The design features three Latin mottos. From top-to-bottom they are:
- On red ribbon: “E Pluribus Unum,” means “Out of many, one,” a motto of the United States.
- On light blue shield: “Tuebor,” means “I will defend.”
- On white ribbon: “Si Quæris Peninsulam Amœnam Circumspice,” means “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.” (The official state motto).
The present flag, adopted in 1911, is the third state flag. The first flag featured a portrait of Michigan’s first governor, Stevens T. Mason, on one side and the state coat of arms and “a soldier and a lady” on the other side. The first flag is completely lost, and no images of it exist, as far as anyone knows. The second flag, adopted in 1865, displayed the state coat of arms on one side and the United States coat of arms on the other.
In November 2016, a bill was introduced in the Michigan state legislature by Michigan State Senator Steven Bieda that would change the current state flag. If the bill is passed, the current state flag will be discontinued in January 2019 and replaced with a new design.
State Nickname:
Today Michigan is often called “The Great Lakes State” and this nickname is featured on the U.S. Mint’s bicentennial commemorative quarter for Michigan. Michigan is also called “Water Wonderland” as it’s the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes.
However, Michigan is, by tradition, known as “The Wolverine State,” and the University of Michigan takes the wolverine as its mascot.
The association is well and long established: for example, many Detroiters volunteered to fight during the American Civil War and George Armstrong Custer, who led the Michigan Brigade, called them the “Wolverines”. The origins of this association are obscure; it may derive from a busy trade in wolverine furs in Sault Ste. Marie in the 18th century or may recall a disparagement intended to compare early settlers in Michigan with the vicious mammal. Wolverines are, however, extremely rare in Michigan. A sighting in February 2004 near Ubly was the first confirmed sighting in Michigan in 200 years.