A piece of cloth, usually with a design, used as an ensign, standard, or signal, or to mark a position, commonly attached at one end to a staff or halyard. Flags have been used since ancient times, and some symbols are universal; a white flag signals a truce; a yellow flag the presence of infectious disease. A nation signifies its mourning by flying its flags at half-mast.
The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another media.The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used). Flags are used in messaging, advertising, or for other decorative purposes, though at this less formal end the distinction between a flag and a simple cloth banner is blurred. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.
History
Although flag-like symbols were used in some ancient cultures, the origin of flags in the modern sense is a matter of dispute. Some believe flags originated in China, while others hold that the Roman Empire's vexillum was the first true flag.
During the Middle Ages, flags were used mainly during battles to identify individual leaders: in Europe the knights, in Japan the samurai, and in China the generals under the imperial army.
From the time of Christopher Columbus onwards, it has been customary (and later a legal requirement) for ships to carry 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;
As European knights were replaced by centralized armies, flags became the means to identify not just nationalities but also individual military units. Eventually these flags posed too much danger to those carrying them, and by World War I these were withdrawn from the battlefields, and have since been used only at ceremonial occasions.
National flags
One of the most popular uses of a flag is to symbolize a nation or country. Some national flags have been particularly inspirational to other nations, countries, or subnational entities in the design of their own flags. Some prominent examples include:
The flag of Scotland, called the Saltire or St Andrew's Cross, is believed to be the oldest national flag still in use. Notable flags which share the saltire design include the flag of Jamaica, the Confederate Naval Jack, the naval ensign and naval jack of Russia and the flag for the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia. The flag of Denmark is the oldest state flag still in use. The flag of Switzerland, with its colours reversed, gave rise to the emblem of the International Red Cross, which under international law is a safe conduct in war zones. The Union Flag of the United Kingdom, more commonly (and correctly, when used by warships at sea) called the Union Jack. British colonies typically flew a flag based on one of the ensigns based on this flag, and many former colonies have retained the design to acknowledge their cultural history. The Flag of the Netherlands is also the only flag in the world that is adapted for some uses, when the occasion has a connection to the royal house of the Netherlands an orange ribbon is added. The national flag of France, also called the Tricolore, which inspired other nations to adopt differenced tricolours in sympathy with the revolutionary spirit with which the flag was designed in 1794. The flag of Turkey, which was the flag of the Ottoman Empire, has been an inspiration for the flag designs of many other Muslim nations. The Pan-Arab colors, green, white, red and black, seen on the flags of Jordan, Kuwait, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara, Yemen and on the Palestinian flag. The Soviet flag, with its golden symbols of the Hammer and Sickle on a red field, was an inspiration to flags of other communist states, such as East Germany, People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Angola, Afghanistan and Mozambique. The flag of Venezuela, created by Francisco de Miranda to represent the independence movement in Venezuela that later gave birth to the "Gran Colombia", inspired the individual flags of Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, all sharing three bands of colour and three of them (Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela) sharing the yellow, blue and red. The flag of Argentina, created by Manuel Belgrano during the war of independence, was the inspiration for the United Provinces of Central America's flag, which in turn was the origin for the flags of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The flag of Chile has inspired an old flag of Cuba, the flag of the Texas U.S. State and the Irian Jaya State flag, concentred in a mix of the Chile's flag, and the Cuban flagNational flag designs are often used to signify nationality in other forms, such as flag patches.
War flags
Several countries (including the United Kingdom and the former Nazi Germany) have unique flags flown by their armed forces, rather than the national flag.
Other countries' armed forces (such as those of the United States or Switzerland) use their standard national flag. The Philippines' armed forces may use their standard national flag, but during times of war the flag is turned upside down. 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.
Flags at sea
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).
There is a system of international maritime signal flags for numerals and letters of the alphabet.
As well, semaphore flags can be used to communicate on an ad hoc basis from ship to ship over short distances.
Shape and design
Flags are usually rectangular in shape (often in the ratio 2:3 or 3:5), but may be of any shape or size that is practical for flying, including square, triangular, or swallowtailed. A more unusual flag shape is that of the flag of Nepal, which is in the shape of two stacked triangles.
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.
Some complex flag designs are not intended for through and through implementation, requiring separate obverse and reverse sides if made correctly. 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. Examples are the national flag of Paraguay, the flag of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the historical national flag of the Soviet Union.
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 flag of Libya, which consists of a rectangular field of green, is the only national flag using a single color and no design or insignia.
In sports
Because of their ease of signalling and identification, flags are often used in sports. In auto and motorcycle racing, racing flags are used to communicate with drivers. 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. 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, raise the flag overhead to indicate an offside offence. 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. In Gaelic Football and Hurling a green flag is use to indictate 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 and a single flag to indicate a point.
Swimming flags
In Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, 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. The flags are coloured with a red triangle and a yellow triangle making a rectangular flag, or a red rectangle over a yellow rectangle. A red flag signifies a closed beach (or, in the UK, some other danger), yellow signifies strong current or difficult swimming conditions, and green represents a beach safe for general swimming. 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:
no lifeguards in attendance waves too strong dangerous rip sharks tsunamiA surf flag exists, divided into four quadrants.
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 colored flags. a flag of any color 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).
At night, the flags are replaced with lanterns showing the same colors.
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 sectionAdditionally, 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. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The flag of Cyprus is the only national flag to display its map outline. The flags of Switzerland and Vatican City are the only national flags which are exact squares. The most popular colour combinations are: red, white, and blue (mainly European and Western nations) and red, yellow, and green (mainly African nations) The Olympic rings - blue, yellow, black, green and red represent colours used at least once in every national flag around the world.
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