World's Ten Most Colorful Flags World's Ten Most Colorful Flags World's 10 Most Colorful Flags Here are ten of the most colorful flags from around the world. While it is fairly common for flags to have just three colors, like the red, white, and blue of the United States or the black, red, and gold of Germany, some flags are much more colorful than that. What makes a flag colorful tends to be a subjective decision, however. There are many flags that use eight or more colors in them, but because the majority of the colors appear in small sections of a coat of arms, it just doesn't seem that colorful. Likewise, other flags may only have three or four colors, but a complex primary design or prominent display of the colors makes the flags appear to be extremely colorful. Here are ten of the world's most colorful flags. For our purposes here, we have considered design as well as the number of colors in selecting the most colorful flags. As the only nation to use six colors in their flag's primary design, South Africa gets first place on our list of the world's most colorful flags.

The flag's design is made up of a green horizontal Y, positioned so that the Y touches both the upper and lower left corners of the flag. The triangular shape along the leftmost end of the flag is black with a yellow border. On the right side of the flag, the area above the Y is red, and the area below is blue, both with a white border. The colors and the Y design are meant to represent the convergence of two separate paths: those of the South Africans, and those of the Europeans who colonized the country. Turkmenistan Although with four colors in its design, Turkmenistan's flag is far from having the most colors. It does have the honor of being the most intricate of all the national flags in the world. The flag is primarily green, but with a wide vertical stripe near the left end of the flag. This stripe is primarily red, with five tribal patterns that are used in designing the traditional rugs the country is known for. Orange, white, red, and green can be found in the tribal designs, with a white crescent moon encompassing five white five-pointed stars on the field of green to the right of the stripe, near the top of the flag.

Obviously, the five tribal designs represent the country's traditional heritage, while the five stars stand for the five regions of the nation. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon The flag of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is a very interesting flag. Designed in 1982, this flag is actually a local flag, with the flag of France used as the islands' official flag. The design depicts a yellow ship on a light blue background with waves drawn in black and white, with three flags forming a narrow border along the leftmost side of the flag: a white, green, and red design in the top third, a black and white design in the middle third, and two yellow lions on a red background in the bottom third. The ship represents the colonization of the islands beginning in 1535, while the three individual designs stand for the origins of the islands' colonists: Basque Country (top), Brittany (middle), and Normandy (bottom). Central Africa The Central African Republic uses five colors in their flag: blue, white, green, yellow, and red. The colors are boldly blocked out in four horizontal stripes of the first four colors, bisected by a single vertical stripe in red. All of the stripes are the same width.

In the upper left hand corner, on the leftmost end of the blue stripe, is a single yellow five-point star. Like many nations' flags, the colors represent various pieces of the country's history: The colors are those of the Pan-African and French flags combined, with the red stripe present to represent the bloodshed in the battle for independence. The star is there as a reminder of the hopes for a great future. Dominica The country of Dominica uses six different colors, but not all of those colors are used in the flag's primary design. The flag features a centered cross of yellow, black, and white stripes, with a green background. In the center of the cross is a red medallion, representing social justice, with a light blue, green, red, and yellow local parrot on it. Surrounding the parrot are ten green stars, representing the country's ten parishes. The cross stands for the Christian trinity, with each of the three colors representing a different part of the country's economy and heritage. Zimbabwe Like Central Africa, Zimbabwe's flag uses five different colors, but the complex design makes it seem very busy and colorful.

The flag has seven horizontal stripes with colors alternating in the following order: green, yellow, red, black, red, yellow, and green. Superimposed over the stripes on the left end of the flag is a white triangle that points to the right, with a red star covered by a yellow bird inside the triangle. The bird remembers the country's history, and the central black stripe honors the native people, surrounded by red stripes to represent the fight for independence. Seychelles The flag of Seychelles is very interesting, as it features five colors radiating out from the lower left corner. The rays are, in order from the leftmost ray: blue for the sky and the sea, yellow for the sun, red for the people's will to work for unity and love, white for social justice, and green for the land. Comoros The Comoros flag is another that features five different colors, if you count white as a color. The leftmost half of the flag is taken up with a green triangle, with the point facing toward the right side of the flag. Inside the triangle are a white crescent moon, representing Islam, and four white stars, representing the four main islands.

Behind the triangle and covering the rest of the flag are four equal horizontal stripes of yellow, white, red, and blue. Namibia Like Comoros and many other flags, the main colors of the flag of Namibia are red, blue, green, yellow, and white. This flag is dissected by a diagonal red stripe, from the lower left corner to the upper right corner, which is bordered with narrow white stripes. The upper left half of the flag is blue, for the sea and the sky, and the lower right is green, for agriculture. A sunburst with 12 small triangular rays is in the upper left corner, on the blue field, representing the country's power. Grenada The flag of Grenada is the only one on this list that has only three colors in its design, which is why it comes last. However, the busy design and bright colors of the Grenada flag makes it seem very colorful. The flag has a wide red border, with three yellow stars along the top and three yellow stars along the bottom of the flag. In the middle is a green and yellow rectangle divided into triangles with two intersecting lines: two yellow triangles on top and bottom, and two green triangles on the sides.

In the middle, where all the triangle points meet, is a red circle with a yellow five-point star inside of it. To the left, in the green triangle, is a yellow and red nutmeg pod, representing the country's biggest export. The yellow in the flag represents the sun, the green represents agriculture, and the red border stands for the courage of the people, with a star for the capital and one for each of the administrative divisions of the country. There are many other colorful flags throughout the world -- you can find them all in this list of the flags of the world. Which are your favorites? France This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website France Flag of France - Image by Željko Heimer, 22 September 2001 Flag adopted, as an ensign, by Decree of 27 Pluviôse of the Year II (15 February 1794) Proportion: 2:3 Use: on land, as the national (civil and state) flag.

Colour approximate specifications (Album des Pavillons [pay00] ): Blue: Pantone 282c / CMYK (%) 100-70-0-50 Red: Pantone 186c / CMYK (%) 0-90-80-5 On this page: France: Index of all pages Origin of the French flag In brief we can accept that the colours are basically those of Paris as used on the day of the storming of the Bastille , mixed with the Royal white . It is thought that the Marquis de Lafayette was responsible for inventing the red, white and blue cockade which soon became compulsory for Revolutionaries in 1789. We don't have to believe that the combination arose because the King placed a red-blue cockade in his hat next to a Royal white one, but combinations of Revolutionary and Royal emblems were common at that time. The flag was created in 1790 but with the colours the reverse of what they are today, i.e. with red at the hoist, and revised in 1794 to the modern form.

The 1790 flag existed only as part of the jack and ensign of the navy. The flag went out of use with Napoléon I 's defeat at Waterloo, but was brought back in 1830 (again by Lafayette) and has remained in use ever since. Although significances have been attached to the colours these are all spurious and invented after the fact. The red and blue of Paris were the livery colours of the coat of arms and natural ones for use by the militia. William Crampton, undated Colours of the French flag The colors of the French flag "combine" different symbols, invented after the fact: - Blue is the color of Saint Martin, a rich Gallo-Roman officer who ripped his blue cloak with his sword to give one half of it to a poor who was begging him in the snow. This is the symbol of care, of the duty that the rich had to help the poor. - White is the color of the Virgin Mary, to whom the Kingdom of France was consecrated by Louis XIII in the 17th century; it is also the color of Joan of Arc , under whose banner the English were finally driven out of the Kingdom (15th century).

It became logically the color of Royalty. The King's vessels carried plain white flags at sea. - Red is the color of Saint Denis, the saint patron of Paris. The original oriflamme (war banner) of the Kings was the red oriflamme of Saint Denis. Pierre Gay, 15 September 1998 Most French flags, at least in the beginning of their use, have a very dark blue shade, sometimes called bleu drapeau (flag blue). Petit Larousse Illustré has nothing on bleu drapeau, but has: Bleu roi : bleu soutenu (celui du drapeau francais) (King blue: strong blue, the blue of the French flag). Therefore, it seems that the use of a dark blue for the French flag has been widely accepted, since it is highligted to examplify the "King blue" shade.

Ivan Sache, 23 September 2001 For the naval flags, the maintenance service of the French Navy (HCC) gives the following specifications (in reference to AFNOR standard NFX 08002): Blue A 503 Blue Pantone 282c and red 186c are my translation (approximation) of those colours. Armand Noël du Payrat, 24 September 2001 The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12] ) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be. For France, PMS Reflex blue, 032 red. The vertical version is simply the flag turned through 90 degrees clockwise.

Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012 Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005, made a consistent use of his own interpretation of the colours of the flag in his political speeches. 8 May 2002 - Interview by F. Leroy, France3 Poitiers, the regional TV channel of Poitou , Raffarin's region. Mais aujourd hui, je sers ces trois belles couleurs, le bleu de notre histoire, le blanc de nos espoirs, et le rouge du sang de nos ancêtres, ce drapeau bleu, blanc, rouge [...] (Today, I serve these three beautiful colours, the blue of our history, the white of our hopes, and the red of the blood of our ancestors, this blue, white, red flag [...]) 11 November 2002 - Commemoration of the 11 November 1918 Armistice in Rethondes, the place where the Armistice was signed.

Ce drapeau qui allie le bleu de notre histoire, le blanc de notre espoir et le rouge du sang de nos aînés, le sang de notre gloire [...] (This flag, which matches the blue of our history, the white of our hope and the red of the blood of our elders, the blood of our glory [...]) 7 March 2003 - European Forum in Avignon. [...] notre appartenance à notre drapeau, à ce bleu de l'histoire, à ce blanc de notre espoir, à ce rouge du sang de nos ancêtres. ( [...] our sence of belonging to our flag, to this blue of history, this white of hope, this red of the blood of our ancestors.) Ivan Sache, 22 November 2003 Nickname of the French flag Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustré has for Tricolore the following entry: Tricolore adj. (du pref. tri , et du latin color , couleur). De trois couleurs. Le drapeau tricolore, le drapeau français.

- L'origine des trois couleurs qui figurent dans notre drapeau national remonte à l'année 1789 : pour cimenter la bonne intelligence entre le roi et la ville de Paris, dans la journée où, suivant le mot heureux de Bailly, Paris reconquit son roi, on réunit à la couleur blanche, qui était celle de la royauté, le bleu et le rouge, couleurs qui figuraient dans les armes de la ville de Paris. (Tricolore adj. (from prefix tri and Latin color, colour). Of three colours. Le drapeau tricolore: The French flag. - The origins of the three colours shown on our national flag dates back to year 1789: In order to create a good relation between the King and the town of Paris, on the day where, as Bailly expressed it rejoicing, Paris reconquered its King, the colour white, which was that of Royalty, was associated with blue and red, which are colours figuring in the arms of the town of Paris.

Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 September 2001 Decree on the French flag The French National Convention adopted as national flag the three colours blue, white, red on 15 February 1794 - or more exactly, on the 27 Pluviôse of the Year II, according to the revolutionary calendar. The Decree says: II. The national flag shall be formed of the three national colours, set in three equal bands, placed vertically so that blue is closed to the staff of the flag, white in the middle, and red at the fly. III. The jack and the ensign are formed in the same way, observing the size proportions established by custom. IV. The commissioning pennant shall also be made of the three colours, with one-fifth blue, one-fifth white, and three-fifths red.

Armand Noël du Payrat, 4 February 1998 The French flag in the Constitution The present Constitution of the French Republic, adopted in 1958 says: L'emblème national est le drapeau tricolore, bleu, blanc, rouge (The national emblem is the tricolor, blue, white, red, flag). Pierre Gay, 24 September 1998 French national ensign French national ensign - Image by Željko Heimer, 22 September 2001 The respective proportions of the vertical blue, white and red stripes on the French flag when used at sea as the civil or naval ensign or jack are 30:33:37, to give a good visual effect when flying, and are therefore called optical proportions. Civil vessels shall indeed use the prescribed ensign (and not a Tricolore flag with equal stripes. The Tricolore ensign was adopted by Decree of the 27 Pluviôse of the Year II (15 February 1794) and confirmed by Decree dated 7 March 1848.

The proportions 30:33:37 were officialized by a Regulation dated 17 May 1853. This of 1853 gives the precise measurements, in metres and centimetres, of the standard legal ensigns, numbered from 1 to 16. #1 is 9 m x 13.5 m and #16 is 50 cm x 75 cm. Željko Heimer, Armand Noêl du Payrat & Pierre Gay, 12 March 2006 THE FRENCH TRICOLOR Notes The national colors of France—blue, white and red—originated in the form of a cockade combining royalist white with blue and red, the heraldic colors of the city of Paris. Blue/red cockades were ordered to be worn on the hats of the Paris Militia (later the National Guard) in 13 July 1789. Four days later the Marquis de Lafayette presented a white/red/blue cockade to King Louis XVI, and on 4 October 1789 this device was made an official symbol of France.

Soon thereafter, the colors of this cockade began to be adopted for the flags of France, eventually producing one of the world's most famous and influential flags: le drapeau tricolore franï¿½ais, the French Tricolor. The 1790 Naval Jack The 1794 National Flag The Revolution of 1789, which transformed France into a constitutional monarchy, did not immediately lead to a change of flags. The old white royal flag, of which several versions existed, continued in use. The colors blue, white and red were first used for the flags of the National Guard, a military force raised by Lafayette to defend the revolutionary regime. The colors of many National Guard battalions combined blue and red, the heraldic colors of Paris, with royalist white. Soon there appeared a number of unofficial three-color flags, mostly striped horizontally, and on 24 October 1790 the National Assembly passed a law establishing the first official Tricolor. This was actually a naval flag , vertically striped red, white and blue, and bordered blue/red. In 1791, the reorganization of the French Army led to the adoption of new military colors.

The first battalion of each regiment received a flag with a canton horizontally striped blue, white and red, and a blue/red border. Finally, on 15 February 1794 ( 29 Pluviose of the Year II) the National Assembly adopted the blue/white/red Tricolor as the national flag and war ensign of the French Republic. In 1812, the vertically striped Tricolor also became the standard pattern for military colors on land. THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1830, 1848 AND 1871 The Count of Chambord's Tricolor The fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy (1814-15) led to the abolition of the Tricolor and the restoration of the white flag. The Revolution of 1830, however, which deposed the Bourbon King Charles X in favor of the Orlï¿½anist Louis-Philippe, brought the Tricolor back. During the Revolution of 1848, which deposed in his turn King Louis-Philippe, there were demands for the Tricolor's replacement by a plain red flag .

The National Assembly briefly adopted a variant striped blue/red/white, but only days later this flag was abolished and the 1794 Tricolor was officially confirmed. Demands for a plain red flag surfaced once more during the 1871 revolution, but the suppression of the Paris Commune ended this threat to the Tricolor. The conservative regime that assumed power after the fall of Napoleon III favored a restoration of the monarchy but this plan fell through when the Bourbon pretender, the Count of Chambord, grandson of King Charles X, refused to accept the by-now traditional and popular Tricolor as the national flag of France. "Henry V cannot abandon the white flag of Henry IV," he insisted, thus making it inevitable that France would remain a republic. Ironically, many years before the Count had sketched a design for a royal Tricolor with the crowned arms of France on the white stripe—a flag that might have enabled him to ascend the throne of France. DEFEAT & REDEMPTION • 1940-45 Autonomous State of Togo • 1956-60 The Tricolor has served as a basis for military and naval flags, distinguishing flags of government officials, and colonial flags.

Both the President and the Prime Minister have a square Tricolor; that of the former may, at the President's option, bear a monogram or badge on the white stripe. Government flags for use afloat have stripes proportioned 30:33:37 (like the naval ensign), which is supposed to make the stripes appear equal in width when viewed from a distance. The square blue flag, formerly used by colonial governors-general, is now the flag of government ministers with responsibility for French overseas departments and territories. Versions for use as car flags are proportioned 7:8 rather than square. Most colonial flags featured a Tricolor canton, though unlike British colonial ensigns the size of the canton varied. THE INFLUENCE OF THE TRICOLOR France flag France flag You are here: France information flag The flag of France is usually known as the 'tricolor' (three colour) and consists of equal width stripes of blue, white and red. It is the one of the three official ' French Symbols '. The flag is 1.5 times as long as it is high.

The French naval flag uses the proportions 30% blue : 33% white : 37% red for the stripes, after the original France flag - it was Napoleon who changed the stripes to be of equal width. Alternative (non-French) spellings for tricolor include 'tricolour' and 'tricolore'. The colours of the France flag are defined as: Blue: CMYK=100.70.0.50, Hex=002F67 White: CMYK=0.0.0.0, Hex=FFFFFF Red: CMYK=0.90.86.0, Hex=EF4135 Regional flags Note that every region of France also has its own flag - see the photos of regional French flags for these (they are often very beautiful designs) History of the France flag The 17th July 1789 Louis 16th of France travelled to the Paris Town Hall where he received a rosette containing three colours of ribbon - red, white and blue. This rosette was the symbol of the French Revolution and subsequently became the symbol of the First Rebublic in France.

Blue and red were the colours of Paris, and white was the Royal colour. The presentation was very symbolic, and represented the 'point of no turning back', since the ceremony gave complete control to the republicans / revolutionaries. The white had been added by La Fayette, new head of the National Guard, out of respect to the King. Tricolor is a generic name for any flag having three colours. The Dutch flag, considered to be the oldest tricolor in existence, is the same colours as the French flag, but with the stripes running horizontally, red at the top and blue at the bottom. It is sometimes said that the colours for the France flag were inspired by this earlier flag (perhaps it encouraged LaFayette to include the Royal white?). flag of France | Britannica.com Flag of France Alternative Titles: French Tricolor, French Tricolour, le drapeau tricolore vertically striped blue-white-red national flag . Its width-to-length ratio is 2 to 3. Related Topics Major Rulers of France Under the ancien régime , France had a great number of flags, and many of its military and naval flags were elaborate and subject to artistic variations.

The royal coat of arms , a blue shield with three golden fleurs-de-lis , was the basis for the state flag. After the Bourbons came to power, that shield was generally displayed against a background of the Bourbon dynastic colour, white. Historical fleurs-de-lis flag of France. In the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789 the emphasis was refocused to simple flag designs that expressed the radical changes being introduced into France’s social, political, and economic life. Blue and red, the traditional colours of Paris , were popular among revolutionaries in that city, and the Bourbon royal white was often added. The revolutionaries were also influenced by the horizontally striped red-white-blue flag of the Netherlands , which had appeared in the mid-17th century. In 1790 three equal vertical stripes, arranged red-white-blue within a frame of the same colours, were added to the white flag of the navy. Four years later the Tricolor, with stripes now ordered blue-white-red, was made the official national flag for use by the common people, the army, and the navy.

This flag was seen to embody all the principles of the Revolution—liberty, equality, fraternity, democracy , secularism , and modernization. Many other countries—especially in Europe but also among the former French colonial possessions in western Africa —adopted tricoloured flags in imitation of the French, replacing its colours with their own. In that way the French Tricolor became one of the most-influential national flags in history, standing in symbolic opposition to the autocratic and clericalist royal standards of the past as well as to the totalitarian banners of modern communism and fascism. Similar Topics flag of Nepal After the military victories of Napoleon I under the Tricolor, the Bourbon Restoration in 1814/15 led to the replacement of all symbols. The white flag was again supreme, but the revolution of 1830, which put Louis-Philippe on the throne, restored the Tricolor. In 1848 many sought to impose a communist red banner on France, and for two weeks the Tricolor itself was altered, its stripes reordered to blue-red-white. Since March 5, 1848, however, the Tricolor has been the sole national flag of France and of all territories under its control.

Like many early national flags, the Tricolor has no specific symbolism attached to the individual colours and shapes in its design. French National Symbols: The Tricolore, Tricolor or Tricolour Living in the Languedoc: Central Government: French National Symbols: The Tricolore (Tricolor or Tricolour) The French National Flag. Only one visual symbol has the official sanction of the Constitution: the tricolore flag (tricolore drapeau). It is sometimes referred to as a tricolour (UK) or tricolor (US) or tricoleur. The colours are those of Paris (blue and red) combined with the Royal white (the dispossession and execution of the King still lay in the future when the tricolore was first used). Origin of the Cockade and Tricolore. The Marquis de Lafayette was probably responsible for inventing the red, white and blue cockade which soon became compulsory for revolutionaries in 1789. Two examples are shown one on the left, one on the right on a Liberty cap . History of the Tricolore.

The flag was created soon after, in 1790, but with the colours the reverse of what they are today, i.e. with red at the hoist and the blue to the fly. The order was reversed in 1794 to the familiar modern form. Associated with Revolutionary and later Imperial France. The three colours in vertical stripes were first used as a canton on Naval flags in 1790, and extended to the whole field in 1794. One of the flags in the naval signalling alphabet is still a red-white-blue vertically striped flag - ie like the modern French flag, but with the colours reversed. The French National Convention adopted the modern blue-white-red flag as the national flag on 15 February 1794 (or 27 pluvi�se an II in the revolutionary calendar). The relevant part of the decree says, in translation: II. The national flag shall be formed of the three national colours, set in three equal bands, vertically arranged so that the blue is nearest to the staff, the white in the middle, and the red flying. The Tricolore went out of use with Napol�on's defeat at Waterloo.

It was replaced by a white flag (c/f the old royal flag) from 1814 to 1830. During the July revolution of that year the Tricolore was re-established by the Marquis de Lafayette under the relatively liberal regime of Louis-Philippe. It has remained in use ever since. The present Constitution of the French Republic (1958) declares: L'embl�me national est le drapeau tricolore, bleu, blanc, rouge (The national emblem is the tricolor, blue, white, red, flag). When hoisted vertically, the French national flag is often forked. The three vertical coloured bands were not always of equal width, and on the French naval jack they are still not of equal width. The idea is that unequal bands can look more equal that genuinely equal ones when the flag is flying. Whether or not it works in real life, is difficult to tell - it certainly does not work well for flat rectangles on the page (see the flag on the left). The flag features on an official French logo shown on the left, along with Marianne and French national motto .

It is sometimes represented as a coat of arms as on the right, most people not knowing and not recognising the (semi-official) coat of arms of France . The French tricolore has provided a model for the flags of other Republics - for example Italy and Ireland among many others. But it is not restricted to republics. Belgium for example, a monarchy, uses a tricolore. The French national flag is one of the sybols of sovereignty mentioned in article 2 of the French Constitution of 1958 : "L'emblème national est le drapeau tricolore, bleu, blanc, rouge." Variations on the basic tricolore have been used. The French Tricolore featured a Liberty cap for a brief period in 1842. During the Second World War, Vichy France used a plain Tricolore. The flag shown on the right was the personal flag of Marshal Pétain, head of the German-occupied État français. The Free French used a tricolore defaced (to use a technical term) with the Cross of Lorraine , as shown on the left. This is the flag of Louisiana, adopted in 1861.

It is one of the many early flags of Louisiana and never had official status. This is the flag of Acadia (Acadie), one of the oldest Francophone communities of Canada. Acadians were deported to various locations in 1755 after their homeland passed to the British Crown in 1713 (it is now the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick). This Tricolore was introduced in the 1840's as the flag the Motherland of the Acadians. Shortly afterwards, it was adopted as a flag for French Canadian Nationalists. The yellow star is the Stella Maris (symbol of the Virgin Mary, patron saint of mariners). This was the flag of the Lebanon when it was under French control. The French organised Syria into five states under a League of Nations Mandate. One of these states was the French Mandate of Greater Lebanon 1920-1932. Its flag was the French flag with a cedar on the central white stripe. These illustrations courtesy of Pierre Gay Military flags use the same colours but a different design with a white lozenge in the middle. On the left is the flag of one of Napolean's regiments.

On the right is the flag of the Free French Navy with the cross of Lorraine (Croix de Lorraine) in a white lozenge. This jack is still hoisted today on warships of the French Navy named after Free French Naval units. French Yacht Club Flags You will notice that almost no private individual in the Languedoc flies the French Tricolore flag, though many fly the flag of the old Counts of Toulouse , with the famous Cross of Toulouse . Many mairies will fly this flag along with the tricolore and the flag of the European Community. A minor footnote: The annual `rent' paid by The Duke of Marlborough to the English Crown for the royal manor of Woodstock and Blenheim Palace is a Royal French flag, "Argent three fleurs-de-lys Or" as shown on the right. It dates from the victory of John Churchill at Blenheim in 1704, well before the French Revolution, when this was the French national flag. The Duke of Wellington pays a similar rent for his property, also granted in recognition of military victory. His victory, at Waterloo, occurred just over a century later, in 1805, after the French Revolution.

Each year he presents as rent a tricolore, the national French flag in 1805. What the French Flag Colors Represent What the French Flag Colors Represent By Karen Frazier Although the colors of the French flag are the same as the American and the British flag -- red, white, and blue -- you may wonder what the French flag colors represent. Throughout the years, there have been various interpretations of what the flag's colors actually mean. The Flag The French flag contains three vertical stripes of equal width. From the flagstaff to the end, these colors are blue, white, and red. More than 20 countries use these three colors in their flag, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. History Encyclopædia Britannica notes the meaning of the flag's colors are deeply rooted in the country's aristocratic and revolutionary history. Traditional colors of the flag in pre-revolutionary France contained a white background with a blue shield and the gold Fleur-de-lis depicting the royal coat of arms. However, after the French Revolution, the country's leaders wanted a simpler design that supported the new values of the nation, and the French Tricolour was adopted.

The French Tricolour According to France's official website , the colors of the flag combine two elements. White White is the traditional color of the House of Bourbon, who ruled in France from the late 16th Century until the French Revolution. On the flag, the color white represents the King. Red and Blue The red and blue in the flag represents the city of Paris. Revolutionaries in Paris traditionally flew red and blue. Likewise, revolutionaries wore blue and red cockades (ribbons) on their hats when they stormed the Bastille in 1789. Other Interpretations Aside from France's official explanation of the flag's colors, you may find many other interpretations, as well. Some popular but non-official interpretations include: The colors symbolize nobility (blue), clergy (white), and bourgeois (red), which were the estates of the old regime in France. When the Tricolour was formally adopted in 1794, its colors symbolized the values of the French Revolution: liberty, equality, brotherhood, democracy, secularism, and modernization. Today, that motto has been shortened to Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité , which translates to Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood.

One popular interpretation suggests the colors may have also symbolized important people in French history. Blue symbolizes Saint Martin (Martin of Tours), a Christian saint with a shrine in Paris. Red symbolizes Saint Denis, a martyr and saint who was the Bishop of Paris. White symbolizes the Virgin Mary or Joan of Arc. The Symbol of a Nation The history behind the French Tricolour, is just one of the many interesting facts about France . As with other nations, France's flag is highly symbolic of the nation's core values. Was this page useful? National Flag of France National Flag of France Proportions: 2:3 French Flag Description: The flag of France consists of three equal vertical stripes - the left stripe is blue; the middle white; and the right side is red. Advertiser Links [ what's this? ] French Flag Meaning: The French flag is based on a red, white and blue cockade (a badge of concentric circles) which was worn by King Louis XVI while addressing a revolutionary gathering in Paris. The King had added white to the cockade as it is the traditional color of French royalty. Red and blue are also the traditional livery colors of Paris, the country's capital city.

French Flag History: The French flag was adopted in May 1794, making it one of the world's oldest flags. The French flag was created in 1790, but with the colors were reversed to how they appear on the flag today. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo the French flag was put out of use, however it was reintroduced in 1830 and has remained in use ever since. Interesting French Flag Facts: The French flag is commonly known as the 'French Tricolore', and has been the inspiration for many other flags around the world. World FlagsAlphabetical list of all world flags. F Colours of the Flag (Germany) This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website Colours of the Flag (Germany) Index of all German Pages Origins of the Colours The German flag consists of the colors of the coat-of-arms of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (i.e. the First Reich) - a black eagle, with red beak and claws, on a gold field. The red, at least, does not mean anything; it is usual to paint the claws red, unless the beast itself is red or on a red field.

The Belgian tricolour has a similar origin: the dukes of Brabant bore a gold lion with red claws and tongue on a black field. Anton Sherwood, 19 October 1995 The black-red-gold was not taken from the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. That is only a legend, even though one must admit it appears to be logical. We have to go back only to 1813, to the time of the Liberation War against Napoleon. It was not only a war for independence, but also for German unification, after the breakdown of the Roman Empire in 1806. During the war there was a free corps called Lützowsche Jäger (Lützow's Rifles), soldiers - especially students - which became pioneers of the national movement. They wore - by chance - black tunics with red facings. From these colours the first flag of the student movement [ Jenaer Burschenschaft ] after the war was inspired: Gules, a fess Sable, an oakleaf Or.

Shortly afterwards the gold was given an equal rank, to make the flag similar to the French tricolour , a symbol of the revolution and of a new beginning. Similarly to the Tricolore, the flag was then called Dreifarb (tricolour). However black-red-gold would not only stay as colours of a student movement, they were to become the German national colours. Therefore it was necessary to find a good reason for black-red-gold. A clever student from Jena declared, that these were the old Imperial colours. All fellows agreed, because this way the colours were given an acceptable historical background. And if you want, you can establish a relationship between this flag and the old Imperial coat of arms. But such relationship is only a happy accident. Source: Hattenhauer 1984 .

Carsten Linke, 24 May 1996 With due respect to Smith 1975 and Hattenhauer 1984 I personally do not quite agree with the theory of the German colours originating in the uniform of the Lützowsche Jäger, which was all black (to the point they were known as the schwarze Schar or black troop) except for the lapel and cuff facings which were red and the buttons which were gold. I do not say it is impossible that such uniform could originate a black-red-gold triband, but honestly I find its similarity to the livery colours of the old Reich far greater. Santiago Dotor, 2 October 2000 According to Putzger's Historischer Atlas 1925, these colours also appeared on the flags of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Reuss ältere Linie (old line) and jüngere Linie (young line). Ziko Marcus Sikosek, 2 October 2000 It is true that the Landesfarben of Reuss (both lines) and of Waldeck-Pyrmont were black-red-yellow.

As far as I know, the national colors were always referred to as black-red-gold, although shades were not mentioned. Occasionally gold was a slightly darker color than yellow, but this could not be depended on. It would be odd if the national colors were chosen because they were the colors of three of the smaller German states and it is fairly clear that the national colors were chosen because it was believed (probably mistakenly) that these were the traditional national colors. This may possibly have also been affected by the colors of the Lützow Free Corps, the colors of the Jena Burschenschaft , and the arms of the Holy Roman Empire . As far as I know, there is no 19th century evidence of any influence from Reuss or Waldeck-Pyrmont . Norman Martin, 2 October 2000 The theory that the black-red-gold originated from the Lützow Free Corps is advocated in Schurdel 1995 . Schurdel says the colours of the uniforms originated from black being the colour in fashion of the time.

As far as I understand him, the colours on the uniforms were adopted for a tricolour, as the Germans wanted a tricolour just as the French had one, but the German tricolour should have its own colours - naturally, I suppose, as they had been fighting Napoleon. The black-red-gold was developed in the years 1815-1848 and was for the first time officially adopted by the parliament of the German Confederation in Frankfurt on 9 March 1848. The idea that it was the old national colours which were adopted for the tricolour was an idea invented for marketing the colours, and believed by many (such as the members of the Bundestag when the flag was adopted in 1848), but the resemblance was really just coincidental, according to Schurdel 1995 .

Elias Granqvist, 2 October 2000 So the colours are the same as those in the old Imperial coat-of-arms (even if the livery colours, strictly speaking, would omit the red) and the members of parliament who discussed and passed the law believed those were the traditional German colours, but actually they come from the almost-completely-black uniforms of a small Prussian volunteer force. How strange... Santiago Dotor, 3 October 2000 Colour Specifications Today I got a letter from the German Federal Ministry of the Interior whom I had asked for the correct colour shades of the national flag. The reply of 30 July 1998 states: "In accordance to article 22 of the Constitution the federal colours for the Federal Republic of Germany are black-red-gold. Technical prescriptions of the colour shades had not been fixed by the Federal Minister of the Interior, since these always change in the course of the years.

Currently the following colour shades are used: - for the federal flag: black = 100% black or HKS black red = 100% magenta + 100% yellow or HKS 14 gold = 10% magenta + 100% yellow or HKS 4 " Dieter Linder, 5 August 1998 As approximate colour shades Pantone 032C (for red) and Pantone 109C (for gold) can be used. Armand Noel du Payrat, 13 March 2001 German flag colours are officially specified in RAL.

These can be transcribed into the Pantone and HKS systems as follows, I also have a ministerial department's CMYK recommendation: Colour C 0, M 100, Y 100, K 0 Gold / yellow HKS 5 C 0, M 10, Y 100, K 0 These semi-official CMYK values result in a slighty too light yellow, as RAL 1028 corresponds to a shade between PMS 116 and 123 or CMYK C 0, M 35, Y 100, K 0. The semi-official CMYK values for yellow correspond to the Pantone colours given by Armand du Payrat. As for the shade he gives for red, 032, it is as exact as PMS 485, as the differences between those shades are minimal and neither corresponds exactly to the official RAL colour. Ralf Stelter, 13 March 2001 Gold or Chrome Yellow?

During the time of the first republic (1919-1933) especially monarchists used black-red-yellow (instead of gold) as a spiteful nickname for the new flag, or disdainfully called the gold mustard yellow. Carsten Linke, 2 May 1996 I read that the gold on the German flag, when in a real flag and not on paper, is chrome yellow. Pascal Vagnat, 6 May 1996 I'm not sure how the vexillological shorthand "Au" is really defined, but for clarity I would call the bottom stripe of the German flag simply "Y+". Au implies for me a "metallic colour", which is definitely not correct for German flags. However, in many official publications German flags are shown with a metallic golden stripe (as the authorities take the laws too literally). Traditionally, "Gold" in the German triband, has been just a poetic term for yellow. Marcus Schmöger, 28 March 2003 German vexillologist Arnold Rabbow said very wisely that, "in reality the German colours have always been black-red-yellow, but from the very beginning they were called black-red-gold".

Santiago Dotor, 3 April 2003 Colours on Other German Flags German flag laws usually do not specify the colour shades. They simply state colour names. For instance, in the case of North Rhine-Westphalia , "Die Landesflagge besteht aus drei gleich breiten Querstreifen, oben grün, in der Mitte weiß, unten rot." - the flag of the Land consists of three horizontal stripes of equal width, at the top green, in the middle white, at the bottom red. That is similar for almost all other Länder (except for Mecklenburg-West Pomerania ). For my images I usually use the colours that seem most appropriate to me regarding the information in books and from actual flag sightings: Black (RGB 0-0-0), white (RGB 255-255-255) and to great extent red (RGB 255-0-0) are no problem. For yellow/gold - not only in the federal flags, but also e.g. in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania or Berlin I usually use a colour that is close to the above specification .

Since this would be quite non-browser safe (RGB 251-221-0) I use 255-230-0 (halfway between the BS shades 255-204-0 and 255-255-0). I know 255-230-0 is not browser-safe, however 255-204-0 seems too dark, and 255-255-0 is definitely too bright. So, I prefer 255-230-0, as it reflects better the actual shade of yellow in most German flags. For blue I usually use 0-0-204, unless I have evidence for something different (e.g. Bavaria ). For green I usually use 0-153-0. Marcus Schmöger, 24 September 2001 Colors on the BRD and DDR flags The two German flags were not identical; DDR had an emblem and a different shade of yellow.

Al Kirsch, 3 April 2003 I originally got the timeframe wrong, but for the first ten or so years, the German Democratic Republic (a.k.a. East Germany) flew the plain black-red-gold horizontal triband, i.e., identical to the West German flag. The emblem wasn't put on the flag until 1959. Both German constitutions (i.e., East and West) specified the national colors as black-red-gold. Having grown up in E Germany and having been in the middle of unification with W Germany in 1990, I have seen a lot of German flags (both East and West) and there just isn't any discernable difference in colors. Do you have any sources to support your claim? It's always called gold, never yellow. This may irritate some flag geeks who may claim that as far as flags are concerned, there should be no difference between yellow and gold, but German republicans tend to take this issue very seriously. In the early days of the German (Weimar) republic, monarchists and other anti-republicans used to mock the new national colors, esp.

the gold (which was new, the imperial flag having been black-white-red), calling the national colors black-red-yellow or (even worse) black-red-mustard. This has been such a sensitive issue that disparaging the flag is still a felony until, so you may actually get in trouble (at least in theory) if you call the bottom shade anything other than gold. Thorsten, 3 April 2003 My source is Smith 1975 . Al Kirsch, 3 April 2003 It may very well be - and probably is - that the two German governments had different specifications for the precise shades of red and "gold" used in their respective flags. Probably not so for the third color, since as we know, "black is black (I want my baby back)." Anyway, we should not take these slight differences in shade, assuming they existed, as meaning the BRD and DDR used different "colors." Many countries (including, e.g., the United States) have changed their precise color specifications over time; "Old Glory blue,"" the color now used in the official specification for the S&S, is somewhat darker than "national flag blue," which was used in an earlier version.

But I would not construe that to mean that the U.S. flag now is anything other than the same "red, white, and blue" it has always been. Joe McMillan, 4 April 2004 The supposed difference in color probably stems from the fact, that the West German (and now whole German) authorities have always claimed, that the designation black-red-gold does mean, that the bottom stripe should be really "metallic gold", as they publish it in official books, e.g. [ lab00 ] and earlier editions of this book. Dark yellow is only meant to be a cheap surrogate. On the other hand, East German authorities always printed the bottom stripe in a (dark) yellow, which is historically, heraldically, vexillologically correct. Real flags (cloth) always showed a (dark) yellow colour in both cases, that of course might have differed somewhat due to different production procedures and specifications. This is a good example for the difference between "book vexillology"" and "cloth vexillology".

Marcus Schmöger, 4 April 2003 France Flag Printables Don't forget to visit our online Advent Calendar today, for some lovely new colouring pages and other fun things to do! France Flag Printables The French flag - also known as the Tricolour - can be found here in all sorts of useful shapes and sizes and formats, ready to print. The National flag of France is a vertical tricolour consisting of three equally sized stripes coloured blue, white and red. Blue and red are the traditional colours of Paris, featuring on the cities coat of arms. The flag was adopted in May 1853.

Question: What colour is the leftmost stripe on the French flag?
Answer: Blue