80
votes
Accepted
If the Union Jack joins the flag of England and Scotland, why does it have a different shade of blue than the Scottish flag?
In 1606, people didn't have pantone guidelines to keep colours consistent - nor did it matter. Heraldry only has a limited number of colors. Variations on blue exist but are not standard, so any blue ...
- 8,918
57
votes
Was the flag of Iceland originally fimbriated in silver?
Silver means white.
The art and science of classic European flag design is called "Heraldry". Classic heraldry refers to color as "Tincture". Tinctures are separated into 5 colors:
Azure (blue)
...
- 1,131
41
votes
What is the reason for the modern prominence of the Confederate battle flag, as opposed to some other Confederate flag?
It appears that the main problem with the official confederate flags is that they were effectively designed by committee. The resulting flags, in the opinion of General Beauregard, looked too much ...
- 118k
34
votes
Accepted
Flag with 13 white stars and a crescent on red background
It might be a Confederate flag, specifically the Van Dorn battle flag:
Quoting its wikipedia description:
The Van Dorn battle flag is a historical Confederate flag with a red field depicting a white ...
- 23.2k
32
votes
What is this flag?
Technically, it's not a flag it's a surcoat. It represents the coats of arms of her family. In heraldic terms, the display of these arms are known as impalement. In this case, the arms on the dexter ...
- 4,781
31
votes
Accepted
What is the small country between USSR and Mongolia in 1935?
It is Tannu Tuva. When Mongolia broke out from China in 1911, this little territory was separated from China (which was in a state of internal turmoil during the first years of the Republic of China) ...
- 12.4k
27
votes
Accepted
What flag has a blue-grey background and an orange-outlined green cross?
The pattern you show is called a Nordic Cross. Searching for flags with Nordic crosses comes up with the Flag of Vendsyssel, which is a traditional district of Denmark and of Jutland. (See Vendsyssel ...
- 38.7k
24
votes
Accepted
What Roman legions were present in London (UK)?
The Roman conquest of Britain was undertaken in 43 CE by four legions:
Legio II Augusta
Legio IX Hispana
Legio XIV Gemina
Legio XX Valeria Victrix
These same legions still comprised the ...
- 72.3k
23
votes
Why do central European nations use the color black as their national colors?
Wikipedia (in German) has a long and fascinating article on the history of the German national colours. Without getting in all the details, it seems that the link with the colours of the Holy Roman ...
- 2,208
22
votes
What Roman legions were present in London (UK)?
Actually, no Roman legions appear to have been based in London.
There was a fort in the north-west of the Roman city, built early in the second century, which could have held a garrison of about ...
- 77.3k
17
votes
Accepted
Did any part of the Netherlands ever use this flag?
According to Wikipedia, this is the naval flag of the Netherlands' Secretary of Defense.
This flag would be flown on a ship that the Dutch Secretary of Defense is using as a headquarters (also ...
- 2,888
16
votes
What is the reason for the modern prominence of the Confederate battle flag, as opposed to some other Confederate flag?
This seems like lower-case history, but still history: the popular 1979 TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard" featured a car named the "General Lee" with the confederate battle flag ...
- 293
13
votes
Was the flag of Iceland originally fimbriated in silver?
No.
The Icelandic flag never had any actual silver colour in it and was never meant to contain any silver.
In the quote argent is meant to convey just white. It is used in an outdated and imprecise ...
- 80.8k
12
votes
What is the flag in this 17th century painting?
I would say it is the flag of Deventer. It's a city towards the east of the Netherlands, that prospered by trading with the various cities around the North and Baltic Sea coast as well as Scandinavia. ...
- 221
12
votes
How can a diamond shape be a reference to Napoleon?
The book A História dos Símbolos Nacionais, published by the Brazilian Senate, states that indeed,
[The flag] was conceived by Jean-Baptiste Debret, French painter and
founder of our Academy of ...
- 2,266
12
votes
Accepted
What does this Swiss banner/blazon/coat of arms/flag stand for?
That's Biel / Bienne, see its coat of arms:
By Aliman5040 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Swiss historian Markus Kutter confirms it in Zwischen Jura, Vogesen und Schwarzwald, 32. Hinter die Fassade ...
- 647
11
votes
Did the 49 star USA flag see significant adoption by the American public?
There is evidence to suggest that many were manufactured, but were not actually purchased for normal use. As described in an article on the use of American flags in popular fashion:
The modern ...
- 18.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Any history to the current flag used by ISIL?
The flag is known as the Black Standard of Muhammad. There are many variants of the flag, and as far as I can tell the variant used by ISIS is original, but other variants have been used by many ...
- 2,888
11
votes
Accepted
Are the Swiss flag and the flag/coat of arms of Piedmont related?
Short Answer:
The Swiss and Piedmontese coats of arms and flags might both possibly, repeat possibly, have originated as symbols of loyalty to the Holy Roman Empire.
Long answer:
Flags and coats of ...
- 19.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Why was the Ottoman flag changed from an eight-pointed star to five-pointed in the 19th century?
Some preliminary breadcrumbs:
There appears to be some mystery around how English Wikipedia can be so certain about the unreferenced assertion. It seems rather certain that the five-pointed star was ...
- 80.8k
10
votes
Why do central European nations use the color black as their national colors?
I believe it is ultimately inherited from the colors of the holy roman empire.
- 3,183
10
votes
Accepted
Did the Hungarian Army ever use crescent banners?
Not as precise answer as I'd like, but it might lead you to the correct answer with further research. Googling for "hungarian heraldry crescent 13th century" yields at least one crescent, ...
- 23.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Why was the C-pennant chosen as the flag of ships from Allied-occupied Germany?
Because those other pennants already had internationally recognized meanings, that would have resulted in dangerous ambiguities:
Note also the very specific instruction:
The Council ruled that "no ...
- 72.3k
9
votes
What is the reason for the modern prominence of the Confederate battle flag, as opposed to some other Confederate flag?
The argument I've heard given at various rallies/events with a prominent amount of CSA battle flags is that the flag represents the "good parts" of the CSA, meaning the values related to ...
- 91
8
votes
Accepted
How can a diamond shape be a reference to Napoleon?
The flag design most closely associated with Napoleon would be his personal command flag. If he had one.
Pending the discovery of the design of any personal flag of Napoleon, the flag design most ...
- 19.1k
8
votes
What is the flag in this 17th century painting?
I don't think it's an eagle. It looks more like a Gryphon. In that case, it could be from a number of Baltic states or areas, especially Pomerania.
But I'm pretty sure it's actually a lion, or more ...
- 529
8
votes
Accepted
Can anyone explain why the Scottish flag on this map from 1504 has a red cross on a white background?
I recently looked at this question again, and thought it might be another example of the colorization process being inaccurate. I thought to find other copies of this map (or other works at least by ...
- 38.7k
7
votes
Accepted
Why does the Puerto Rican flag look so much like the one of the U.S.A.?
The flag is actually supposed to show the island's links with Cuba, rather than the US. Consider the Cuban flag:
The flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is basically the Cuban Flag with the red ...
- 77.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Why doesn’t Cuba's flag have any communist symbolism?
Because Cuba wasn't communist at the time.
The flag was designed in 1849 and adopted in 1902. The original design purposely copied French and United States elements.
The Cuban Revolution that ...
- 118k
6
votes
Accepted
What do the four castles on the flag of Ibiza represent?
According to the website ibizaisla.es,
The flag of Ibiza features the flag of the Crown of Aragon with four
castles over the sea, in allusion to the four quartons the island
was divided into ...
- 2,266
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible