If you, too, are an American, you will be familiar with our flag. The star-spangled banner – the thirteen red and white stripes representing the original thirteen colonies with the blue starred corner representing each state in the union. You’ve seen it in every hallway, every classroom, every car dealership, and every fast food restaurant for most of your life.
Sometimes it is so ubiquitous that you break your neck when you see a flag that’s not Old Glory. But before your vertigo sets in, you likely also know that most flags of the world are rectangular in shape and often showcase a pattern of a few colors. Many flags include stripes as a tri-band, whether they are horizontal or vertical. Those amazingly match the pattern you see at entrances to many barber shops in the US.
But if your neck has not yet snapped as you flew by a French or United Kingdom flag as you drove home through a parade of American Flags, I hope this list will catch your attention.
10 Qing China Flag
This is a flag you most likely have never seen before or around unless you like flags or dragons. And lucky for you, this is both. You do not typically see dragons represented on many flags, as great an idea as that sounds, but that may be more of a consequence of our modern world rather than it not being an awesome sight to see.
The Qing China flag was adopted in 1862, at the same time the US was enduring its Civil War. It has an Azure Chinese Dragon magnificently displayed front and center on the flag with a small red disc to represent a flaming pearl in the corner .
The Dragon itself is one of the Dragon Gods of Chinese Mythology, it represents spring and the direction of the east. The Azure Dragon was represented because it specifically signifies the Emperor of China, and by virtue of being a dragon, the Emperor’s reach and power over his land. The gold of the flag was a traditional color to represent members of the Imperial Family, much in the same vein as purple was worn by the powerful Roman Emperors.
9 Ohio Flag
Ohio stands out among all flags, let alone United States’ flags due to its shape. Described as “swallow-tailed”, the Ohio flag comes to two points with an indent that looks very similar to the tails of birds. It’s also the only flag of all of the 50 states to have a non-rectangular flag.
Designed by John Eisenmann, the shape may have been inspired by a pennant that the U.S. cavalry had flown at the time. The red and white circle towards the hoist is reminiscent of the seed of buckeye trees, which happen to be the state tree of Ohio. As you may have discerned, the circle also appears as an “O”, referencing Ohio’s name.
The colors and stars are a very clear reference to the United States national flag, however, the 17 stars on Ohio’s flag are due to Ohio’s position as the 17th state in the Union. Eisenmann noted that the triangular shape of the flag is to reference the hills and valleys of Ohio. The stripes are meant to be associated with Ohio’s travel ways such as rivers and roads.
8 Nepal Flag
Nepal’s flag is currently one of the world’s most unique flags. Its uniqueness mostly stems from the shape of the flag – being non-rectangular in any way. It appears more of a double pennant, stacked on top of each other. The flag was adopted in December of 1962 by the region as a combination of two standards of rivaling parties of the ruling dynasty.
The red of the flag symbolizes bravery as well as the rhododendron, which is the national flower of Nepal. The blue outlining the flag is a representation of peace. You may also notice that the flag showcases a crescent moon with a sun. This symbol is meant to represent the pure and relaxed soul of Nepal’s people.
Since the Nepalese flag contains a couple of combinations, you would not be surprised that there are some foiled oppositions to represent features of the country. This can be seen as the sun and crescent moon are meant to signify the heat of Nepal’s plains areas and the frost-ridden cold of the Himalayas. By having them combined, similar to how the flag is a combination of two individual flags, they are meant to signify a long-lasting country.
7 Dominica Flag
Dominica is a small island nation in the Lesser Antilles. For reference, the largest nearby island is Puerto Rico to its northwest. It is also located northwest of Barbados, another well-known location for its flag.
The most unique feature of the Dominican flag is that it is one of only two nations in the entire world that use purple on its flag.The other is Nicaragua. However, the purple on Nicaragua’s flag is not as prominently displayed as it is on Dominica’s flag. The purple is featured front and center on a parrot, which is known as an “imperial parrot”. The imperial parrots are rare and native to the island.
The central red disc around the parrot decorated with green stars is meant to represent socialism. While the stars themselves are to represent the 10 parishes of the island. Assuming their parishes work similarly to Louisiana’s parishes, these parishes are essentially counties. The green background symbolizes the island’s forests. Lastly, the tri-colored cross at the center represents the Carib, Caucasian, and African people of the island as yellow, white, and black.
6 Barbados Flag
There’s a high chance you are already familiar with Barbados’s flag. It is a vertical tri-color with blue and yellow ornamented with a trident in the center. Its uniqueness and use of the trident should not be understated.
While the blues fronting each side of the yellow band are the same color, they are meant to represent the sea and the sky. The yellow middle band is a representation of the sand of Barbados. That appears simple enough, but the trident has a bit of a different story.
While the trident is very aesthetically pleasing to look at, it comes from the colonial flag of Barbados. The flag had a king holding a trident, being pulled by sea horses in a shell. As a classic symbol for the sea, the designer of the flag added the trident to the tri-band and as a reference to the colonial flag.
5 Bhutan Flag
Bhutan nearly neighbors Nepal and, just like how Nepal’s flag is unique, Bhutan is one of the few flags depicting dragons. It is divided diagonally with orange and yellow with the white dragon at the center. This dragon clutches jewels which appear similar to pearls, representing wealth and perfection.
This dragon is supposed to represent the sound of thunder which echoes throughout the mountains and valleys of Bhutan. In Bhutan, they believed this to be the voices of dragons, and their land is even called “Land of the Thunder Dragon” in their native tongue. The design of the dragon itself is very reminiscent of Chinese dragons.
The white of the dragon is meant to represent the purity of the country, similar to Nepal. While the yellow and orange appear to symbolize thunder, the Bhutanese government specifically said that the yellow is meant to represent the power of the king. Meanwhile, the orange is meant to represent Buddhist sects and religious sentiments of Bhutan as a nation.
4 South Vietnam Flag
The flag of South Vietnam is likely one that you are unfamiliar with. It is the flag of the Vietnam that the United States defended during the Vietnam War against the communist North Vietnam. As you are aware, North Vietnam won that war, and Vietnam was no longer split between a communist north and democratic south.
When those Vietnamese left the country, many had taken their flag with them. Many Vietnamese immigrants in the US and other countries fly the flag today. The United States is among those countries which recognize the flag and do so as the “Vietnamese Heritage & Freedom Flag”.
The flag symbolizes freedom, democracy, and human rights. It is meant to provide an ideal for Vietnamese who are refugees from the Vietnam War and the communist North Vietnam that now runs the country. The three stripes are meant to symbolize the unification of blood between the central, northern, and southern parts of Vietnam.
3 Gadsden Flag
The iconic “Dont Tread on Me!” flag has become more politicized in recent times. It has even created a multitude of spinoffs. It consists of a coiled rattlesnake on a patch of grass, threateningly rattling with its mouth agape. Of course, it also says “DONT TREAD ON ME” in all capital letters underneath the snake.
The flag first appeared around the American Revolution named after Colonel Gadsden. The rattlesnake was seen as an “emblem of vigilance”. The Americans saw the rattlesnake as a creature that would never attack first, but once attacked, would never surrender. They found the rattlesnake to be brave due to its unyielding attitude.
The snake can also be interpreted as its rattler moving independently, while the body and head of the snake itself move in a different direction. Regardless of this, the snake is still united, much as how the states saw themselves then. If you look closely, you can also find thirteen rattles on the rattler of the snake, representing the original thirteen colonies.
2 Zheleznogorsk Flag
Zheleznogorsk is a city in Russia. Its flag is solid red with a bear in the center of it. But the bear is not just standing gently. It ferociously rips open an atom while an atomic cloud spins about it.
The flag references the construction of the city in Siberia. It was a research station regarding nuclear bombs and other atomic instruments. It appears the city was a secret research station that did not appear on maps of the USSR until after the fall of the union.
The city does not provide much official meaning behind the flag. However,
considering its roots as a town created specifically for nuclear and chemical research for the USSR, the red likely symbolizes its roots in the fallen communist country. The bear is also a common representation of Russia as a country and the gold may just be aesthetically pleasing.
1 38 Star Concentric US Flag
This is a special arrangement of the 38-star flag for the United States of America. The 38th star is for the addition of Colorado as a state. As this was roughly around 1877, about 100 years after the beginning of the revolution, the flag’s design was meant to also commemorate the centennial celebration of the country.
As you may already know, the stars on the US flag each represent a state in the union. At the time of the addition of Colorado, that made 38 total states, which allowed designers the opportunity to experiment with the layout of the stars on the flag to create such a unique design.
Sources:
https://world-history-education-resources.com/qing-dynasty/flag-qing-dynasty.html
https://archive.org/details/echoesfromoldchi0000tomk/page/55/mode/2up
https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Ohio
https://flagsworld.org/nepal-flag.html
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/country-flags-with-purple.html
https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Dominica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Barbados
https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Bhutan
https://vietnamesewa.org.au/organisation/our-constitution/the-national-flag-of-viet-nam-its-origin-and-legitimacy/
https://books.google.com/books?id=22s9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA289#v=onepage&q=gadsden&f=false
https://www.admk26.ru/o_gorode/simvolika
https://www.wdcb.ru/mining/krasn/krasn26.html