A national flag is a flag that symbolises a country. The flag is flown by the government, but usually can be flown by citizens of that country as well.

Both public and private buildings such as schools and courthouses often fly the national flag. In some countries, the national flags are only flown from non-military buildings on certain flag days.

There are three distinct types of national flag for use on land, and three for use at sea, although many countries use identical designs for several (and sometimes all) of these types of flag.

The flag of the United Kingdom, commonly called the Union Flag, which incorporates three different flags into one.

Contents 1 National flags on land 2 National ensigns at sea 3 Similar flags 4 Unusual flags 5 Flag protocol 6 See also 7 External links 8 References

[edit] National flags on land

The War Flag of the People's Republic of China.

Philippines' national flag is the only flag which may be hoisted inverted when its Congress has declared a "state of war".

On land, there is a distinction between civil flags (FIAV symbol ), state flags (), and war or military flags (). State flags are those used officially by government agencies, whereas civil flags may be flown by anyone regardless of whether he/she is linked to government. War flags (also called military flags) are used by military organizations such as Armies, Marine Corps, or Air Forces.

In practice, many countries (such as the United States and the United Kingdom) have identical flags for these three purposes; national flag is sometimes used as a vexillological term to refer to such a three-purpose flag (). In a number of countries, however—notably those in Latin America—there is a distinct difference between civil and state flags. In most cases, the civil flag is a simplified version of the state flag, with the difference often being the presence of a coat of arms on the state flag that is absent from the civil flag.

Very few countries use a war flag that differs from the state flag. The People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Japan are notable examples of this. The Philippines does not have a distinctive war flag in this usual sense, but the flag of the Philippines is legally unique in that it is flown with the red stripe on top, rather than the blue, when the country is in a state of war.

For some other countries, such as the United States, the national flag may be flown upside down as a signal of extreme distress or emergency.

[edit] National ensigns at sea

The naval ensign of Japan.

The flag that indicates nationality on a ship is called ensign. As with the national flags, there are three varieties: the civil ensign (), flown by private vessels; state ensigns (also called government ensigns; ), flown by government ships; and war ensigns (also called naval ensigns; ), flown by naval vessels. The ensign is flown from an ensign-staff at the stern of the ship, or from a gaff when underway. Both these positions are superior to any other on the ship, even though the masthead is higher. In the absence of a gaff the ensign may be flown from the yardarm. (See Maritime flags.) National flags may also be flown by aircraft and the land vehicles of important officials. In the case of aircraft, those flags are usually painted on, and those are usually to be painted on in the position as if they were blowing in the wind.

In some countries, such as the United States and Canada, the national ensign is identical to the national flag, while in others, such as the United Kingdom and Japan, there are specific ensigns for maritime use. Most countries do not have a separate state ensign, although the United Kingdom is a rare exception, in having a red ensign for civil use, a white ensign as its naval ensign, and a blue ensign for government non-military vessels.

[edit] Similar flags

The flag of Chad.

The flag of Romania.

Although the national flag is meant to be a unique symbol for a country, many pairs of countries have highly similar and thus easily confusable flags. Examples include the flags of Monaco and of Indonesia, which differ only slightly in proportion; of the Netherlands and of Luxembourg, which differ in proportion as well as in the tint of blue used; and of Romania and of Chad, which differ only in the tint of blue.

There are three color combinations that are used on several flags in certain regions. Red, white and blue is a common combination in Slavic countries such as the Czech Republic, Russia and Slovenia, as well as amongst Western nations including Australia, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States of America. Many African nations use red, yellow, and green, including Cameroon, Mali and Senegal. Flags containing red, white, and black can be found particularly among the Arab nations such as Egypt, Iraq and Yemen.

While some similarities are coincidental, others are rooted in shared histories. For example, the flags of Venezuela, of Colombia, and of Ecuador all use variants of the flag of Great Colombia, the country they composed upon their independence from Spain, created by the Venezuelan independence hero Francisco de Miranda; and the flags of Egypt, of Iraq, of Syria, and of Yemen are all highly similar variants of the flag of the Arab revolt of 1916–1918. The Nordic countries all have the same design (Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, in addition to the autonomous regions of the Faroe Islands and Åland), a horizontal cross on a single-colored background. The United States and United Kingdom both have red, white, and blue. This similarity is due to the fact that the first 13 states of the U.S. were former colonies of the United Kingdom. Also, Australia and New Zealand share a very similar flag, which stems from their joint British heritage. Both flags feature the Union Jack in one corner, both have royal blue background, and both have the Southern Cross as a prominent feature. The only differences between these flags is that the Australian flag has the Commonwealth Star below the canton, and that on the New Zealand flag, just four stars in the Southern Cross are presented, and they are five-pointed red stars with white borders. On the other hand, all five stars of the Southern Cross are presented on the Australian flag, and they are white with seven points, except for the additional smaller fifth star in the Southern Cross which has only five points on this flag.

Many other similarities may be found among current national flags, particularly if inversions of color schemes are considered (e.g., compare the flag of Côte d'Ivoire to that of Ireland). Still more identical or closely similar pairs exist comparing present day and historical flags; for example, the current national flag of Albania was the war flag of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire.

[edit] Unusual flags

Nepal's national flag is the only one with a non-rectangular shape.

The flag of Nepal is the only national flag which is non-rectangular.

The flags of Switzerland and the Vatican City are the only national flags which are exact squares.

Libya's national flag is the only one which has no other features than its color.

The flag of Libya is the only national flag which consists of just one solid color (green) with no other designs or symbols.

The flags of Cyprus, Christmas Island and Kosovo are the only national flags which depict the shape of the country that it represents (The Korean Unification Flag depicts the Korean Peninsula although it is not an official flag in either North or South Korea).

The flags of Moldova, Paraguay and Saudi Arabia are not identical on their obverse and reverse sides.

The flag of Mozambique is the only national flag to incorporate an actual modern firearm into its design (an AK-47) (the flag of Guatemala has two rifles forming part of the coat of arms displayed as an insignia; however, these are Remington rifles dating from 1871^[1]).

The flag of the Philippines is the only flag which may be hoisted upside-down when its Congress has declared a "state of war" (It is usually flown with the blue stripe over the red; when at war, it is the red over the blue).

Despite appearing to be one of many vertically symmetrical flags, the flag of the United Kingdom may be hoisted upside-down to signify distress.

[edit] Flag protocol

There is a great deal of protocol involved in the proper display of national flags. A general rule is that the national flag should be flown in the position of honor, and not in an inferior position to any other flag (although some countries make an exception for royal standards). The following rules are typical of the conventions when flags are flown on land.

• When a national flag is displayed together with any other flags, it must be hoisted first and lowered last.
• When a national flag is displayed together with the national flags of other countries, all the flags should be of approximately equal size and must be flown at an equal height, although the national flag of the host country should be flown in the position of honour (in the center of an odd number of flagstaffs or at the far right — left from an observer's point of view — of an even number of flagstaffs).
• When a national flag is displayed together with flags other than national flags, it should be flown on a separate flagstaff, either higher or in the position of honor.
• When a national flag is displayed together with any other flags on the same flagstaff, it must be at the top, though separate flagstaffs are preferable.
• When a national flag is displayed together with any other flag on crossed staffs, the national flag must be on the observer's left and its staff must be in front of the staff of the other flag.
• When a national flag is displayed together with another flag or flags in procession, the national flag must be on the marching right. If there is a row of flags, it should be in the position of honour.
• When a national flag, with some exceptions, is flown upside down it indicates distress. This however is merely tradition. It is not a recognised distress signal according the International regulations for preventing collisions at sea. Further, a nation's flag is commonly flown inverted as a sign of protest or contempt against the country concerned. As of now, only the Philippine Flag recognizes the distress symbolism of the reverse flag

.

[edit] See also

• Flag terminology
• Flag desecration
• Flag Day
• Flags of the World
• Flag protocol
• National emblem
• Coat of arms
• Gallery of country coats of arms
• List of countries
• List of sovereign states
• Gallery of sovereign-state flags
• Gallery of maritime flags
• Flags of formerly independent states
• Flags of active autonomist and secessionist movements
• Gallery of dependent territory flags
• Scandinavian Cross

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sovereign-state flags

• Flags of the World, a massive online vexillological database on national and many other kinds of flags
• The World All Countries Flags, a website about national symbols
• World Flag Database reverse search for ID by color and layout

[edit] References

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