Cuba

One flag-related event that happened this month was the re-opening of American embassy in Cuba and Cuban embassy in USA, with their historical flag-hanging ceremonies.

I think this event vexillologically fascinating, because the Cuban flag is probably inspired in American flag. The theory is the following: Narciso López, a Venezuelan filibuster exiled in New York, engaged in Cuban struggle for independence in 1840s and 1850s. He carried the flag that would became modern Cuban flag, taking as inspiration the French and the American flag, as well as Freemason triangle. (According to some historians, López's plan ended with the island annexed by the USA.)













The most curious: the Cuban flag is an admitted inspiration for the flag of Puerto Rico, that ended annexed by USA...

















...As López wanted to happen to Cuba.

That's it! Comments are welcome.

Bonaire (Netherlands)

The island of Bonaire is a special municipality of Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea. Its flag is possibly, one of the most successful created by a committee, that included, among others, the famous vexillologist Whitney Smith.

The final proposal of the committee, however, was other:


The compass rose represents the inhabitants of Bonaire, that came from the four corners of the world, and its navigators. The six-pointed star represents the its six "vicinities": Antriol, Nikiboko, Noord Salina, Playa (also known as Kralendijk), Rincon and Tera Cora. The top stripe was originally red, like the flag of the Kingdom of Netherlands but, because even the earlier proposals had a red emblem in the middle, it was substituted by yellow for avoid repeating colors, by a suggestion of committee leader, Franz Booi. This helped to fix the symbolism of the stripes: yellow for the sun and the nature (it's the color of many local flowers), white for peace and tranquility, and blue for the sea.

That flag, however, wasn't accepted by the government. Then, Whitney Smith suggested a public contest. More than a thousand entries were received. Neither one of the three finalists nor a combination of them was accepted by governement. But, when the original committee was reformed, the white-blue diagonal stripes, present in one of the finalists, was used to design the flag as we know today:


Even though yellow and white don't use to live well together on a flag, it's clearly a very appealing flag, with a very tropical look. I like the way that, despite the diagonal layout, the compass rose and star have a nice size and position, transforming them in a remarkable symbol.

And it's the way a committee, with a little help from the public, made this great flag!

Comments are welcome.

Hispanicity / Americas

The flag of the Hispanic people isn't widely seen, in spite of its excellent design and the official status it holds in the whole American continent. Looking at it:


The flag has a white colors, representing peace. The three crosses (known as crosses pattées in heraldry) represent the nao Santa María and the caravels Pinta and Niña, the three ships ceded to Christopher Columbus in the discovery of American continent, as well as the Christianity. They are purple, according to the author of the flag, the Uruguayan army captain Ángel Camblor, in reference to the lion of the kingdom of Leon, later annexed to the Crown of Castile, where the Spanish idiom was developed. The sun represents the Inca sun-god Inti, associated in some countries with the May Sun.

This flag is used in Spanish-speaking Latin America, Hispanic communities in North America, and in Philippines, as an ethnic flag of ethnic people. Its use is most commonly flown in Columbus Day. In those occasions, it's also known as "bandera de la raza" (i.e. "flag of the race").

Moreover, it's officially regarded, in all countries of the continent, as the "flag of the Americas" i.e. as a Pan-American flag independently of ethnic identity, since the seventh assembly of Pan-American Conference, occurred in 1933.

As I said, I think this flag should me much more popular, specially in its use as a Pan-American symbol. Although the flag's symbolism is initially associated with Hispanic ethnicity, some may say Columbus is relevant to the history of the whole continent, and that the sun can be represent the concept of "New World" (as America where known before this name was given) and the liberation process of the continent.

Your comment is welcome. Feel free to comment.

Element of flags: color palettes

When you're talking about flag, "coincidences" sometimes aren't what they look like. Many times a flag is intentionally similar to another, when the first taking the second as inspiration. An example easy to notice and study are the color combinations. Some flags are very influential, in the sense that's took as base to many newer flags. Here you can see some of them, grouped by the inspiration.

Pan-African colors

There's two palettes of colors known as pan-African colors: one is composed by red, yellow and green, while the other contains red, black and green.

The first set of color (green, yellow and red) is inspired by the flag of Ethiopian Empire.

This three colors have been specially used in Ethiopia since about 17th century, but the flag was only adopted in 1897. The meaning of the colors is disputed, but generally it's said that red is for the blood spilled in defense of Ethiopia , yellow is for the peace and harmony between Ethiopian ethnic and religious groups, and green for hope or land's fertility. The insignia in the middle of the flag is the Lion of Judah, used because the Ethiopian Dynasty claimed to have ancestry from King Solomon and Queen of Sheba, being named Solomonic Dynasty.

As Ethiopia, with exception of a brief period of Italian rule, resisted strongly to European colonization, many countries adopted this colors when gained independence from European countries, as symbol of sovereignty. They are also much used by the Rastafari Movement.

Other set of colors also known as "Pan-African colors" are composed by red, black and green, derived from UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) flag.

The UNIA was founded by Afro-American activist Marcus Garvey, in 1920. It's commonly said that red stands for African blood, black for the African people and green for continent's fertility. It was adopted as an   unofficial "Afro-American" flag and many African countries inspired in it to create their own flags.

Countries in Americas with great African-descendant population, e.g. St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada, also adopted pan-African colors. See a small flag chart with some African countries with pan-African colors in their flag history:

[Click on images to zoom]

Pan-Slavic colors

Other great flags family is from pan-Slavic. They use the colors red, white and blue. It's important to notice that not all flags with these colors has pan-Slavic inspiration (like France, USA and UK). They are inspired by the flag approved by Pan-Slav Congress of 1848 (occurred in Prague). The colors, associated with freedom and revolution (e.g. French flag) and the same of Russian flag, were chose in a great number of Slavic countries. See the pan-Slavic flag and a flag chart with flags inspired by it.

Pan-Arab colors

Here's a challenge: can you say right now, without assistance, the differences between Kuwait and Jordan flags? You probably don't; if you can, congratulations, because flags of some Arab countries are very hard to be distinguished by non-Arabs. The reason is simple: they all have the same matrix, in this case the flag used during the Arab Revolt (1916-1918). Look at the flag:

The Arab revolt was an attempt to create an unified Arab country under territories of Ottoman Empire (ruled by ethnic Turks). The flag used during the revolt, considered Arab nationalist, was immediately adopted as symbol of Arab identity. See a set of recognized and unrecognized countries that adopt this colors:

It's important to notice that non-Arab Muslim countries, like Afghanistan and Pakistan, don't adopt this colors.

Pan-Iranian colors

Many flags are commonly thought to represent the pan-Arab colors, but actually represents the pan-Iranian colors, used by Persian people, majority in Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. They're based in Persian flag (nowadays Iran); this one is from before 1906 (date unknown).

The small flag chart below show some flags using pan-Iranian colors:

Colors of Federal Republic of Central America

The Federal Republic of Central America (1823-1838) was a good attempt to hold together previous Spanish colonies in Central America, but the union disbanded, although until today they have friendship relationships and there were other attempts of reunification, e.g. the Greater Republic of Central America (1896-1898). See the flag of the Federal Republic:

The color of these flags are blue and white (Costa Rica added the red).

Colors of Gran Colombia

Finally, the last color-based flag family. In a similar case to Central America, the ex-constituent countries of Gran Colombia (officially Republic of Colombia; 1819-1831) adopted the colors of these countries. The unification ideology, influenced by the ideas of liberator Simón Bolívar, is having some voice last years. Gran Colombia used many flags, being the flag below the first and most famous of them:

The colors that defines this family are yellow, blue and red. Bolivia changed the blue by the green. See the flags of this family:

Ending...

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Curaçao (Netherlands)

Some time ago, I said I'll post some Caribbean flags, because some of them are among the best flags in all the world. I posted the ones from Barbados and former Anguilla Republic, but now I'll posted other beautiful flag: the one from Curaçao, a Dutch dependency on Caribbean Sea. Its flag is this:

This flag exists and is in use since 1982, but gained more visibility on 2010, when Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and Curaçao gained the states of "country" under Dutch dominion. The main virtue of this flag is simplicity: just geometrical shapes, very visible and distinguishable one of others.

 The symbolism isn't much different from the others Caribbean good flags. The flag has two blue stripes: the stripe on top is for sky, the one from bottom is for sea. They're separated by a yellow stripe, symbolizing the sun that bathes island's surface.

The flag also comprises two stars on top-left canton. The bigger represents Curaçao island, bigger island on archipelago and from where the administration is settled; the second is for Klevin Curaçao island, the second bigger from archipelago. They also mean "love and happiness". According to flag creators, the star are five-pointed because the local people came from "five continents".

I hope you liked the post. Anyway, comments are welcome!

Anguilla Republic (1967-1969)

Do you know when a historic flag is good? When it's popular until today, not for what it means historically, but for how it looks. Anguilla Republic is an example.

Until 1980, Anguilla was part of a British colonial federation called Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. They used this flag (no, it's not the today's flag):

In 1967, Saint Christopher and Nevis gained  internal autonomy, but Anguilla continued to be administered by Saint Christopher, causing a rebellion that continued until 1969, during what Anguilla considered itself an independent republic. From this period, Anguilla used this beautiful flag:

A good flag can obtain different labels: classic, stately, precise... for it, I think it should be "cute". The dolphins instantaneously made local people fall in love, and I understand it perfectly. The main element in this flag are, of course, the dolphins forming a circle, symbolizing continuity. They're orange symbolizing endurance and strength. The white is for peace and tranquility, and turquoise blue is for the sea, but also for youth, faith and hope.

The rebellions wasn't successful because, as I said, the secession only occurred in 1980, but flag continued to be used locally and unofficially. In 1990, Anguilla finally adopted its official flag, resounding former republican flag, but you can see, until today, the "dolphins flag" (as it is gently known) flying along Anguilla.
I'll end this post with current Anguillan flag, whose badge is inspired in this pretty historic flag:

What's your feeling about Anguilla flag? Keep it on comments.

Barbados

Some flags I learned to like while knowing more about their symbologies and histories, other were love at first sight... Barbados is the second case. However, it's not just a beautiful design, but a beautiful symbol, too.

Imagine what a Caribbean paradise flag should be, and Barbados' might be it. The colors: blue from the sea, gold from the sand. A layout that's simple and powerful below the mighty sun. The symbol: a trident. It would be the Neptune attribute, but has a more meaningful origin.

When Barbados was a British colony, it used to have a Brittania in badge. When the island became independent, addopted "a half trident", representing the autonomy from British Crown. But, so, the fact that makes me more fascinated about this country: it's still in Commonwealth!