Every National Flag Explained

Extra extends his life span

Have you ever wondered where the flags of each country came from? Well wonder no more! Let's go over the origins of each national flag, as well as where the design of the modern flag came from.

The sources that I used were either simply Wikipedia or anything that was made by Whitney Smith, the founder of the FIAV and the one who came up with the term "vexillology", which I talked about in Vexillology Volume 1 (What is Vexillology). He made multiple books explaining every national flag (which I may or may not have pirated), although they're somewhat outdated at this point. He's also the editor of every national flag page on the Encyclopedia Britannica, so you can trust that it's a reliable source. Admittedly though, I put some of my own theories in there as well, like with Belarus' green stripe, Morocco's reference to the Marinids, Libya's reference to the Senussi, among others. Like I said in the outro, if there's anything I missed or got wrong, please let me know! I'll put any corrections in the pinned comment.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
2:38 Story Interlude 1
2:52 Origin of the Modern Flag
5:17 Story Interlude 2
6:03 Explaining them all
15:36 Story Interlude 3
16:36 We're halfway there
23:00 Overdrive!
31:56 Conclusion to the Space Arc
35:38 Outro(duction)

Subscribe so that I can escape exile.

[JanxZ]

>click on the video
>skip to own country explanation
>leave
chad.jpg

[joaovitormatos]

Fun fact: the idea of using white between red and blue in the French flag was suggested by the Marquis de Lafayette. Considering how Lafayette came from a long line of medieval nobility (the first Marquis de Lafayette fought alongside Joan of Arc), I assume he was taught the rule of tincture and think it's not a coincidence that he suggested a metal between two colors

[thecluckster]

Estonia 🇪🇪 has got to be my favorite flag, it’s colors are just so nice and the fact that it matches Estonia’s landscape during the winter perfectly is just the nice little bow on top.

[brunothedev]

Someone: you like flags? Explain every flags.
Extra: Okay.

[ExtraInExile]

Which flag is your favorite?

Corrections/Addendums:
United Nations (justsomeonewhodoheroicacts): Not a flag that I mentioned, but it has 193 member states, not 192, can't believe I rushed past that.
Cameroon (me): Before the current flag they had a flag with 2 stars for the unity between French Cameroon and English Cameroon. Cameroon's increasing centralization, including changing their flag to only include 1 star, is why English Cameroon (Ambazonia) wants independence.
Kazakhstan (bonchemin): The flag of the Kazakh Khanate was likely not the inspiration for the blue color. Instead it might come from the blue stripe on the flag of the Kazakh SSR.
Georgia (user-gr9fq9gt9w): Georgia's flag might date back even further to 1200, since a recently discovered coin of the king at the time featured a symbol that looks very similar to Georgia's current flag. Although I didn't include it in this video due to the "approx. 1350" in the Wiki article lined up with the naval map instead.
Romania (funfoxvlad): Alongside the Moldavian coat of arms, the other part of Romania (Wallachia) had a naval flag with the current Romanian colors, which is also likely where they got their inspiration.
Argentina (duncanmann): Historians often attribute the blue and white colors to the House of Bourbon, which I considered strange because the Latin Americans Wars of Independence were inspired by the French getting rid of the Bourbons, but you can take it with a grain of salt, although there are also other explanations
Israel (me): The reason why the flag has two blue lines is because it looks like a ṭallit, which is a piece of cloth worn during prayer, and it also has a lot of stripes on it.
New Zealand (osama_been_lagging): It has 4 stars, not 5, lol.
Egypt (kfir fecher): Saladin established the Ayyubid dynasty, not the Abbasid dynasty. I literally got the image from the wiki page of the Ayyubids, I'm just an idiot lmao.

[sentientialcrisis]

ASEAN edition (Association of South East Asian Nations)

14:01 Indonesia 🇮🇩
14:44 Philippines 🇵🇭
15:02 Brunei Darussalam 🇧🇳
16:48 Thailand 🇹🇭
18:56 Vietnam 🇻🇳
19:29 Laos 🇱🇦
20:26 Cambodia 🇰🇭
20:49 Malaysia 🇲🇾
23:24 Singapore 🇸🇬
26:38 Timor-Leste 🇹🇱
31:35 Myanmar 🇲🇲

[zddxddyddw]

Finally someone brings attention to how big of an influence the Argentine flag was in many other countries' flags

[verymelone]

Fun fact: When kids in primory school ask about the Y in the South African flag, most teachers tell them to find a buddy and tell them to put one hand together (one child left hand with another child right hand) to form a bowl, the teacher would ask what they see in the creases of their hands and the kids would see a Y. The teacher would explain that the Y stands for the Y in UNITY and together they can make the word happen. Of course South Africa is a mix pot of different races, cultures and religions so it's a bit important for teachers to teach kids to work together. Personally, I was a logical kid so I always found that explanation stupid because you could do it yourself without anyone as the other half but I see it now.

[Joscat]

genuinely one of the higher quality polandball YouTuber, easily deserves several hundred thousand subscribers

[Indecisive]

Never ask:
A woman - Her age
A man - His salary
Serbia - What the white in their flag is *supposed* to represent

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Additional flag facts I'd like to add:
- The Cuban flag was designed in NYC by revolutionaries living in exile in 1849 (famed Cuban hero José Martí also lived in NYC at the time). The current Puerto Rican flag was also designed in NYC (modeled after the Cuban one) as the Cuban and Puerto Rican revolutionaries worked with each other. To honor NYC's role, Cuba gave the city a statue of José Martí on horseback in Central Park.
- The reason the flag of the former Greater Republic of Central America was inspired by Argentina's is because when Argentines serving under Hipólito Bouchard raided Spanish outposts in Central America as part of the Argentine War for Independence, the locals saw that flag as their first free flag from Spain.
- When the Brazilian flag was first adopted in 1889, it had 21 stars. But since 1992, it has 27. This is because they are for the 26 states of the country as well as the Federal District/Brasília, so stars have been added for every new state.
- The Aussie flag isn't the same as New Zealand's lol. You missed the big star on the bottom left corner. That's the Commonwealth Star. Originally it was six-pointed to represent the six original states of Australia, but a seventh point for the Territory of Papua was added in 1908 and to represent all future territories.

[grfqgtw]

You put so much effort and time into your videos, it seems you really love what you do.

It always turns out amazing!

[TheOnlyCaprisun]

Extra truly went God mode in this one, a vexing vexillology nerd at their vines— I mean finest!

[grfqgtw]

7:17 Georgia
By late 2021, a newly-discovered coin of the King David the Builder with five-cross composition engraving now dates the Georgian flag to the 12th century. According to the State Council of Heraldry, the coin is of greatest importance and is an unmistakable proof for the history of the Georgian national flag being used during the reign of King David IV.

[grfqgtw]

19:28
The country name is actually pronounced "Lao"

*Kudos for pronouncing Sri Lanka and Kiribati right!*

[eastonthehistoryguy]

When he said “Colours inspired by nature🌿…” I felt that 😔

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Not countries but two favorite flags of mine are St Pierre & Miquelon (unofficial) and Macau:
- The Macanese flag has a lotus with a bridge and lines for water below it with stars above it. The lotus flower in full bloom represents the everlasting prosperity of Macau (which they're certainly not wrong about that; gambling being banned in Mainland China definitely helps). The bridge is the Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, that links Macau Peninsula with Taipa. The bridge and water represent Macau's position as a port and its important role. And like the stars of Hong Kong's flag, the stars represent the PRC and Macau's relation with it, only this time the stars are yellow like the PRC's flag instead of red like Hong Kong's. And what brings it all together is the nice shade of green in the background.

- The St. Pierre & Miquelon unofficial flag has the flags of the Normans, Bretons, and Basques on the left side to symbolize the people who resettled the islands in 1816 (fighting between Britain and France led to settlements getting destroyed over and over). On a light blue background, there's a giant yellow ship sailing on some waves, representing the Grande Hermine, which brought explorer Jacques Cartier to St. Pierre in June 1536.

[thefurballs]

14:16 As an Estonian, I can confirm that our flag tri-color is inspired by the nature in estonia during the winter. The blue stripes represents the clear sky of estonia, the black stripes represents as the trees in estonia, and the white stripes represents as the snow. :>

[yugoslavpropaganda]

I looked it... Up and the white represents Mother giving Milk to STRONG Serbian Children

[sollrandomguy]

The art style looks better than before, magnificent!

And Pog animation