User:NotAWittyFish/sandbox

For the flags belonging to nations, see National flag.

For other uses, see User:NotAWittyFish/sandbox (disambiguation).

National flags at Sochi Olympic Park

Traditionally, a flag is a distinctive design on a piece of fabric meant to be attached at one end to a pole. The term flag may also refer to a flag design in any medium, such as a digital or printed reproduction. Flags are most often symbols, representing individuals, nations or other cultural or ideological groups. They are also used as signals to convey messages, as decoration, and as advertising.

Etymology

The term flag was first used as a verb in the 1540s meaning to "flap about loosely," likely from the Old Norse flaka which shares the same meaning. It was perhaps an onomatopoeia meant to imitate the sound of fabric in the wind. It first appeared as a noun in English in the late 15th Century.

History

Main article: History of flags

This bronze flag found in Shahdad, Iran is more than five thousand years old and is probably the oldest flag still in existence.

4th Millennium BCE-7th Century CE: First flags and flag prototypes

Precursors to flags known as vexilloids, or flag-like objects, originated in ancient Egypt or Assyria in the 4th Millennium. They were often composed of a staff with an emblem, such as a piece of bone or figurine, attached to the top. The earliest known flag, called Derafsh Shahad, is made of bronze and is dated from 2400 BCE. The first fabric flags were made in China out of silk beginning by at least 1500 BCE. In this period, particular colors and designs were used to represent philosophical or religious concepts.

Flags may have traveled via the Silk Road trade route from China to South and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The Mongols, who conquered parts of China and then adopted the use of flags and vexilloids, could also have helped spread flag use as their empire expanded. It is unclear whether flags themselves were transported from place to place or if it was just the fabric that spread and cultures independently attached the cloth to poles.

The inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula were the first to associate flag designs and colors with leaders and dynasties. The prophet Muhammad is recorded to have carried flags of all black and all white during his travels, and later caliphs had solid-colored flags of red and green. This is origin of the modern use of flags to represent governments and nations.

7th-15th Centuries CE: Heraldry and the origin of national flags

The first recorded use of flags in Europe dates to Greece in the 5th Century BCE, but flag use spread significantly during the reign of the Roman Empire. Red battle standards known as vexillum ("little sails") were used by the roman military. During the High Middle Ages heraldry, a systems of armory designs, developed to help individuals and battalions identify one another on the battlefield. Heraldry was used when Europeans fought Islamic armies in the crusades, and it is likely the Arabic use of flags that brought them into common use in European heraldry as many heraldric designs moved from shields to heraldic flags.

A painting depicting the use of heraldric designs on armor and flags during a battle in the Livonian Crusade in 1219. The flag of Denmark (center), the oldest national flag in continuous use, is said to have fallen from the sky during this battle.

Starting in the High Middle Ages and increasing in the Late Middle Ages, city states and communes began to adopt flags. In the 12th Century, ships around the North and Baltic Seas used symbols to indicate they were under royal protection— at first staffs topped with a cross, and later single-colored flags. By the early 13th Century, the practice of using solid banners had extended to many ships who used them to indicate their city of origin, such as red flags for Danish cities and white flags for English cities. The latter half of the century, designs and emblems were added to the flags to help differentiate them. Over the following centuries, this practice became increasingly common for European ships.

Beginning in the 12th Century, Japanese used mon (alternatively kamon), distinctive icons representing individuals or families, similarly to European heraldry. They were used on tents, equipment, and flags as systems of identification. They are the origin for the modern flags of Japanese prefectures.

16th-18th Centuries: Age of Sail

During the peak of the age of sail, beginning in the early 17th century, it was customary (and later a legal requirement) for ships to fly flags designating their nationality; these flags eventually evolved into the national flags and maritime flags of today. Flags also became the preferred means of communications at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals; see, International maritime signal flags.

Use of flags outside of military or naval context begins only with the rise of nationalist sentiment by the end of the 18th century, although some flags date back earlier. The flags of countries such as Austria, Denmark or Turkey emerged from the midst of legend while many others, including those of Poland and Switzerland, grew out of the heraldic emblems of the Middle Ages. The 17th century saw the birth of several national flags through revolutionary struggle. One of these was the flag of the Netherlands, which appeared during the 80-year Dutch rebellion which began in 1568 against Spanish domination.

Political change and social reform, allied to a growing sense of nationhood among ordinary people, led to the birth of new nations and flags all over the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Construction and design

Parts of a flag

A flag illustrated with vexillological terms

Shape and orientation

Flags are usually rectangular in shape (often in the ratio 2:3, 1:2, or 3:5), but may be of any shape or size that is practical for flying, including square, triangular, or swallow tailed. Many flags are dyed through and through to be inexpensive to manufacture, such that the reverse side is the mirror image of the obverse (front) side, generally the side displayed when, from the observer's point of view, the flag flies from pole-side left to right. This presents two possibilities:

1. If the design is symmetrical in an axis parallel to the flag pole, obverse and reverse will be identical despite the mirror-reversal, such as the Indian Flag or Canadian Flag
2. If not, the obverse and reverse will present two variants of the same design, one with the hoist on the left (usually considered the obverse side), the other with the hoist on the right (usually considered the reverse side of the flag). This is very common and usually not disturbing if there is no text in the design.

Some complex flag designs are not intended to be shown on both sides, requiring separate obverse and reverse sides if made correctly. In these cases there is a design element (usually text) which is not symmetric and should be read in the same direction, regardless of whether the hoist is to the viewer's left or right. These cases can be divided into two types:

1. The same (asymmetric) design may be duplicated on both sides. Such flags can be manufactured by creating two identical through and through flags and then sewing them back to back, though this can affect the resulting combination's responsiveness to the wind. Depictions of such flags may be marked with the symbol , indicating the reverse is congruent to (rather than a mirror image of) the obverse.
2. Rarely, the reverse design may differ, in whole or in part, from that of the obverse. Examples of flags whose reverse differs from the obverse include the flag of Paraguay, the flag of Oregon, and the historical flag of the Soviet Union. Depictions of such flags may be marked with the symbol .

Common designs on flags include crosses, stripes, and divisions of the surface, or field, into bands or quarters—patterns and principles mainly derived from heraldry. A heraldic coat of arms may also be flown as a banner of arms, as is done on both the state flag of Maryland and the flag of Kiribati.

The de jure flag of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, which consisted of a rectangular field of green, was for a long period the only national flag using a single colour and no design or insignia. However, other historical states have also used flags without designs or insignia, such as the short-lived Soviet Republic of Hungary and the more recent Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, whose flags were both a plain field of red.

Vertical flags seen in Switzerland

NTB-Buchs-Campus with national and international flags.jpgColours are normally described with common names, such as "red", but may be further specified using colorimetry.

The largest flag flown from a flagpole worldwide, according to Guinness World Records, is the flag of the United Arab Emirates flown in Sharjah. This flag was 2,448.56 m² (26,356.1 sq ft). The largest flag ever made was the flag of Qatar; the flag, which measures at 101,978 m² (1,097,680 sq ft), was completed in December 2013 in Doha.

Parts of a flag

Main article: Glossary of vexillology

The general parts of a flag are: canton (the upper inner section of the flag), field or ground (the entire flag except the canton), the hoist (the edge used to attach the flag to the hoist), and the fly (the furthest edge from the hoist end).

National flags

Main article: National flag

Flags at half-mast outside Central Plaza, Hong Kong, after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The Flag of Saudi Arabia is exempted.

• The usage symbols are based on a grid of two rows representing use on land and use on water, and three columns representing private use, public use, and military use. Each circle in the grid indicates the flag has one or more of the following six basic usages:

	Private	Public	Military
Land	Civil flag Flown by private citizens on land	State flag Flown by the government on land	War flag Flown by the military on land
Water	Civil ensignFlown by private vessels	State ensign Flown by government vessels	Naval ensign Flown by military vessels
Air	Civil air ensignFlown by private aircrafts	State air ensignFlown by government aircrafts	Air force ensignFlown by military aircrafts

National flag designs are often used to signify nationality in other forms, such as flag patches.

Civil flags

Main article: Civil flag

The civil and state flags of Finland share the same blue cross and white field, but only the state flag (right) is defaced with the national ensign.

A civil flag is a version of the national flag that is flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. The use of civil flags was more common in the past, in order to denote buildings or ships that were not crewed by the military. In some countries the civil flag is the same as the war flag or state flag, but without the coat of arms, such as in the case of Spain, and in others it's an alteration of the war flag.

War flags

Main articles: War flag and Colours, standards and guidons

Standard for the UK's Royal Air Force, the Ensign of the RAF displays the RAF roundel that is also displayed on the fuselage and wings of British warplanes.

Several countries, including the British Army and the Royal Navy (White Ensign) of the United Kingdom (Great Britain) and the Soviet Union have had unique flags flown by their armed forces separately, rather than the national flag.

Other countries' armed forces (such as those of the United States or Switzerland) use their standard national flag, in addition, the U.S. has alongside flags and seals designed from long tradition for each of its six uniformed military services/military sub-departments in the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Philippines' armed forces may use their standard national flag, but during times of war the flag is turned upside down. Bulgaria's flag is also turned upside down during times of war. These are also considered war flags, though the terminology only applies to the flag's military usage.

Large versions of the war flag flown on the warships of countries' navies are known as battle ensigns. In addition besides flying the national standard or a military services' emblem flag at a military fort, base, station or post and at sea at the stern (rear) or main top mast of a warship, a Naval Jack flag and other Maritime flags, pennants and emblems are flown at the bow (front). In times of war waving a white flag is a banner of truce, talks/negotiations or surrender.

Four distinctive African flags currently in the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Britain were flown in action by Itsekiri ships under the control of Nana Olomu during the conflict in the late 19th century. One is the flag generally known as the Benin Empire flag and one is referred to as Nana Olomu's flag.

The Flag of the United Nations, sky blue field with north polar view looking down on a world map in white with two olive branches wreaths curved around. First version presented April–June 1945 to the United Nations Organization (UNO) at the San Francisco Conference, second version adopted by the U.N., December 1946

International flags

Among international flags are the Flag of the United Nations, the Olympic flag, and the Paralympic flag.

Maritime flags

Main article: Maritime flag

Ensigns are flown on boats to indicate the country of registration of the boat.

Flags are particularly important at sea, where they can mean the difference between life and death, and consequently where the rules and regulations for the flying of flags are strictly enforced. A national flag flown at sea is known as an ensign. A courteous, peaceable merchant ship or yacht customarily flies its ensign (in the usual ensign position), together with the flag of whatever nation it is currently visiting at the mast (known as a courtesy flag). To fly one's ensign alone in foreign waters, a foreign port or in the face of a foreign warship traditionally indicates a willingness to fight, with cannon, for the right to do so. As of 2009, this custom is still taken seriously by many naval and port authorities and is readily enforced in many parts of the world by boarding, confiscation and other civil penalties. In some countries yacht ensigns are different from merchant ensigns in order to signal that the yacht is not carrying cargo that requires a customs declaration. Carrying commercial cargo on a boat with a yacht ensign is deemed to be smuggling in many jurisdictions. Traditionally, a vessel flying under the courtesy flag of a specific nation, regardless of the vessel's country of registry, is considered to be operating under the law of her 'host' nation.

The international maritime signal flag Kilo (letter K)

There is a system of international maritime signal flags for numerals and letters of the alphabet. Each flag or pennant has a specific meaning when flown individually. As well, semaphore flags can be used to communicate on an ad hoc basis from ship to ship over short distances.

Another category of maritime flag flown by some United States Government ships is the distinguishing mark. Although the United States Coast Guard has its own service ensign, all other U.S. Government ships fly the national ensign their service ensign, following United States Navy practice. To distinguish themselves from ships of the Navy, such ships historically have flown their parent organisation's flag from a forward mast as a distinguishing mark. Today, for example, commissioned ships of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fly the NOAA flag as a distinguishing mark.

Cultural, political, and ideological flags

See also: Religion in national symbols

Flags can play many different roles in religion. In Buddhism, prayer flags are used, usually in sets of five differently coloured flags. Several flags and banners including the Black Standard are associated with Islam. Many national flags and other flags include religious symbols such as the cross, the crescent, or a reference to a patron saint. Flags are also adopted by religious groups and flags such as the Jain flag, Nishan Sahib (Sikhism), the Saffron flag (Hindu) and the Christian flag are used to represent a whole religion.

• 
  Poland (Gorzów Wlkp.). Religious flags
• 
  Christian flag adopted by several Protestant denominations
• 
  Jain flag (on occasion, the bottom black bar is replaced with a dark blue one)
• 
  Buddhist flag
• 
  Nishan Sahib (the Sikh flag)

In sports

Because of their ease of signalling and identification, flags are often used in sports.

• In association football, linesmen carry small flags along the touch lines. They use the flags to indicate to the referee potential infringements of the laws, or who is entitled to possession of the ball that has gone out of the field of play, or, most famously, raising the flag to indicate an offside offence. Officials called touch judges use flags for similar purposes in both codes of rugby.
• In American and Canadian football, referees use penalty flags to indicate that a foul has been committed in game play. The phrase used for such an indication is flag on the play. The flag itself is a small, weighted handkerchief, tossed on the field at the approximate point of the infraction; the intent is usually to sort out the details after the current play from scrimmage has concluded. In American football, the flag is usually yellow; in Canadian football, it is usually orange. In the National Football League, coaches also use red challenge flags to indicate that they wish to contest a ruling on the field.
• In yacht racing, flags are used to communicate information from the race committee boat to the racers. Different flags hoisted from the committee boat may communicate a false start, changes in the course, a cancelled race, or other important information. Racing boats themselves may also use flags to symbolise a protest or distress. The flags are often part of the nautical alphabetic system of International maritime signal flags, in which 26 different flags designate the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet.

Flag flown at a car race

• In auto and motorcycle racing, racing flags are used to communicate with drivers. Most famously, a checkered flag of black and white squares indicates the end of the race, and victory for the leader. A yellow flag is used to indicate caution requiring slow speed and a red flag requires racers to stop immediately. A black flag is used to indicate penalties.

Main article: Racing flags

• In addition, fans of almost all sports wave flags in the stands to indicate their support for the participants. Many sports teams have their own flags, and, in individual sports, fans will indicate their support for a player by waving the flag of his or her home country.
• Capture the flag is a popular children's sport.
• In Gaelic football and Hurling a green flag is used to indicate a goal while a white flag is used to indicate a point
• In Australian rules football, the goal umpire will wave two flags to indicate a goal (worth six points) and a single flag to indicate a behind (worth one point).
• For safety, dive flags indicate the locations of underwater scuba divers or that diving operations are being conducted in the vicinity.
• In water sports such as wakeboarding and Water-Skiing, an orange flag is held in between runs to indicate someone is in the water.
• In golf, the hole is almost always marked with a flag. The flagpole is designed to fit centered within the base of the hole and is removable. Many courses will use colour-coded flags to determine a hole location at the front, middle or rear of the green. However colour-coded flags are not used in the professional tours. (A rare example of a golf course that does not use flags to mark the hole is the East Course of Merion Golf Club, which instead uses flagpoles topped by wicker baskets.)
• Flag poles with flags of all shapes and sizes are used by marching bands, drum corps, and winter guard teams use flags as a method of visual enhancement in performances.

Diplomatic flags

Main article: Diplomatic flag

Some countries use diplomatic flags, such as the United Kingdom (see image of the Embassy flag) and the Kingdom of Thailand (see image of the Embassy flag).

The socialist movement uses red flags to represent their cause. The anarchist movement has a variety of different flags, but the primary flag associated with them is the black flag. In the Spanish civil war, the anarchists used the red-and-black bisected flag. In the 20th century, the rainbow flag was adopted as a symbol of the LGBT social movements. Its derivatives include the Bisexual pride and Transgender pride flags.

Some of these political flags have become national flags, such as the red flag of the Soviet Union and national socialist banners for Nazi Germany. The present Flag of Portugal is based on what had been the political flag of the Portuguese Republican Party previous to the 5 October 1910 revolution which brought this party to power.

Personal flags

Personal flag of Queen Elizabeth II

Throughout history, monarchs have often had personal flags (including royal standards), representing the royal person, including in personal union of national monarchies.

Vehicle flags

Flags are often representative of an individual's affinity or allegiance to a country, team or business and can be presented in various ways. A popular trend that has surfaced revolves around the idea of the 'mobile' flag in which an individual displays their particular flag of choice on their vehicle. These items are commonly referred to as car flags and are usually manufactured from high strength polyester material and are attached to a vehicle via a polypropylene pole and clip window attachment.

Swimming flags

Open swimming area

Closed swimming area

Red flag at a beach in Ireland, indicating that the water is not safe for swimming

In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, a pair of red-yellow flags is used to mark the limits of the bathing area on a beach, usually guarded by surf lifesavers. If the beach is closed, the poles of the flags are crossed. The flags are coloured with a red triangle and a yellow triangle making a rectangular flag, or a red rectangle over a yellow rectangle. On many Australian beaches there is a slight variation with beach condition signalling. A red flag signifies a closed beach (in the UK also other dangers), yellow signifies strong current or difficult swimming conditions, and green represents a beach safe for general swimming. In Ireland, a red and yellow flag indicates that it is safe to swim; a red flag that it is unsafe; and no flag indicates that there are no lifeguards on duty. Blue flags may also be used away from the yellow-red lifesaver area to designate a zone for surfboarding and other small, non-motorised watercraft.

Reasons for closing the beach include:

• dangerous rip
• hurricane warning
• no lifeguards in attendance
• overpolluted water
• sharks
• tsunami
• waves too strong

A surf flag exists, divided into four quadrants. The top left and bottom right quadrants are black, and the remaining area is white.

Signal flag "India" (a black circle on a yellow square) is frequently used to denote a "blackball" zone where surfboards cannot be used but other water activities are permitted.

Railway flags

Railways use a number of coloured flags. When used as wayside signals they usually use the following meanings (exact meanings are set by the individual railroad company):

• red = stop
• yellow = proceed with care
• green or white = proceed.
• a flag of any colour waved vigorously means stop
• a blue flag on the side of a locomotive means that it should not be moved because someone is working on it (or on the train attached to it). A blue flag on a track means that nothing on that track should be moved. The flag can only be removed by the person or group that placed it. In the railway dominated steel industry this principle of "blue flag and tag" was extended to all operations at Bethlehem Steel, Lackawanna, New York. If a man went inside a large machine or worked on an electrical circuit for example, his blue flag and tag was sacrosanct. The "Lock Out/Tag Out" practice is similar and now used in other industries to comply with safety regulations.

At night, the flags are replaced with lanterns showing the same colours.

Flags displayed on the front of a moving locomotive are an acceptable replacement for classification lights and usually have the following meanings (exact meanings are set by the individual railroad company):

• white = extra (not on the timetable)
• green = another section following
• red = last section

Additionally, a railroad brakeman will typically carry a red flag to make his or her hand signals more visible to the engineer. Railway signals are a development of railway flags.

Protocol and ceremony

Hoisting the flag is the act of raising the flag on the flagpole. Raising or lowering flags, especially national flags, usually involves ceremonies and certain sets of rules, depending on the country, and usually involve the performance of a national anthem.

A flag-raising squad is a group of people, usually troops, cadets, or students, that march in and bring the flags for the flag-hoisting ceremony. Flag-hoisting ceremonies involving flag-raising squads can be simple or elaborate, involving large numbers of squads. Elaborate flag-hoisting ceremonies are usually performed on national holidays.

The cord or rope that ties a flag to its pole is called a halyard. Flags may have a strip of fabric along the hoist side called a heading for the halyard to pass through, or a pair of grommets for the halyard to be threaded through. Flags may also be held in position using Inglefield clips.

Flags in communication

Semaphore signals for the letters of the English alphabet

Semaphore is a form of communication that utilises flags. The signalling is performed by an individual using two flags (or lighted wands), the positions of the flags indicating a symbol. The person who holds the flags is known as the signalman. This form of communication is primarily used by naval signallers. This technique of signalling was adopted in the early 19th century and is still used in various forms today.

The colours of the flags can also be used to communicate. For example; a white flag means, among other things, surrender or peace, a red flag can be used as a warning signal, and a black flag can mean war, or determination to defeat enemies.

Orientation of a flag is also used for communication, though the practice is rarely used given modern communication systems. Raising a flag upside-down was indicative that the raising force controlled that particular area, but that it was in severe distress.

Many flags fall into groups of similar designs called flag families. The study of flags is known as "vexillology" from the Latin vexillum, meaning "flag" or "banner".

Some military units are called "flags" after their use of flags. A flag (Arabic: لواء) is equivalent to a brigade in Arab countries. In Spain, a flag (Spanish: bandera) is a battalion-equivalent in the Spanish Legion.

See also

Lists and galleries of flags

• Gallery of sovereign state flags
• List of flag names
• Lists of flags
• Timeline of national flags
• Unofficial flags

Notable flag-related topics

• Flag families
• False flag
• Flag Day
• Flag desecration
• Flag protocol
• Flag patch
• Flag semaphore
• Flag throwing
• Glossary of vexillology
• Pledge of Allegiance (United States)
• Standard-bearer (also enumerates various types of standards, both flag types and immobile ensigns)
• Vexillology
• Flags of the World, an Internet-based vexillological association and resource
• Windsock

Bibliography

• Inglefield, Eric (1979 edition). Flags. Ward Lock, London. ISBN 0706356527

External links

• Media related to Flags at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to NotAWittyFish/sandbox at Wikiquote
• International Marine Signal Flags