childhood

Bermuda 1

Bermuda

The flag of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda as a red ensign was first adopted on 4 October 1910. It is a British Red Ensign with the Union Flag (which is the national flag) in the upper left corner, and the coat of arms of Bermuda in the lower right. Prior to this like most of the British colonies at the time it adopted a blue ensign with a seal that depicted a dry dock with three sailing ships. In 1999, the flag was changed to its current form, with an enlarged coat of arms.

Uganda 3

Uganda

The flag of Uganda was adopted on 9 October 1962, the date that Uganda became independent from the British Empire. It consists of six equal horizontal bands of black (top), yellow, red, black, yellow, and red (bottom); a white disc is superimposed at the center and depicts the national symbol, a grey crowned crane, facing the hoist side.

Tuvalu 4

Tuvalu

Like many former and current British dependencies, the Tuvaluan flag is a blue ensign based on the Union Flag, which is shown in the canton of the flag; but has a sky blue field rather than the conventional blue. The previous flag (with the Gilberts) was also based on the Union Flag but with the coat of arms created by Sir Arthur Grimble in 1932, the resident commissioner of the British colony.

The stars represent the nine islands which comprise Tuvalu; the arrangement is geographically correct, with the east towards the top (i.e. north to the left).

Togo 5

Togo

The flag of Togo is the national flag, ensign, and naval jack of Togo. It has five equal horizontal bands of green (top and bottom) alternating with yellow. There is a white five-pointed star on a red square in the upper hoist-side corner. It uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia, but the design resembles the flag of Liberia which itself echoes the flag of the United States.

South Africa 6

South Africa

The flag has horizontal bands of red (on the top) and blue (on the bottom), of equal width, separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal “Y” shape, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side (and follow the flag’s diagonals). The “Y” embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow or gold bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The stripes at the fly end are in the 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. Three of the flag’s colors were taken from the Flag of the South African Republic and the Union Jack, while the remaining three colors were taken from the flag of the African National Congress.

San Marino 7

San Marino

The state and war flag of San Marino is formed by two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and light blue with the national coat of arms superimposed in the center; the coat of arms has a shield (featuring three towers on three peaks) with a closed crown on top, flanked by an oak and laurel wreath, with a scroll below bearing the word LIBERTAS (Liberty). The two colors of the flag represent peace (white) and liberty (azure).

Although the Law on the flag and coat of arms of San Marino from 2011 refers only to the “official flag” of the republic, a de facto civil flag, which omits the coat of arms, can sometimes be seen flying. Some official sources of San Marino suggest that the civil flag is actually the bicolor with the coat of arms of the specific city it is used in, instead of the national one.

Liechtenstein 8

Liechtenstein

The flag of Liechtenstein is the national flag of the Principality of Liechtenstein. It consists of two horizontal blue and red bands charged with a gold crown in the canton. In use since 1764 and officially enshrined into the nation’s constitution in 1921, it has been the flag of the principality since that year. The crown was added to the flag in 1937 after the country found out at the Summer Olympics held the previous year that their flag was identical to the civil flag of Haiti.

Greece 9

Greece

The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the “blue and white” or the “sky blue and white”, is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There is a blue canton in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the cross symbolises Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the established religion of the Greek people of Greece and Cyprus. The blazon of the flag is Azure, four bars Argent; on a canton of the field a Greek cross throughout of the second. The official flag ratio is 2:3. The shade of blue used in the flag has varied throughout its history, from light blue to dark blue, the latter being increasingly used since the late 1960s. It was officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January 1822.

Ghana 10

Ghana

The national flag of Ghana was designed and adopted in 1957 and was flown until 1962. It was then reinstated in 1966. It consists of the Pan-African colours of red, gold, and green, in horizontal stripes, with a black five-pointed star in the centre of the gold stripe. The Ghanaian flag was the second African flag after the flag of the Ethiopian Empire to feature these colours. The flag’s design influenced that of the flag of Guinea-Bissau (1973). The flag of Ghana was designed by Theodosia Okoh (1922–2015).

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