Flags are something we all take for granted. Kind of like passports. Every country has one right? Right? Well, yea. But lets start from the beginning. First of all, what is a country? Who says that your backyard kingdom isn’t a proper nation? That in itself is a disputed topic, but generally a nation has to be recognized by other nations. Of course not every nation is recognized by every other nation so this leads to some complications. But we’re digressing too far, the reason we mention this is because flags are not a given. Every flag is not required to follow the same specifications and be a certain size or work within some preconceived framework. Did you know that the flag of Nepal is basically two triangles stacked on top of each other? And did you know that some countries have pictures of guns and weapons on their flags? Or what about the old French flag that was just blank white. That’s right, it was white and nothing else. The former Libyan flag also opted for a single color – green. This all goes to show that although flags are taken for granted, they are as unique as the countries of the world. These are 25 astounding things you never knew about flags!
Featured Image: pixabay
Texas is the only US state where citizens pledge allegiance to the state flag as well as the national flag
Source: dfwchild.com, Image: wikipedia According to the United States Flag Code, the US flag cannot be used for advertising in any way
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Nepal has the only non-quadrilateral flag
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Of the remaining countries, Switzerland and the Vatican City are the only nations to have square flags. The rest are all non-square rectangles
Source: quora, Image: balachandar Radhakrishnan via Flickr Monaco and Indonesia have identical flags except for the dimensions (Monaco's flag is narrower)
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia The flags of Romania and Chad differ only in the tone of blue that they use
Source: quora, Image: pixabay From 1977 to 2011 the flag of Libya was the only plain flag in the world (green)
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia But from 1815 to 1830, the flag of France was just plain white
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia During the 1936 Olympics it was discovered that Liechtenstein and Haiti had the same flag (somehow nobody had noticed up to that point) and so Liechtenstein added a crown to its banner
The big star on the Chinese flag represents the Communist Party while the 4 small stars represent China's economic classes: peasants, workers, petty bourgeoisie, and patriotic capitalists.
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia Developed by an engineer at NASA, Mars has a flag (the red represents Mars as it is now while the green and blue show a possible progression to becoming a habitable planet in the future, should humanity ever decide to terraform it)
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia The flag of Paraguay is the only national flag in the world with different emblems on its obverse and reverse sides.
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia After the 1920 Olympic Games, the first Olympic flag went missing for 77 years. Eventually, a 1920 Olympian revealed that he had it in his suitcase the whole time
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia During peace talks, North and South Korea would bring progressively larger flags to the meetings until another meeting had to be called to address the issue because the flags would no longer fit in the room
Source: reddit, Image: wikipedia Denmark's flag is the oldest flag still in use. It was designed in 1219.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia The flag of Mozambique has an AK-47 on it.
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia During peacetime the flag of the Philippines is flown with the blue stripe on top, but during war it is flown upside down, with the red stripe facing up
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia The flag of Afghanistan has been redesigned 20 times. That is more than any other country
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia Although some historians dispute this, Russia is one of the only flags that has no official meaning
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay Cambodia and Afghanistan are the only two flags to feature buildings in their design
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia The words "Allahu Akbar" are repeated 22 times on the flag of Iran
Source: quora, Image: wikipedia The circle on the flag of Bangladesh is not exactly in the center. It is moved slightly to left, allegedly so that it would look like it is in the center when it is waving in the air
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia The flag of Norway has been labeled the "mother of all flags" because it enclosed the flags of Indonesia, Poland, Finland, France, Netherlands, and Thailand
Source: wikipedia The current US flag was designed by a 17-year-old for a school project. The teacher gave him a B-. Apparently the rest of the country disagreed!
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia The study of flags is called vexillology
Source: wikipedia, Image: pixabay Lists Going Viral Right Now
