Ask Alabama: What does the X on the Alabama flag mean?

Today we look at the history of the Alabama flag and how it's symbols were chosen for a pretty unexpected reason.

[docholiday]

That’s the saint Andrew’s cross. It stands for Christianity. It had nothing to do with not offending Jews.

[tylersanchez]

Alabama and Florida have almost the same flag because that cross was Used by the Spanish empire, but you didnt mention that at all man.

[carywest]

I always figured that the flag was created as a combination of the English & Scottish design.
The narrator doesn't sound Southern at all. And could be an undercover PC culturist.
Just my personal opinion.

[pcthompson]

This Reckon was a major fail. Do y’all attempt to research a hour before submitting to YouTube???

[RETROTV]

The original flag for Alabama was the confederate flag. Should of left it at that, but too many liberals and leftists cried about it.

[janejohnstone]

Looks a little like the Union Jack..
A little ...

[ricardoplazamartinez]

Not at all, Reckon. Alabama and Florida flags are the flag of Spain in XVI century

[DarklessX]

Alabama flag came from the Spanish Cross of Burgundy flag. I'm guessing NOWADAYS the flag is pretty much a combination of the Confederate battle flag & the Spanish Cross of Burgundy flag.

[davidmcleod]

INCORRECT
Alabama's current flag traces it's origin to the Spanish Cross of Burgundy flag that was the flag of Spanish Florida.
There is also a Scottish connection to the St Andrew's Cross aka Saltire. St Andrew is patron saint of both Scotland and Burgundy. Alabama was largely settled by Scots.

[under-a-rock]

Wow this was the most inaccurate account of our state these guys have done to date. It's almost as if the only goal of this video wasn't to inform but to deliberately cause division amongst the state.

[SlashsBluesBall]

No, this video is all wrong. The flag of Alabama was based on the Spanish empire flag, the cross of burgundy. Do some research before making a video bro

[vascoespañol]

The governor of Alabama flag has the castille and Leon seal. Alabama was part of Spain before joining the US. First European in Alabama was Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto. That is the old Spanish flag, period.

[baronghede]

I was born and raised in Alabama thanks for the knowledge, Blessed Be.

[jrock]

You just explained the history of the confederate flag. I have a feeling this creator tjinks all southerners are rascist.

[beltranmartinez]

The flag of Alabama comes from a Spanish flag. When Spain ruled the South of the US The kings flag was the cross of borgoña, which is a white background with a red cross, this flag evolved to what the flag of Alabama looks like now. The flag of Florida also comes from this Spanish flag, that who they look a like, please get documented.

[EntropyUnlimited]

Wait, what? While the current Alabama state flag was adopted in 1895, before that it didn't have one, and the most popular one used was the the Spanish Cross of Burgundy (mostly in Southern Alabama), which was a white field with a big red X that looked a bit like barbed wire with fletching pointing to the middle on each stripe. I know Reckon likes to say everything in Alabama is racist and bad, but in this case it's unwarranted.

[ximo]

The black legend againts The flag comes from the spanish empire ..

[brandonashley]

Not sure why this video is so inaccurate or really just plain wrong especially since it's from AL.com, of you've ever noticed the Alabama coat of Arms it has 5 sections, The Kingdom of France, The kingdom of Spain, The United Kingdom, The Confederate States of America and The United States of America. The Alabama state flag is a representation Spanish Burgundian Cross because Alabama at one point was owned by Spain. In South Alabama the actual Burgundian Cross in on display all over the place and there are also Spanish forts. Not to mention that before this Mobile was the capitol of French Colonial Louisiana, I'm quite disappointed in AL.com spreading misinformation like this, the point of their website is to inform citizens of Alabama about events news and history involving our state and maybe even spread this to people from other states.

[natekaufman]

No, the "X" is based off of the Spanish Empire's Cross of Burgundy flag (which was a red stylized Cross of St. Andrew on a white background). Alabama was part of Spanish West Florida, and the flag is based on that flag. It's a pure coincedence that both the Spanish Empire and the Confederacy used the Cross of St. Andrew.

[bathiesarr]

I am from Alabama I am born in alabama