flown by the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, popularly read as sky over wheat fields.

What are the colors of the Italian flag?

Green, white, and red became a national flag in 1797, when the Cispadane Republic, a French-backed state in northern Italy, adopted them; the royal arms were removed from the centre in 1946.

What color is the cross on the flag of Switzerland?

White on red: the emblem of the Red Cross is the Swiss flag with its colours reversed, a red cross on a white ground, which the Geneva Conventions keep as a compliment to Switzerland.

Which country's flag has a yellow band twice as tall as its two red bands?

Spain's red and yellow date from 1785, when Charles III wanted a naval flag that could not be mistaken at sea for any other country's; until then Spanish ships had flown mostly white flags.

Which country's flag centres a red-and-blue circle flanked by four black trigrams?

South Korea's Taegukgi dates from the 1880s, when the kingdom's first treaties with Western powers made a national flag necessary; its red-and-blue circle is the yin and yang of East Asian philosophy.

How many stripes are on the flag of the United States?

13 stripes stand for the colonies that declared independence; the flag grew to 15 stripes in 1795, and Congress went back to 13 for good in 1818 as more states joined.

Which country's flag is a vertical tricolour of black, yellow and red?

Belgium's colours come from the arms of Brabant, a gold lion with red claws and tongue on black; the first flags of the 1830 revolution had horizontal stripes, turned upright within a few years.

Which African country's flag has eleven red and white stripes and a single white star?

Liberia's flag was designed in 1847 by a committee of women, who reworked the Stars and Stripes of the settlers' former homeland: eleven stripes for the signers of the declaration of independence and a single star.

The five interlocking rings on the Olympic flag represent what?

The inhabited continents number five because the Americas count as one; Coubertin chose the ring colours, with the white background, because every national flag of his day used at least one of them.

What motto is written across the flag of Brazil?

'Ordem e Progresso', Order and Progress, condenses the positivist motto of the French philosopher Auguste Comte: love as the principle, order as the basis, progress as the goal.

The emblem on the United Nations flag shows a world map surrounded by branches of which tree?

The olive branches stand for peace; the emblem began as a lapel pin for delegates at the 1945 San Francisco conference, its map centred on the North Pole to take in the whole inhabited world.

Which Caribbean flag sets a white star on a red triangle beside blue and white stripes?

Cuba's Lone Star flag was devised in New York in 1849 by exiles under Narciso Lopez, who first raised it on the island in 1850; its three blue stripes stood for the three districts of Spanish Cuba.

Which country's flag shows six white stars arched above a golden map of its own territory on a blue field?

Kosovo's six stars stand for its six main ethnic groups: the flag was chosen by competition as independence was declared in 2008, to present the new state as a country for all of them.

Which Nordic country's flag is a blue cross edged in white on a red field?

Norway's parliament adopted Fredrik Meltzer's design in 1821, but under the union with Sweden the king withheld full recognition, and the flag only flew free of the union's mark from 1899.

The Pan-African colours of red, gold and green were inspired by the flag of which country?

Ethiopia kept its independence through the Scramble for Africa, and as other African countries won theirs many borrowed its green, yellow and red in tribute.

Which South American flag pairs a white star on blue with white and red bands?

Chile settled on this flag on 18 October 1817 after trying two others during its fight for independence; the white stands for the snow of the Andes and the red for the blood shed to win freedom.

In 2016 New Zealand voted to keep its flag over an alternative design featuring which plant?

Silver fern: Kyle Lockwood's black, white and blue design won a first vote in 2015 to become the challenger, then lost the 2016 run-off as about 57% chose to keep the existing flag.

Which country's flag shows a white dragon across a field divided diagonally into yellow and orange?

Bhutan is known in its own language as the Land of the Thunder Dragon; the dragon grips jewels for the nation's wealth, and the yellow and orange halves stand for the king's authority and the Buddhist tradition.

Which country's flag places the gold Eagle of Saladin on a red-white-black tricolour?

Egypt's Eagle of Saladin replaced a golden hawk on the flag in 1984; the red, white and black stripes are those of the Arab Liberation flag raised in the 1952 revolution.

What does the green color in the Irish tricolor flag represent?

Roman Catholics are the green and Protestants the orange, with white for peace between them; flown by the Young Irelanders in 1848, the tricolour only caught on as the national flag after the Easter Rising of 1916.

Which Central American country's coat of arms, shown on its flag, includes a rainbow?

Nicaragua's arms set a rainbow of peace above five volcanoes for the five states of the old Central American federation, whose blue and white flag the country took back in 1908.

In flag terminology, what is a 'canton'?

The upper hoist quarter is where British ensigns carry the Union Jack, which is why so many former British territories show it in the same corner; the US flag puts its stars there.

Which Indian Ocean country's flag fans five oblique bands out from its lower hoist corner?

Seychelles adopted the flag in 1996, once multi-party politics had returned: its five bands bring together the colours of rival parties and are meant to suggest a young nation moving into the future.

Which country's red flag shows a yellow sun crossed by a yurt's roof-ring?

Kyrgyzstan's sun has 40 rays for the 40 tribes that legend says the hero Manas united; in 2023 the wavy rays were straightened so that the sun would stop resembling a sunflower.

Which organisation adopted the twelve-star flag of Europe in 1955, three decades before the European Union's forerunner took it up?

The Council of Europe chose the circle of stars in 1955 as a symbol of unity; the number never matched its membership, which is why the flag did not change as the EU grew.

Which Pacific nation's flag shows a red cross in a white canton on a red field?

Tonga's flag, adopted in 1875 under King George Tupou I, places a red couped cross in a white canton on red for the kingdom's Christianity; the 1875 constitution declares the flag may never be altered.

Which country's 1994 flag uses six colours in a Y-shaped design?

South Africa's flag, adopted in 1994 with the end of apartheid, uses black, gold, green, white, red and blue; its Y-shaped pall stands for diverse elements converging in unity.

Which country's flag is a single white five-pointed star centred on a light blue field?

Somalia's flag, adopted in 1954 while the territory was under UN trusteeship, took its light blue from the United Nations flag; the star's five points stand for the five regions where Somalis live.

Which Pacific nation's flag uses a gold stripe for the Equator and a star for its position just south of it?

Nauru's flag, chosen in a local competition for independence in 1968, works as a map: a gold Equator, the island as a star just beneath it, and twelve points for its twelve original tribes.

Which country's flag maps the stars over its then capital on the day it became a republic in 1889?

Brazil's blue disc shows the sky over Rio de Janeiro on 15 November 1889, the day the republic was proclaimed; each star stands for a state or the federal district, and stars have been added as new states were created.

Nepal's constitution spells out how to do what with its flag?

Draw it: the constitution's first schedule gives the construction line by line, and the version standardised in 1962 removed the human faces that the sun and moon used to wear.

Which king proclaimed the first Union Flag in 1606?

James VI and I ordered English and Scottish ships to fly the new flag from 12 April 1606; Ireland's red saltire was added in 1801, giving the Union Jack its present form.

What do the horizontal stripes on the flag of Uruguay represent?

Uruguay's nine stripes stand for its nine original departments at independence; the design, adopted in 1830, was modelled on the US flag, and the Sun of May in the canton recalls the May Revolution of 1810.

By popular interpretation, Greece's nine stripes stand for the syllables of which phrase?

'Freedom or Death' — Eleftheria i Thanatos — has nine syllables: five for the blue stripes (E-lef-the-ri-a) and four for the white (i Tha-na-tos); the stripes have no official meaning, and the flag was adopted in 1978.

Which Southeast Asian country's flag pairs 14 red and white stripes with a crescent and 14-point star?

Malaysia's flag had 11 stripes and an 11-point star until 1963, when new states joined the federation; the 14 now stand for the 13 states and the federal territories.

Which southern African country's flag shows a black-and-white shield and two spears on a red band?

Eswatini's flag grew from a banner King Sobhuza II gave the Swazi Pioneer Corps in 1941, as its men trained to serve with the Allies in the Second World War; it was first hoisted as the national flag in 1967.

Which bird stands in the white disc at the centre of Uganda's flag?

The crested crane, Uganda's national bird, was inherited from the colonial badge on the protectorate's Blue Ensign; the flag itself, six black-yellow-red stripes, was adopted at independence on 9 October 1962.

Which country's flag shows a soapstone bird on a red star in a white triangle at the hoist?

Zimbabwe's bird copies soapstone carvings found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe; the stripes around it take their colours from the flag of the ruling party, ZANU-PF.

Which country's flag has 'Allahu Akbar' written 22 times along its green and red bands?

Iran's flag repeats the phrase 22 times because the 1979 revolution triumphed on the 22nd day of the month of Bahman; the same redesign removed the shah's lion and sun from the centre.

Which Caribbean flag carries a nutmeg in its hoist triangle?

Grenada's nutmeg, the island's best-known export, was the one emblem carried over from its earlier flag when the present design was hoisted at independence in 1974.

Which Caribbean island's blue flag stacks a gold triangle on a black one to evoke its twin volcanic peaks, the Pitons?

Saint Lucia's flag was designed by local artist Dunstan St Omer in 1967; the black and white of the emblem stand for harmony between the island's races, and the gold for its sunshine.

What do the nine yellow stars on Tuvalu's flag represent?

Its islands: the nine stars map Tuvalu's nine atolls and islands; a 1995 redesign pushed by republicans dropped the Union Jack and one star, but the original flag was restored in 1997.

Which country's flag signals a state of war when flown with its red band on top?

The Philippines flies its flag with the red band uppermost in wartime and the blue in peace; the sun's eight rays stand for the eight provinces that first rose against colonial rule in 1896.

Which country's flag carries the George Cross, a medal awarded to the whole island in 1942?

Malta's George Cross was awarded by George VI for the islanders' endurance under wartime siege; at independence in 1964 the blue canton behind it was dropped for a thin red border.

Which national bird perches on the coat of arms at the centre of Guatemala's flag?

The resplendent quetzal stands for liberty because it was long believed to die in captivity; on the arms it perches on a scroll dated 15 September 1821, when Central America declared independence.

Which country added a gold crown to its flag after finding at the 1936 Olympics that Haiti flew the same design?

Liechtenstein added its prince's crown in 1937, the year after the clash came to light. Haiti's only athlete at those Games did not even compete.

Which US state has the only non-rectangular state flag, a swallowtail designed for a 1901 exposition?

Ohio made the swallowtail official in 1902, a year after architect John Eisenmann drew it for the state's exhibition hall. He patented the shape, likening it to a cavalry guidon.

Which Nordic land flies a red-and-white sun design, the region's only national flag without a cross?

Greenland chose Thue Christiansen's design in 1985, by 14 votes to 11, over a green-and-white cross. Its white stands for the ice cap and its red for the ocean.

Which Gulf state's maroon flag is the only national flag more than twice as wide as it is tall?

Qatar sets its flag at a ratio of 11:28. The nine points of its serrated white band mark the country as the ninth emirate to sign a 1916 treaty with Britain.

Which European country's two-band flag is nearly identical to Indonesia's apart from its squarer shape?

Monaco flies its flag at 4:5 against Indonesia's 2:3. Red and white have been the heraldic colours of its ruling House of Grimaldi since at least 1339.

Which island's red flag shows three armoured legs with golden spurs, joined in a symbol called a triskelion?

The Isle of Man pairs its three legs with a Latin motto meaning 'whichever way you throw, it will stand'. The feet always run clockwise on the flag.

Which West African country's orange, white and green tricolour looks like Ireland's flag with the bands reversed?

Ivory Coast adopted the tricolour in 1959, with orange for the land, white for peace and green for hope. One legislator proposed swapping the orange for red.

Which Moon mission's US flag was reportedly blown over by rocket exhaust at liftoff?

Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin reported that the blast knocked the flag over, and later photos of the site show no flag standing. The crew had driven the pole only about seven inches into the ground.

Which US state's flag began in 1839 as the national flag of an independent republic?

Texas adopted the flag in January 1839 while it was still a republic. A legal slip later left the state formally flagless from 1879 until a new flag law passed in 1933.

Which US state's flag pairs eight red, white and blue stripes with the British Union Jack in its corner?

Hawaii kept the Union Jack as a legacy of King Kamehameha I's ties to the British Royal Navy. The eight stripes stand for its eight main islands.

The white diagonal cross on blue in the Union Jack honours which patron saint, said to have died on an X-shaped cross?

Andrew is said to have asked for an X-shaped cross because he felt unworthy to die on one like that of Jesus. His cross has stood for Scotland in the union flag since 1606.

Which country's white, blue and red tricolour gave the Pan-Slavic colours to flags across central and eastern Europe?

Russia's tricolour dates from the reign of Tsar Peter the Great in the late 17th century. A Slavic congress held in Prague in 1848 then took its colours as those of the whole movement.

According to legend, which country's red-white-red flag recalls a duke's blood-soaked tunic at the Siege of Acre?

Austria's legend says Duke Leopold V fought until his white surcoat was drenched in blood. When he took off his belt, the cloth beneath was still white.

Which Asian country's red-over-white flag shows a white crescent beside a pentagon of five small stars?

Singapore first planned just three stars, its chief designer recalled. Two more and a crescent were added to distance the flag from the Malayan Communist Party, which also used three.

Which Central Asian country's turquoise flag shows a golden sun above a soaring bird of prey?

Kazakhstan's sun has 32 rays shaped like grain, a sign of abundance. Designer Shaken Niyazbekov had originally coloured the ram's-horn ornament at the hoist red rather than gold.

Which country's red-blue-red flag carries the golden Soyombo symbol, from which a communist star was removed in 1992?

Mongolia's Soyombo stacks signs for fire, sun, moon, earth and water. Its yin-yang shape stands for two fish, which in Mongol mythology never sleep.

Which country's blue, black and white tricolour began in the 1880s as the flag of a university student society?

Estonia's flag was banned after the Soviet occupation of 1940, when even showing its three colours together became punishable. The red flag came down from Tallinn's Pikk Hermann tower for good in 1989.

Which Balkan country adopted a red flag with an eight-rayed sun in 1995 after Greece objected to its earlier design?

North Macedonia dropped the ancient Vergina Sun from its flag after Greece imposed a year-long economic embargo. The new sun echoes the 'new sun of Liberty' in the national anthem.

Which country restored a medieval flag of five red crosses on white after it became a symbol of the Rose Revolution?

Georgia's Five-Cross Flag began as a banner of its medieval kingdom. The five crosses are sometimes read as Christ and the Four Evangelists.

Which African country's flag swapped a shield and spear for a black traditional hat, the mokorotlo, in 2006?

Lesotho unveiled the flag on the 40th anniversary of its independence. Dropping the military emblem was meant to show a country at peace at home and with its only neighbour.

Which African country's red-and-black flag carries a yellow machete crossed with half a cogwheel beneath a star?

Angola's machete stands for its peasants and the war of independence, while the half-cogwheel stands for workers and industry.

Which African country's light blue flag, crossed by a black stripe edged in white, uses blue to stand for rain?

Botswana is an arid country whose farming depends on rainfall, so blue fills most of the flag. The black stripe framed in white stands for racial harmony.

Which country's blue, yellow and green flag with a golden sun replaced one tied to genocide in 2001?

Rwanda's government said in 1999 that the old flag had become associated with the killings of 1994. The new sun stands for national unity and the enlightenment of the people.

Which country's green flag unusually places its emblem, an orange bird flying over three stripes, at the outer edge?

Zambia's bird is meant to show a people able to rise above the nation's problems. The orange stripe beneath it stands for copper and the country's other mineral wealth.

Which East African country's 1964 flag, split by a gold-edged black diagonal, replaced the flags of two merging states?

Tanzania adopted the flag in June 1964, combining the designs of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which had united that April. Zanzibar's last sultan had been overthrown only that January.

Which Indian Ocean island nation's flag, nicknamed the Four Bands, has equal stripes of red, blue, yellow and green?

Mauritius has flown the flag since independence in 1968, and its law is strict about the stripes: neighbouring colours may overlap by no more than one millimetre.

Which African country changed its flag's rising sun to a full white sun in 2010, then reversed the change in 2012?

Malawi's rising sun stands for the dawn of hope and freedom across Africa. Parliament voted to bring it back after Joyce Banda became president.

Which West African country dropped black, white and red river stripes for a red-and-green flag when renamed in 1984?

Burkina Faso was Upper Volta until Thomas Sankara's government renamed it. The old stripes stood for the Black, White and Red Volta rivers, the new star for the revolution's guiding light.

Which African island nation's blue flag shows a ring of ten yellow stars set off-centre on red and white stripes?

Cape Verde's ten stars stand for its ten islands, ringed to show unity. Architect Pedro Gregório designed the flag so that it would stop being mistaken for another country's.

In flag terminology, what name is given to the half or edge of a flag farthest from the flagpole?

The fly is the opposite of the hoist, the edge nearest the pole. The same word is sometimes used for a flag's whole horizontal length.

What term describes a narrow contrasting border on a flag, like the white edging on the Union Jack's red cross?

Fimbriation keeps two dark colours apart so that each stands out, echoing heraldry's old rule against laying one colour directly on another.

Before which battle did Admiral Nelson's flagship signal 'England expects that every man will do his duty' in flags?

Trafalgar's signal was meant to read 'England confides'. Nelson's signal officer asked to use 'expects' instead, because it was in the codebook and did not have to be spelt out.

In which US city did Gilbert Baker's rainbow pride flag first fly, at a Gay Freedom Day parade in June 1978?

San Francisco saw the flag debut with eight stripes rather than six. The six-stripe version that is most common today dates from 1979.

Which city hosted the first Olympic Games to fly the five-ring flag, its debut delayed by the First World War?

Antwerp also lost a flag at those Games: American diver Hal Haig Prieste climbed a pole and took one, kept it in a suitcase for decades, and handed it back in 2000 aged 103.

Which maritime signal flag tells a ship's crew in harbour to come aboard because sailing is imminent?

The Blue Peter is the code flag for the letter P, blue with a white centre. Out at sea, fishing boats can fly it to say their nets have caught on an obstruction.

Which Philadelphia upholsterer, according to a legend spread by her grandson in 1870, sewed the first Stars and Stripes?

Betsy Ross is said to have changed the planned six-pointed stars to five-pointed ones. Her grandson William Canby first told the story, decades after her death.

The huge garrison flag that inspired 'The Star-Spangled Banner' flew over which Baltimore fort in 1814?

Fort McHenry's flag was sewn by Baltimore flagmaker Mary Pickersgill for $405.90. One of its stars was later given away as a gift, and nobody knows where it is now.

Which emblem sits at the centre of NATO's dark blue flag, adopted in 1953 to symbolise the path towards peace?

A compass rose points NATO's members towards peace, while the circle around it stands for their unity. The dark blue field represents the Atlantic Ocean.

Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer-winning 1945 photograph shows US Marines raising a flag on which Pacific island?

Iwo Jima's famous picture actually shows the second flag raised on Mount Suribachi that day, a larger replacement for the first one.

Which country kept a dissolved federation's flag in 1993, although the breakup law barred both successors from using it?

The Czech Republic kept the old Czechoslovak flag anyway. Its blue triangle dates from 1920, added because white over red alone was almost identical to a neighbour's flag.

Which country's white, blue and red flag carries a shield showing Mount Triglav beneath three gold stars?

Slovenia's three stars come from the arms of the medieval Counts of Celje. The wavy lines under its highest peak stand for the Adriatic Sea and local rivers.

Which European country's blue, yellow and red flag bears the Latin motto 'Virtus Unita Fortior' on its central shield?

Andorra's motto means 'virtue united is stronger', and the shield combines the arms of its historic overlords. One version of the flag is said to have been designed by Napoleon III.

Which Middle Eastern country's flag sets a white seven-pointed star on a red triangle beside three horizontal bands?

Jordan's seven points refer to the seven verses of Al-Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran. The star as a whole stands for the unity of the Arab people.

Which US state's flag, showing the Big Dipper and the North Star, was designed by a schoolboy for a 1927 contest?

Alaska picked Benny Benson's design from roughly 700 entries sent in by the territory's schoolchildren. He won a $1,000 scholarship and an engraved watch.

Which crossed-tools emblem sat beneath a gold-bordered red star in the corner of the Soviet Union's red flag?

Hammer and sickle stood for an alliance of industrial workers and peasants. From 1980 the emblem was shown on the front of the flag only, leaving the reverse plain red.

Which animal appears above the words 'Dont Tread on Me' on the yellow Gadsden flag of the American Revolution?

A rattlesnake had stood for the unity of the colonies since Benjamin Franklin's 'Join, or Die' woodcut of 1754. Christopher Gadsden's flag first flew from a navy flagship in 1775.

In which country's 1956 uprising did rebels cut the communist emblem out of the flag, leaving a hole in the middle?

Hungary's holed tricolour became the symbol of the anti-Soviet revolution. After the revolt was crushed, the new government never put its own coat of arms on the flag.

Which province's blue flag, with a white cross and four white fleurs-de-lis, was first raised in 1948?

Quebec's Fleurdelisé was the first provincial flag officially adopted in the country. Its lilies come from banners honouring the Virgin Mary that colonial militia carried in the 18th century.

Which Mediterranean island's red-and-yellow flag centres a winged head on three bent legs and ears of wheat?

Sicily's flag is traditionally dated to 1282 and the revolt of the Sicilian Vespers. Its three legs are said to stand for the three capes at the corners of the island.

Which Asian city's red flag shows a white five-petalled orchid tree flower with a red star on each petal?

Hong Kong's bauhinia is a flower first discovered in the territory itself. Protesters in 2019 and 2020 flew a black version of the flag.