In a month full of flag-waving – the Olympics, protests and, of course, Independence Day – it’s clearer than ever that few things define a nation like its flag.
But where do these standards come from?
The idea of a banner to indicate royal identity can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, when a white banner was used to announce the presence of the king in 11th century BC China.
In an age of illiteracy, flags were an easy way to indicate the presence of royalty or aristocrats. They could also be a sign that the king or aristocrat meant business. And so ancient Egyptian standards featured religious and militant symbols such as sacred animals, spears, and fan-like shapes to represent a fleet of boats.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, heraldry became popular among European nobility as a sign of higher status. The coat of arms was originally used to identify soldiers on the battlefield. The symbols typically appeared on armor and pennants, and later were also used for the livery of a noble family (thus appearing on chariots, seals, and farmsteads).
These symbols often included some kind of shield and arrows or spears; sometimes crowns and anchors. As the imagery became more diverse, local flora and fauna were added, and so there are armors with acorns or hares.
Around this time, in the 11th century, Europe was gripped by religious fervor. During the Crusades, when Christian armies traveled the world to strengthen that faith and oppose Islam, a number of European monarchies changed their own flags as a sign of allegiance. Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway and England all adopted flags of white or red, featuring a simple cross.
The Union Jack of Great Britain is a combination of three crosses, namely those of Saint George (patron saint of England), Saint Andrew (Scotland) and Saint Patrick (Ireland).
Interestingly, the flag of the Netherlands is the oldest tricolour still in use in the world. Adopted in 1660, it consists of horizontal stripes of red, white and blue, representing ideals that have universal appeal (red represents bravery and strength; white represents peace and honesty; blue represents truth and justice).
As the Dutch fought and won their war of independence against Spain, this flag became a symbol of freedom and republican government and served as a model for the later development of the tricolor.
In the 1790s, when France was going through its bloody revolution, the template was ready and waiting. This country changed the stripes from horizontal to vertical and found that the colors matched them perfectly. The red and blue here represent Paris: blue for Saint Genevieve, the city’s patron saint, and red for Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris and beheaded martyr.
The drama and resounding success of the French Revolution cemented the status of the tricolour and of red, white and blue as colours to play with. As country after country transitioned from monarchy to republic or colony to republic in the 19th and 20th centuries, tricolours flourished across the country, in Italy, Luxembourg, Romania and Belgium.
Former African colonies took their cues from the three colors of the Ethiopian flag, which have been used since the 19th century: green, yellow and red. Ethiopia served as a source of inspiration because the country was never colonized, apart from a five-year occupation by Mussolini’s Italy.
Of course, India’s tricolor would follow its own path: saffron represents strength and courage, white represents peace and truth, green represents fertility and growth, and the Dharma chakra in the center as a reminder that all three require effort.
