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Sri Lanka 3

Sri Lanka

The flag of Sri Lanka, also called the Sinha Flag or Lion Flag, consists of a golden lion holding a kastane sword in its right fore-paw in a maroon background with four gold bo leaves, one in each corner. This is bordered by gold, and to its left are two vertical stripes of equal size in green and orange, with the orange stripe closest to the lion. The lion and the maroon background represent the Sinhalese, while the saffron border and four bo leaves represent concepts of mettā, karuṇā, muditā and upekshā respectively. The stripes represent the country’s two largest minorities, with the orange representing the Tamils living in Sri Lanka – both the native Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka – and the green representing the Muslims of Sri Lanka.

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Ceuta 5

Ceuta

The flag of Ceuta is the flag of the Spanish city of Ceuta, consisting of a black and white gyronny with a central escutcheon displaying the municipal coat of arms.

The gyronny is identical to that of the flag of Lisbon, to commemorate the conquest of the city by the Portuguese in 1415. The city was a part of the Portuguese Empire until 1640, after which it decided to remain with Spain. Thus the coat of arms of the city is nearly identical to that of the Kingdom of Portugal, showing the seven castles over the red bordure and the five escutcheons with silver roundels.

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Catalonia 6

Catalonia

The Senyera is a vexillological symbol based on the coat of arms of the Crown of Aragon, which consists of four red stripes on a yellow field. This coat of arms, often called bars of Aragon, or simply “the four bars”, historically represented the King of the Crown of Aragon.

The senyera pattern is currently in the flag of four Spanish autonomous communities (Catalonia, Aragon, the Balearic Isles, the Valencian Community), and is the flag of the historically Catalan-speaking city of Alghero in Sardinia. It is also used on the coat of arms of Spain, the coat of arms of Pyrénées-Orientales and of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the flag of Roussillon, Capcir, Vallespir and Provence in France, one quarter of the coat of arms of Andorra, and on the local flags of many municipalities belonging to these territories. The Senyera (sometimes together with the flag of Andorra) is also used more informally to represent the Catalan language.

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Canary Islands 7

Canary Islands

The tricolor flag has its origins in the Canarias Libre movement of the 1960s. It was designed by Carmen Sarmiento and her sons Arturo and Jesus Cantero Sarmiento, and first displayed (in paper form) on 8 September 1961. It combined the blue and white colors of the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Province of Canary Islands) with the blue and yellow colors of the Province of Las Palmas.

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Balearic Islands 8

Balearic Islands

The flag of the Balearic Islands, made up of distinctive, historically legitimized symbols, will consist of four horizontal red bars over a yellow background, having an upper-left quarter with a purple background behind a centered white castle with five turrets. Each island will be allowed to have its own flag and distinctive symbols, by agreement of their respective councils.

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Spain 9

Spain

The origin of the current flag of Spain is the naval ensign of 1785, Pabellón de la Marina de Guerra under Charles III of Spain. It was chosen by Charles III himself among 12 different flags designed by Antonio Valdés y Bazán (all proposed flags were presented in a drawing which is in the Naval Museum of Madrid). The flag remained marine-focused for much of the next 50 years, flying over coastal fortresses, marine barracks and other naval property. During the Peninsular War the flag could also be found on marine regiments fighting inland. Not until 1820 was the first Spanish land unit (The La Princesa Regiment) provided with one and it was not until 1843 that Queen Isabella II of Spain made the flag official.

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Slovenia 10

Slovenia

The national flag of Slovenia features three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red, with the Coat of arms of Slovenia located in the upper hoist side of the flag centered in the white and blue bands. The coat of arms is a shield with the image of Mount Triglav, Slovenia’s highest peak, in white against a blue background at the center; beneath it are two wavy blue lines representing the Adriatic Sea and local rivers, and above it are three six-pointed golden stars arranged in an inverted triangle which are taken from the coat of arms of the Counts of Celje, the great Slovene dynastic house of the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

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