Tanzania

I never was a great fan of hybrid flags. In some cases, like the United Kingdom, it worked perfectly great, but in a great number of them they look very artificial and result of author's laziness and lack of creativity. Today I'll present Tanzanian flag, so delicately put together that many didn't notice it's a hybrid flag.

Tanzania was formed in 1964 by the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, two recently British-independent countries. Not only the name (Tan + Zan = Tanzania), but also the flag of the recently established Tanzania is a mix of the two former countries.

Republic of Tanganyika (1961-1964)	People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba (1961)

And now note how all the elements of these flags are visible in the United Republic of Tanzania:

You can see Tanganyika flag here, but you can also see the Zanzibar flag (a little upside-down, but you do).  Pretty ingenious, isn't it? The design is so subtle that it looks like a totally original flag.

What do you think about the post? Did you know the curious origin of Tanzanian flag? Comment, please.

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.

Jolly Roger flag

Pirates flags were an powerful pop icon at 20^th century, and still are. A common denomination to pirate flags is "Jolly Roger", usually represented by a black field with white skull and crossbones. But it differs a bit from their historic origins.

A common pirate flag from Golden Age of Piracy (16^th century) is a plain red flag (Qatar and Bahrain put white on their flags to prevent retaliation to their ships). Some histories, possibly untrue, relate that the term "Jolly Roger" comes from "jolie rouge" ("pretty red" in French). The reason is curious: in naval code, a black flag means there're prisoners at ship; a red flag means there aren't (in pirates' case, all the enemies are dead). Click here to see an authentic red Jolly Roger.

Along the time, the black flag increased of use. The color was chose because it doesn't resembles any national flag, suggesting pirates are people without homeland (similar symbolism explains the use of black by Anarchists).

Now a final explanation: skull and crossbones are commonly used by pirates, OK, but not a lot more than full skeletons, hourglasses, cutlasses and "pierced" hearts. They're all used as symbols of danger and experience.

So, if you constructed a pirate flag in your childhood, I sorrily advert you were mistaken. But children like fantasy, however.

And, in the end, a very curious Jolly Roger, from Bartholomew Roberts, showing a supposed encounter between him and the Death:

Malawi

At last May 28^th, Malawi changed this flag, or better saying, returned to the model had been used for decades, since Malawi independence. The new-old flag is this:

This flag has only dark colors, what made it a little irritating to eyes. But it's only similar to Kenya flag, and not a lot to be easily confused. Before now, it was used from independence (1964) to 2010, and became a strong nationalist symbol to Malawian people. The rising sun even represents the liberation from European colonialism. The influences to this model is Marcus Garvey flag and the former Biafra flag. In 2010, the government changed the national flag to this design:

Why did they change the flag? Just to leave their mark in history. The last flag is more similar to Marcus Garvey's and Biafra flags. This sun is representing the "incredible" development in Malawi. Two rules explain the reason of popularity disaster:

1. Not to change what's good.
2. To change a flag produces costs.

The second rule is the most important: The first national flag was showed in car plates, and would be very expensive to replace every plate — being true, it still hasn't occurred.

And what's your opinion about the Malawi change of flag? Please, comment.

Antarctica

Antarctica hasn't a official flag. Sorry, there's a Antarctic Treaty flag, but it doesn't count. There's three hugely famous Antarctic flag proposals. Two were made by two of more famous world vexillologists: Graham Bartram, chief-vexillologist of Flag Institute, and Whitney Smith, famous principally for create the term "vexillology". The third is by Dave Hamilton.

The most famous of three is the one made by Graham Bartram, that's so used in media that it's almost an unofficial flag of Antarctica. Blue to sea, white to ice, forming Antarctic map. Simply beautiful, but we shall admit that this colors aren't the most distinguishable in polar landmark. The good point is that the flag is very neutral, and it refers directly to Antarctica.

The Whitney Smith's proposal is, at least, very visible, because of its orange color. But isn't a very good design, for me. The "A", for Antarctica, is easily removable. The map of Antarctica isn't very visible: a great number of people, at first sight, think it's a bowl — with some reason. The hands, that symbolizes the peaceful use, is a good idea, thought. At all, I think it isn't totally adequated.

The Dave Hamilton's proposal is known for being used in fake "Antarctic Dollar" notebanks. From top to bottom, the colors mean: the sky; the aurora australis; the ice and sea. The symbolism and colors are great, but the right canton hardly will be seen in that windy continent. (There's any astronomer to confirm that Southern Cross looks like that in South Pole?)

The three designs have problems, but can be worked to look cool and visible at ice at same time. What is your favorite?

What's your opinion? Do your comment!
 Looking for Antarctic flags, I found this funny Flicklr about flags.

South Africa

New governments, when take the power, often change the flags, thinking it'll change the people's feeling. I'm skeptic about it. For me, new flags can't change the people's identity, but change in people's identity can turn necessary a new flag. This occurred with South Africans: in 1994, they changed from the first flag to second:

Of course, I prefer the last. The first flag is a combination of the Dutch "Prince flag" with, in the center, miniatures of flags from United Kingdom and two former Boer republics: Orange and Transvaal. Summarily, only references to European-ethnic people.

With the end of apartheid, the South African citizenship was opened to African-ethnic people. The people's feeling was different, there was an imminent identity reconstruction over the country; the flag wasn't corresponding anymore the people identity. Quickly, it was prepared a provisional flag, that, because its enormous popularity, became permanent. It's the second flag.

The basis of this design is the former flag; if you look behind the pall, you'll see the same tricolor flag. In this case, the red tone is an intermediary between Dutch orange and English plain red. Black, gold and green are the colors from African National Congress flag, used to represent the African-ethnic population.

The presence of the horizontal pall has a special meaning: two people (represented by two legs on left) coming in same direction (the only leg in right).

If you need to present a defect of this flag, I can see a critical one: the flag has six main colors! Probably, it's the only national flag in this condition. But, it's so creative, ambitious and... South African that, if you review, you'll see why this flag still make magic!

Guernsey (United Kingdom)

Flags obtained from mixing two or more older flags are very common on "alternate history" and sci-fi websites. I have to admit that some of them have some artistic merit. But this kind of flag exists in real life (remember of Maryland), and Guernsey is a good example of when it occurs nicely.

This is a young flag: was created in 1985. This is a mix of St. George's flag, that was being used since 1936 as state flag (I don't know how the College of Arms and similar organs allowed it), with a old Norman cross, used by William the Conqueror, in the center. You can see below a deduction of how William's banner looked like:

This flag was created because Guernsey's St. George's cross was confused with English St. George's Cross, for example, at sportive competitions — it's obvious, they used the same flag!

The result, as you can see, was very good. The Guernsey flag is distinctive, easily memorized and good-looking. And it has, definitely, a pretty medieval look to a flag from 1985.

Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

Is there a line between which design should be considered exotic in a flag and which shouldn't? It's hard to decide if there is, and harder to say what would be this line. For me, it's just a question about how pretty would be the final result. Why am I saying this? Because the today's flag has a pattern different from any other I know, but it's pretty charming and interesting. Going to the pont, this is the flag:

What's the pattern of this flag? A division with the shape of a albatross silhouette. The albatross isn't just a local bird, but a symbol of freedom too. The orange division is like the stylized form of Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego (that's shared with Chile), too.

Another thing I like in this flag is the colors scheme. The orange represents fire, because "Tierra del Fuego" means "Fire Land" or "Land of Fire"; accidentally, it's a great color to represent the southernmost part of American continent, because orange contrast really well with ice. The blue is, naturally, for the sky and the sea. The Southern Cross is because, as I said, it's really in the South.

And, moreover, it's a great combination!

Just a little funny note: when I said South, it's really South! The province has claims to Falklands and neighbor British islands, as well to a slice of Antarctic. And the more ironical: would you believe if I say that the Antarctic Treaty office is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina?

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!