Flags A-Z

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The flag of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States.

The flag consists of the Commonwealth's seal on a navy blue field, surrounded by the words "Commonwealth of Kentucky" above and sprigs of goldenrod, the state flower, below.

The seal depicts a pioneer and a statesman embracing. Popular belief claims that the buckskin-clad man on the left is Daniel Boone, who was largely responsible for the exploration of Kentucky, and the man in the suit on the right is Henry Clay, Kentucky's most famous statesman. However, the official explanation is that the men represent all frontiersmen and statesmen, rather than any specific persons.

 

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Lara State (Venezuela)​

The heraldic composition of the flag of the State of Lara is the following: It consists of a rectangle of three (3) by two (2) meters, divided into two (2) stripes, the first twice [the width of] the second, a field gules (red) with a setting sun issuing from the line that divides the two stripes, with rays formed of three parallel stripes, two of gold (yellow) and, between those, one of silver (white), dividing the field 13 times. The second stripe is green.
The significance of the form and colors included in the flag is as follows: The design of the flag manifests the elements that stand out as representative of a Venezuelan state on which providence has heaped blessings. Among these are a beautiful open sky [represented] by the red, which accompanied our heroes in the struggle for the justice and liberty worthy of this people, the red tinged with the immense passion of the the courage and creativity of the Larense [not clear here whether it's the red that colors the passion or the passion that colors the red]. A radiant setting sun that continues raising its arms in hope, that its people may continue to be enlightened and heaped with blessings, that faith in God and in the people themselves, who will build the highways leading to harmonious and sustainable development. A wide valley with its verdure represents the fertility of the lands, which day by day enhance the nourishment of the daily bread of the Venezuelan people. Valleys that have inspired musicians, poets and painters, captivated by their subtle natural enchantments.
This design combines the aforementioned elements (the twilight sky, the setting sun, and the wide valleys) with colors that represent the following:
The red for greatness, courage, and passion.
The yellow for riches, strength, and the faith of the people.
The green for the abundance and productivity of the land as well as of the Larense people.

 

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The flag of Martinique consists of a red triangle at the hoist, with two horizontal bands, the upper green and the lower black. It was adopted on 2 February 2023. The flag of France, its parent country, is also flown with official standing due to Martinique's status as a French overseas department/region. The assembly of Martinique flies a flag with the collectivity's logo on it to represent the government.

In 2018, the assembly held a competition to create a flag and anthem for the island, but 2+1⁄2 years following the presentation of the winners, the flag and anthem were annulled by the local administrative tribunal, as the method of their selection were not deemed within the responsibilities of the council. Then in 2022, the island began a new public vote on an official flag and anthem. The winners were announced on 16 January 2023, but the selected flag design would be withdrawn from consideration at the request of the designer following accusations of plagiarism. Instead, it was decided that the runner-up design, an established flag used by nationalists, would be considered for adoption on 2 February 2023. It was adopted by the assembly with 44 votes in favour and one abstention.

 

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The flag of Montserrat consists of a Blue Ensign defaced with the British overseas territory's coat of arms.

The colours and symbols of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The woman donning a green dress portrays Erin, the national personification of Ireland. The Celtic harp she is grasping is another representation of that nation. Both these symbols pay tribute to the Irish settlers who moved to Montserrat from 1632 onwards. The inaugural census conducted in the British Leeward Islands in 1678 found that 70% of the island's inhabitants who were Caucasian claimed Irish ancestry, representing the highest concentration of Irish residents in the federation. The cross alludes to the Christian heritage of the island, while the woman's hold of it signifies the Montserratians' love of Christ.

 

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The flag of Nicaragua: The two Azure bands on the flag and the arms of Nicaragua in use today is derived from that of the United Provinces of Central America. The triangle, volcanoes, rising sun, Cap of Liberty, and rainbow all appeared on the original emblem. The coat of arms used today contains the name of the state, Republica de Nicaragua, whereas in 1823 the title was Provincias Unidas del Centro de America. The decision to revert to the emblems used by the United Provinces of Central America was taken in 1908 and reflected Nicaragua's aspirations for the rebirth of the political entity formed by the 5 nations. Except for the text around the arms, the flag is very similar to that of the United Provinces of Central America. The 5 volcanoes represent the original 5 member states, the Cap of Liberty represents national freedom, and the rays of the sun and the rainbow are symbolic of the bright future to come.

Coat of arms of Nicaragua: The triangle signifies equality, the rainbow signifies peace, the gorro frigio (Phrygian cap) symbolizes liberty and the five volcanoes express the union and brotherhood of all five Central American countries. Lastly the gold words surrounding the emblem: Republica De Nicaragua - America Central (English: Republic of Nicaragua - Central America).

 

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The Flag of Orkney was the winner of a public flag consultation in February and March 2007. In the flag consultation the people of Orkney were asked for their preferred design from a short list of 5, all of which had been approved by the Court of the Lord Lyon. The chosen design was that of Duncan Tullock of Birsay, which polled 53% of the 200 votes cast by the public.

The colours red and yellow are from the Scottish and Norwegian royal coats of arms, which both use yellow and red, with a lion rampant. The flag symbolises the islands' Scottish and Norwegian heritage. The blue is taken from the flag of Scotland and also represents the sea and the maritime heritage of the islands.

 

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The flag of Pennsylvania consists of a blue field on which the state coat of arms is displayed.

The Pennsylvania coat of arms features a shield crested by a North American bald eagle, flanked by horses, and adorned with symbols of Pennsylvania's strengths—a ship carrying state commerce to all parts of the world; a clay-red plough, a symbol of Pennsylvania's rich natural resources; and three golden sheaves of wheat, representing fertile fields and Pennsylvania's wealth of human thought and action. An olive branch and cornstalk cross limbs beneath—symbols of peace and prosperity. The state motto, "Virtue, Liberty and Independence", appears festooned below. Atop the coat of arms is a bald eagle, representing Pennsylvania's loyalty to the United States.

 

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The flag of the state of Quintana Roo (Mexico) consists in a "white rectangle whose center bears the state's coat of arms which is placed in a area equivalent to one third of the rectangle's width and length. The rectangle is proportioned four to seven".

Coat of arms: In 1902 the current territory of Quintana Roo was separated from Yucatan to form the Federal Territory of Quintana Roo. The Sovereign Free State was created on 8 October 1974, being Governor Attorney David G. Gutiérrez Ruiz. Until then, Quinta Roo has distinctive arms. In the Quintana Roo coat of arms are represented the State's main geographical features: warm climate (stylized sun on red), cloudless sky (star on blue field), and thick vegetation. The crest is a rising sun for Quintana Roo is the far-eastern Mexican State, then where the Mexican day begins.

 

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Roland Garros (French Open Tennis)

The flag of the French open is white with the emblem of the French open.

 

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FLAGS & BULGES (II)
CARIBBEAN BULGES

The flag of Saint Lucia consists of a cerulean blue field charged with a yellow triangle in front of a white-edged black isosceles triangle.

The colours and symbols of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The blue epitomises the sky and the sea, specifically the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea which encircle the country. The black and white allude to the harmonious relationship between the black and white races. The yellow symbolises the sunshine, as well as prosperity. The triangles represent the Pitons, which are twin volcanic cones located in the southwest part of the island and unity; Gros Piton and Petit Piton are a national symbol of Saint Lucia.

 

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The Flag of Suriname (Dutch: Vlag van Suriname):
The flag of Suriname is composed of five horizontal bands of green (top, double width), white, red (quadruple width), white, and green (double width) with a large, yellow, five-pointed star in the center.

The color red represents progress, white represents freedom and justice and the green represents the fertility of the land. The yellow star represents unity and a golden future.

 

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The flag of Tennessee displays an emblem on a field of red, with a strip of blue bordered by white on the fly. The emblem in the middle consists of three stars on a blue circle also with a white border.

The stars represent the three geographically and legally distinct "Grand Divisions" of Tennessee (i.e. East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee). The blue circle around the stars represents the unity of those grand divisions. The blue bar at the edge of the flag was just a design consideration. When asked about the blue bar, Colonel Reeves stated "The final blue bar relieves the sameness of the crimson field and prevents the flag from showing too much crimson when hanging limp." In October 1917, National Geographic erroneously reported the stars represented the state as the third to enter the Union after the original thirteen.

Vexillologist Steven A. Knowlton believes that "the Tennessee flag has pragmatic unity with the Confederate flag: both share the element of white stars inside a fimbriated blue charge, and the element of that blue charge on a red field." He also notes the resemblance between the Tennessee State Flag and the third national flag of the confederacy. However, Knowlton also acknowledged that there is no direct evidence of the flag being designed to emulate the Confederate flag.

State law dictates exactly how the central emblem is to be displayed on the flag.

The arrangement of the three (3) stars shall be such that the centers of no two stars shall be in a line parallel to either the side or the end of the flag, but intermediate between the same; and the highest star shall be the one nearest the upper confined corner of the flag.

 

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The flag of the state of Utah was adopted in February 2011 and consists of the seal of Utah encircled in a golden circle on a background of dark navy blue.

A bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, symbolizes protection in peace and war. The sego lily, the state flower of Utah, represents peace. The state motto "Industry" and the beehive represent progress and hard work. The U.S. flags show Utah's support and commitment to the United States. The state name "Utah" appears below the beehive. The date 1847 represents the year the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, while 1896 represents the year that Utah was admitted as the 45th state to the Union. The six arrows represent the six Native American tribes that live in Utah (Shoshone, Goshute, Navajo, Paiute, Northern Utes, and White Mesa Utes). David Rindlisbach (Art Director) placed 45 stars on the flag this time to represent Utah is the 45th state to join the Union, though the current design has 46 stars (23 on each flag).

Alternatively, the sego lily, a flowering plant that survives in the arid Great Basin climate, provided food to the early pioneer colony, helping the settlers survive the harsh winters after their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. Thus it became the state flower. The eagle and flanking flags are also important symbols; Utah's is one of the few state flags to carry the American flag as part of the design. This is because the Mormon settlers were thought not to be loyal to the United States, which was one of the reasons statehood was not granted to Utah until nearly 50 years after the original settlements.

 

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The flag of the state of Vermont displays the coat of arms and motto of the U.S. state of Vermont ("Freedom and Unity") on a rectangular blue background.

The flag consists of the state's coat of arms and motto on a field of azure. While the pine needle supporters of the coat of arms are represented throughout New England and symbolizes the small pine branches worn at the Battle of Plattsburgh near the end of the War of 1812, the pine tree in the middle of the coat of arms represents the Vermont forests. The cow and three sheaves of wheat represent the dairy and agriculture industries. The deer head on top represents Vermont's wildlife. The Green Mountains are in the background as well. The motto, "Freedom and Unity", is also used. The motto balances two different ideals, the freedom of the individual citizen, and the welfare of the common good.

 

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The flag of Washington, D.C., consists of three red stars above two red bars on a white background. It is an armorial banner based on the design of the coat of arms granted to George Washington's great-great-great-grandfather, Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire, England, in 1592. This coat of arms was used privately by the president in his home at Mount Vernon. In heraldry, the stars are called mullets and the coat of arms is blazoned as argent two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the second.

The proportions of the design are prescribed in terms of the hoist, or vertical height, of the flag as follows: the upper white portion shall be 3⁄10 of the hoist; the two horizontal bars are each 2⁄10 of the hoist; the white area between the bars 1⁄10 of the hoist; and the base, or lowest white space, is 2⁄10 of the hoist. The three five-pointed stars have a diameter of 2⁄10 of the hoist and are spaced equidistant in the fly, or horizontal, dimension of the flag.

 

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The flag of the state of Wyoming consists of the silhouette of an American bison. The red symbolizes the Native Americans and the blood of pioneers who gave their lives. The white is a symbol of purity and uprightness. The blue is the color of the skies and distant mountains. It is also a symbol of fidelity, justice and virility. The bison represents the local fauna, while the seal on it suggests the custom of branding livestock, the bison faces toward the fly, symbolizing its former freedom to roam the plains of Wyoming. Hebard thought that if the bison were to face toward the hoist, the design would be more balanced (animals generally face the hoist on flags, as they would the wind).

Vice President Dick Cheney, a former resident of and congressman from Wyoming, displayed the flag in his White House office.

 

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The state flag of Alaska displays eight gold stars, forming the Big Dipper and Polaris, on a dark blue field. The Big Dipper is an asterism in the constellation Ursa Major which symbolizes a bear, an animal indigenous to Alaska. As depicted on the flag, its stars can be used as a guide by the novice to locate Polaris and determine true north, which varies considerably from magnetic north.[1]

The design was created by Benny Benson of Seward and selected from among roughly 700 entries in a 1927 contest.
The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear—symbolizing strength.

The Seal of the State of Alaska was first adopted before statehood, when the area was known as the District of Alaska. The first governor designated a seal of the district which featured glaciers, northern lights, igloos and an Inuit person ice fishing.

In 1910, this seal was replaced with a design more representative of the state's industrial and natural wealth. Today's seal contains rays above the mountains that represent the Alaskan northern lights. The smelter symbolizes mining, the train stands for Alaska's railroads and ships denote transportation by sea. The trees pictured in the seal symbolize the state's wealth of timber, and the farmer, his horse and the three shocks of wheat stand for Alaskan agriculture. The fish and the seals signify the importance of fishing and seal rookeries to Alaska's economy.

 

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BULGES & FLAGS (III)
OCEANIAN BULGES

The flag of American Samoa is a flag consisting of a red-edged white triangle pointing towards the hoist charged with a bald eagle clutching a war club and fly-whisk, with dark blue upper and lower triangles. Adopted in April 1960 to replace the "Stars and Stripes" as the official flag of the territory, it has been the flag of the Territory of American Samoa since that year. The colors used epitomize the traditional colors of the United States and Samoa.

The bald eagle and the blue, white and red colors symbolize the country's ties to the United States. The eagle holds a staff and a war club, two traditional symbols of the Samoan chiefs.

 

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The flag of Brisbane is based upon the arms of the Australian City of Brisbane. The two primary colours used are blue and gold, with blue representing the sea and the Brisbane River which flows through the city, and gold representing the sun and the city's warm climate.

The white, wavy lines in three of the six quarters of the flag may represent the river, which brought much commerce and prosperity to the city in the early days of British settlement. An alternative explanation is that the wavy lines represent white clouds, parting to allow the blue sky to be seen behind them. The three caducei in these sections, rather than their popular but erroneous association with medicine, again represent commerce, referencing the role of Hermes in Greek mythology in his capacity as the protector of commerce and trade. The remaining three quarters each depict two Stafford knots and a star, with the stars representing the achievements in astronomy of Sir Thomas Brisbane, for whom the city is named, and the knots representing the 38th Foot (Staffordshire Regiment), which Brisbane served in prior to being named governor of the colony of New South Wales. The abundance of maritime symbols on the flag reflects Brisbane's early role as a river port.

 

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Flag of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)​

The flag consists of a green field, with a palm tree on a gold disc in the canton, a gold crescent moon in the centre of the flag and a gold southern cross in the fly. The palm tree represents the islands' tropical flora; the colours are Australia's national colours; the crescent represents Islam, the religion of the Cocos Malays who make up a majority of the islands' population; and the Southern Cross is a symbol of Australia and the Southern Hemisphere.