Thread by @culturaltutor

Why are so many flags red, white, and blue?

It all started 452 years ago in the Netherlands...

The study of flags is called vexillology, and it's a surprisingly interesting subject filled with stories both fabulous and bizarre.

Like how every single national flag in the world is rectangular... apart from the flag of Nepal:

And, of all those rectangular flags, only two are square — Switzerland and the Vatican City.

However, the Vatican flag doesn't have to be square; that's just how it is most often displayed.

Still, that doesn't mean the rest of the world's flags are the same shape.

All flags have highly specific, sometimes even unique proportions, both of overall shape and of individual elements.

The flag of Latvia is 1:2 while the flag of Ecuador is 2:3, for example.

But national flags aren't actually that old — because "countries" as we think of them today aren't that old either.

It was only in the 19th century that the modern nation state started to emerge, and with it the need for national flags.

Before that flags had only really been common at sea and in war, in both cases for identification.

Thus many modern flags originate in military banners or naval ensigns.

Both the Union Jack and the US flag were ensigns before becoming national flags.

The oldest national flag in the world is that of Denmark, which was adopted in 1625.

Like most flags, its use goes back further than its official adoption.

Legend says that during the 13th century it fell from the heavens in a battle fought by King Valdemar II.

So perhaps the world's oldest flag is really that of Japan, the Hinomaru, which had been used in some form for over one thousand years before its official adoption.

In any case, the world's first red, white, and blue flag was adopted in 1660 by the Dutch Republic.

It originated in the Prince's Flag (featuring orange rather than red) which had been created in 1572 — while the Netherlands was fighting for independence from Habsburg Spain.

Of course, the most famous red, white, and blue flag is that of France — the Tricolore — which was adopted in 1794, after the revolution.

It combined the traditional colours of Paris, blue for Saint Martin and red for Saint Denis, with the white of the House of Bourbon.

Its simple design of three stripes, directly inspired by the Dutch flag, was supposed to be a democratic contrast with the autocratic symbols of old, royal France.

And it was also a reference to the ideals of republicanism and revolt embodied by the flag of the Netherlands.

Countless countries, from Paraguay to Italy, have since adopted either the colours or form of the French Tricolore.

Like the colours of the Norwegian flag, designed by Fredrik Meltzer in 1821, which were an explicit reference both to France and to the Netherlands.

And there's more.

In the 17th century Russia started buying ships from the Netherlands, but the Russians didn't have a proper naval ensign... so they just borrowed the Dutch one and rearranged its order.

That ensign eventually became the national flag.

And soon enough red, white, and blue became the Pan-Slavic colours — despite coming from the Dutch.

Hence the prevalence of red, white, and blue flags in Central and Eastern Europe, most of which were adopted as nations gained independence from the Austro-Hungarians or Ottomans.

Another influential red-white-blue flag is the Union Jack.

It combined St George's Cross and St Andrew's Cross (from 1606) and St Patrick's Saltire (from 1801) — different origins to France and the Netherlands.

Via the British Empire it ended up on other flags around the world.

What about the US flag?

Its origins are surprisingly murky, though it seems to have been based on British ensigns, whether of the Royal Navy or the East India Company — which also influenced the national flag of Malaysia.

So that partly explains the prevalence of red, white, and blue flags — there were a handful of influential flags, beginning with the Netherlands, that have shaped dozens of others.

Though, of course, some red, white, and blue national flags do have different origins.

Besides, these colours are potent in meaning and have been a major part of art and symbolism for millennia.

Nor to forget the practical restraint of the cost of the dyes once needed to produce physical flags — only four national flags have purple in them for a reason.

And there are other colour schemes around the world.

Like the green, yellow, and red of the Ethiopian flag, which has influenced the flags of many other African countries, or the black, white, green, and red of the Arab Revolt.

These, too, have their own fascinating stories.