sort by color

The color is the first of the characteristics of the flags, and especially the most symbolic. Moreover, we do not say to speak about it, "the hello to the colors" or "the rise of the colors".
The first function of flags was to distinguish armies on battlefields. As such, the color is very important because it is the one that allows the best and the fastest to distinguish its camps and enemy lines.
The first flags were single-color, which is the easiest to manufacture. 1000 years ago, the very limited number of active flags allowed it. Later, as the number of flags increased and manufacturing techniques improved, the flags evolved. Appearance of two, three colors ...
Then addition of ornamentation, first cross crusades and decorations more and more sophisticated.

Colors have more symbolic meanings that can be local or national. However, we often find quite similar meanings for each color.

Monocolour flag

Black flags

In the West, black represents death, mourning, darkness or even fear and chaos. For this reason it is found in some flags to evoke the dark hours that the country has known as for example Estonia. Black is also used in many African flags to evoke negritude. He is also associated with Islam in pan-Arab flags.

rashidun_632_661 — caliphate Rashidun ( 632 - 661 )

abbasside_750_1258 — Abbasid dynasty ( 750 - 1258 )

mahdiyah_1885_1899 — The Mahdiyah (Sudan Mahdist) ( 1885 - 1899 )

afghanistan_1880_1901 — Emirate of Afghanistan ( 1880 - 1901 )

khwarezm_shahs_1077_1231 — Turkish-Persian dynasty of Khwazrezm-Shahs ( 1077 - 1231 )

Green flags

Green often represents vegetation and agriculture. In Western culture, it is a positive color associated with hope and luck. This color is also one of the symbols of Islam found in all pan-Arab flags.

fatimide — dynasty of the Fatimids (979 - 1171)

libye_1977_2011 — Libyan Arab Jamahiriya popular and socialist (1977 - 2011)

Yellow flags

Yellow is a joyous color used to represent joy, celebration or warmth. In a more figurative way, it represents the sun or sometimes the wheat fields (Ukraine) . It can also evoke gold, a mineral richness for Colombia or Venezuela. The yellow represents simply the sand beaches, tourist wealth of the country, for Bahamas or Barbados.

brunei_1906 — Sultanate of Brunei before 1906

ayyoubides_1171_1341_XIX — Ayyubid dynasty (1171 - 1341)

maguindanao_XVI_XIX — Sultanate of Maguindanao between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century

Associated with the Blue Ensign in the flag of Niue, it evokes the sun.

White flags

White is a positive color associated with peace and innocence. In a more figurative way, the white represents the snow in the flag of Lebanon. In the Arab countries, Vietnam, South Korea or India, white is the color of mourning. White is one of the pan-Arab colors.
In battles, the white flag is a sign of truce or surrender.

france_pavillon — French naval flag in the 17th and 18th century in 1814 and from 1815 to 1830

omeyyades_661_750 — caliphate of the Umayyads (661 - 750)

afghanistan_96_97 — Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996 - 1997)

blanc — white flag, sign of truce or surrender

jerusalem_1099_1162 — Jerusalem (1099 - 1162)

Red flags

The red evokes violence, passion and prohibition. In the flags, the red often represents the blood and figuratively the struggles and sufferings of the people. Since the Russian Revolution, the red evokes communism.
It is the color that is most present in the flags, 75% of the flags contain. It is included in all flags bearing Pan-Arab, Pan-African or Pan-Slave colors.

ottoman_1383_1453 — Ottoman Empire (1383 - 1453)

ayutthaya_1351_1767 — Kingdom of Ayutthaya (Thaïlande) (1351 - 1767)

maldives_XIX — Sultanate of the Maldives before 1903

maroc_1666_1915 — Sultanate of Morocco Alawite dynasty (1666 - 1915)

yemen_18_23 — Mutawakkilite kingdom of Yemen (1918 - 1923)

hedjaz_16_17 — Kingdom of Hejaz (Saudi Arabia) (1916 - 1917)

oman_XVIII_1970 — Sultanate of Muscat and Oman from the 18th century to 1970

Muqdisho_Mogadiscio_1860 — Sultanate of Muqdisho (Mogadishu) before 1860

cote_pirate_1786_1818 — Pirate coast (1786 - 1818)

Orange flags

Orange is a cheerful color, evoking heat, light and sun. Later, he was associated with the idea of danger (orange light). The orange appeared only late and remains very little present in the flags.
There is also orange in the flags of Bhutan and Sri Lanka to talk about Buddhist religion.

marathe_1674_1819 — Marathi Empire (India) (1674 - 1819)

The orange flag of sports fans in the Netherlands is not a historic flag but only a sporting flag.

paybas_sup — Supporters of the Netherlands

Blue flag

Very rare flag of blue color, I only know this copy.

two-colored flags

Red and white flags

With 2 horizontal bands white and red

madagascar_1810_1885 — Kingdom of Merina (1810 - 1885)

boheme_1198_1918 — Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic) (1198 - 1918)

tchequie_90_92 — 1st flag of the Czech Republic (1990 - 1992)

haute_autriche — Upper Austria (Austria)

utrecht — Province of Utrecht (Netherlands)

With 2 horizontal bands red and white

galicie_lodomerie_1772_1918 — Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1772 - 1918)

courlande — duchy of Courland (1561 - 1795)

alsace — Alsace the "Rot a Wiss" (red and white)

indonesie_49_65 — Islamic state of Indonesia (1949 - 1965)

soleure — canton of Solothurn (Switzerland)

Other red and white flags

brabant — Province of North Brabant (Netherlands)

chuquisaca — Department of Chuquisaca (Bolivia)

schwytz — canton of Schwyz (Switzerland)

atlantico — Department of Atlántico (Colombia)

Blue and white flags

National blue and white flags

With 2 white and blue horizontal stripes

lucerne — Canton of Lucerne (Switzerland)

With 2 blue and white horizontal stripes

valle — Department of Valle del Cauca (Colombia)

Blue flags with white decor

ishikawa — Prefecture of Ishikawa (Japan)

andres — San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina Archipelago (Colombia)

White flags with blue decor

wakayama — Prefecture of Wakayama (Japan)

Blue and white flags of South and Central America

By exception, because they do not only contain blue and white, we will also describe the flags of Central and South America, inherited from the United Provinces of Central America and the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata.

Current countries that have kept these colors

United Provinces of Central America

amerique_centrale_1823_1839 — Federal Republic of Central America (1821 - 1822) then (1824 - 1841)

PUAC1824 — United Provinces of Central America (1823 - 1824) then (1842 - 1844)

amerique_centrale_1896_1898 — Great Republic of Central America (1896 - 1898)

United Provinces of Río de la Plata

plata_17810_1835 — United Provinces of Río de la Plata (1810 - 1835)

argentine_1819_1831 — United Provinces of Río de la Plata (1819 - 1831)

argentine_1831_1850 — Argentine Confederation (1831 - 1850)

argentine_1850_1861 — Argentine Confederation (1850 - 1861)

Green and white flags

National green and white flags

With 2 horizontal bands white and green

antioquia — Department of Antioquia (Colombia)

vaupes — Department of Vaupés (Colombia)

With 2 horizontal bands green and white

guajira — Department of La Guajira (Colombia)

White flags with green decor

Green flags with white decor

cruz — Department of Santa Cruz (Bolivia)

gall — Canton of St. Gallen (Switzerland)

risaralda — Department of Risaralda (Colombia)

Brown / crimson and white flags

hiroshima — Hiroshima Prefecture (Japan)v

yamaguchi — Yamaguchi Prefecture (Japan)

Orange and white flags

Rare enough color and rather late, the orange appears especially on the flags of prefectures of Japan.

fukushima — Prefecture of Fukushima (Japan)

Red and yellow flags

Soviet Union

USSR

A first series of flags refer to the Soviet Union. Red flag with a hammer and a yellow sickle topped with a yellow star.
To see all the flags of the Soviet Socialist Republics, see USSR .

Kingdom of Aragon and Barcelona County

Red and yellow are the colors of the kingdom of Aragon and the county of Barcelona, they will be included in the flags of Spain, Andorra, Catalonia and some other Spanish provinces. They are also found in parts of southern France that have been related to them at some point in their history.

Kingdoms of Aragon and Catalonia

Spain and Andorra take back these two colors

Old French regions

Other red and yellow flags

tolima — Department of Tolima (Colombia)

Blue and yellow flags

National green and white flags

With 2 horizontal bands blue and yellow

basse_autriche — Lower Austria (Austria)

Other blue and yellow flags

tokushima — Tokushima Prefecture (Japan)

Green and red flags

National green and red flags

With 2 horizontal bands red and green

arauca — Department of Arauca (Colombia)

Red and blue flags

Green and yellow flags

With 2 horizontal bands yellow and green

narino — Department of Nariño (Colombia)

vichada — Department of Vichada (Colombia)

Other yellow and green flags

mauritanie_59_17 — Mauritania (1959 - 2017)

miyazaki — Prefecture of Miyazaki (Japan)

caldas — Department of Caldas (Colombia)

Red and black flags

Yellow and black flags

wurtemberg — State of Baden-Württemberg (Germany)

autriche_empire — Empire of Austria (1867 - 1918)

anhalt — State of Saxony-Anhalt (Germany)

schaffhouse — Canton of Schaffhausen (Switzerland)

White and black flags

fribourg — Canton of Friborg (Switzerland)

bale_ville — Canton of Basel-Stadt (Switzerland)

bahamas_cors — Corsairs republic 1706 - 1718 (Bahamas)

Flags with violet color

This color is very rare, in the national flags currently in operation, we find in the flag of Dominica. It is also found in regional flags such as Japanese prefectures.

quindio — Department of Quindío (Colombia)

Current flags in 5 colors

Current flags in 6 colors

Current flags in 8 colors

juif — Jewish Autonomous Oblast (Russia)

Historic pan-African colors

It is necessary to distinguish the traditional colors and the official colors. The traditional colors are green, yellow and red. It’s colors are taken from the Ethiopian flag, 1 ^er country to free themselves from the colonial occupation of Italy. The official colors of panafricanism, defined are red, black and green.

Traditional pan-African colors

Official pan-African colors

panafrique — Official flag of pan-africanism

rwanda_62_01 — 1^st flag of Rwanda (1962 - 2001)

Pan-African colors in non-African flags

These flags generally correspond to countries with a large black population and claiming this origin. This population has often arrived as a slave in the nineteenth century and has conquered since independence.

saint_christophe — Saint Kitts and Nevis

Panarabic colors

These colors are red, green, white and black.
The red color is that of the Hashemite house of Muhammad, the green comes from the Fatimid dynasty, the white comes from that of the Umayyads and the black from that of the Abbassids.

afghanistan2013 — Afghanistan (2013 - 2021)

emirats_arabes_unis — United Arab Emirates

Balcony colors

These colors, taken from the Russian flag, are white, blue and red.
- The red color meant in the Byzantine tradition "sovereignty" and "power",
- The blue color that of "the Virgin Mother", protecting Russia,
- The white color that of "freedom" and "independence".
Today, the interpretation has become:
The white color means peace, purity, innocence and perfection, the blue color is the color of faith and fidelity, permanence and the red color symbolizes energy, strength, blood shed for the Fatherland. [1]