48 Of The Best Flags On Earth

On April 21, 2013 by Lazer Horse

(Original image courtesy of Danilka’s Blog)

Below is an exquisite collection of world flags. From Bahrain to Burundi, we examine some of the finest flags that planet earth has to offer.

What’s your favourite flag of all time? If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that a very tricky question to answer. There are simply too many fine looking flags out there to choose from. But, over the last few years, I’ve put together a few online collections that showcase the wonderful drama of flags.

There is something magical in the simplicity of a flag. The simple shape and the bold patterns… Perhaps I’m getting carried away here, it’s just cloth and dye after all.

Any way, just sit back, relax and enjoy the onslaught of some of the best regional and country flags known to man:

American Samoa

If you’d like to know a bit more about the flag of American Samoa here’s an article.

Andorra

The coat of arms in the centre shows a Urgell, Foix, Bearn, and Catalonia; the motto reads VIRTUS UNITA FORTIOR (Strength united is stronger); the flag combines the blue and red French colors with the red and yellow of Spain to show Franco-Spanish protection. Although, if I’m being honest, it looks like purple and pink to me.

If you want to know a couple more facts, here’s a short article about Andorra and its flag.

Bahrain

Th flag of Bahrain was updated in 2002, they reduced the number of red points from 8 to 5 because the flag of Qatar is pretty much identical but a bit more burgundy. The points now represent the pillars of Islam, I don’t know what they represented before though.

If you want more information on the flag of Bahrain and some photos click here.

Burundi

Burundi’s flag, adopted in 1967, includes green, symbolizing hope and optimism, white to show purity and peace, and red for the blood shed in the struggle for independence. The three stars in the disc represent the three major ethnic groups: Hutu, Twa, and Tutsi, as well as the three elements in the national motto: unity, work, and progress. Looks snazzy.

If you want to read more information about Burundi click here.

Burundi have had a few flag changes over time. This little ripper was used from 1966 to 1967:

Central African Republic

Quite a strange one this; it’s like the CAR couldn’t decide which way to go with it so they just agreed to do a bit of all of the styles and see how they got on. They got on quite well I think.

If you want to read more about the Central African Republic click here: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC – ANOTHER TROUBLED NATION

The CAR’s flag above was adopted in 1958. It was designed by Barthélemy Boganda, the first president of the autonomous territory of Oubangui-Chari who believed that “France and Africa must march together.” So, he combined the blue, white and red of the French tricolour and the Pan-African colors red, green and yellow.

Before their current flag, CAR used this little ripper from 1976-79:

“Imperial Standard of Bokassa I (1976–1979)” by TRAJAN 117This vector image was created with Inkscape. – Own work, based upon [1].. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Gibraltar

Gibraltar, famous for it’s rock, but not it’s flag. The castle represents Gibraltar as a fortress and the key is a symbol of their strategic position as the key to the Mediterranean.

Description:

“An escutcheon on which the upper two thirds shall be a white field and on the said field set a red castle, and below the said castle, on the other third of the escutcheon, which must be a red field in which there must be a white line between the castle and the said red field, there shall be a golden key which hangs by a chain from the said castle, as are here figured.”

AAahhh… heraldry.

French Polynesia

The weird thing in the middle of this flag is a Polynesian canoe with a crew of five people doing star jumps that symbolize the five island groups. Click on this link for more info about French Polynesia and the French’s devastating nuclear testing there.

Some of the archipelagos that make up French Polynesia have their own individual flags too, some of which are great: