Have You Always Wondered?

A Brief History of flags

Flags. Flags represent who and what we are. Where we're from, our religion, our language. We did a chapter of a history of flags  which look similar. In this chapter we're going to talk about how the flags we recognize today came to be. Let's start with possibly the most recognized flag in the world. The Union Jack. So how did the Union Jack come to be? Well it's a bit complicated. When the Union Jack was originally made, the flag represented the 2 kingdoms that made the United Kingdom Scotland and England. First history of English and Scottish flag. The English flag which is a white banner and red cross is also called St. George's Cross was believed to be formed when William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066. It is believed that during the Crusades, England and the French used 2 flags. 1 flag had a red cross with a white banner, France used it. And the 2nd one was the same except the colors are switched white cross and a red banner, England used the white cross. Eventually France and England abandoned their cross flags. France used many flags with blue, while England used the red cross flag. The first recorded usage of the flag was in 1542 used as the flag for the English Navy. Now Scotland's flag. Scotland's flag is a blue banner with a white x cross also known as St Andrews cross. The white x cross represents St Andrew who was crucified in an x shaped cross in Caledonia (Scotland). The blue was copied from the French. But to distinguish from the French they used a white x cross obviously to not confuse their flag with France's, the first ever recorded usage of Scotland's flag was in 1547. Now the Union Jack. The Union Jack was made in the early 1600's, when King James VI of Scotland also became King James I of England. James dual numbers decided to make a flag between the union of England and Scotland.  There are 2 versions of the first Union Jack. There is the iconic English version flown in England which is the English red cross with a white outline and behind it is Scotland's flag blue banner and white X cross. Then there is the less iconic Scottish version which the white X cross and behind that was the English cross with the white outline and behind that is a blue banner. In 1707 when Scotland officially joined England to make the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The English version of the Union Jack was used and when the Kingdom of Ireland joined ( before we do talk about the K. Of Ireland let's talk about the Irish flag at the time). Ireland's flag known as St Patrick's Saltire was used in 1783 and is a white banner with a red x cross. In 1801 Ireland joined the Union. Which meant the red X cross had to be included so what the British did was put the red x cross inside the Scottish white cross making it the official British flag from 1801-Present. Stars and stripes. The stars and stripes might be extremely simple to a reader like you. So let's get into the history of the stars and stripes. Of course the 13 red and white stripes represent the 13 Colonies, red represents blood and white represents peace. The stars in the corner represents the states. The first usage of the flag or close to it was in 1776. But the Americans believe or not didn't originally have the stars it had a Union Jack until they decided to change it to stars and not a Union Jack. The color of the American flag is red white and blue, why? Well it possibly intentionally ripped off the British color scheme red, white and blue, or it can simply be a coincidence. French flag. France's flag is a red white and blue tri-color. The first usage of the iconic tri-color was in the 1790's when French people rebelled against the French monarchy. The French flag was inspired by the flag of Paris which is simply red and blue. But not wanting the entirety of France being represented by red and blue the French Republicans put white in the middle either representing peace or the French monarchy which LOVED the color white. France wasn't the first country to use a tri-color. The Netherlands were using the tri-color to distinguish themselves from their Spanish rulers in 1548. Of course the French didn't rip off the Dutch. Which flag of the world do you like the most?