Federative Republic of Brazil
Brazil's flag developed out of the older flag of the Empire of Brazil. The green field represents the House of Braganza and the yellow diamond respresents the House of Habsburg. The arms of the Empire of Brazil was replaced with a blue sphere studded with stars symbolizing the night sky above Rio. It's worth noting that Brazil has one of the highest rates of monarchist sympathies in the New World, and it would be theoretically possible to see a monarchist restoration sometime in the future.
Like the flag of the United States, the stars each correspond to one of Brazil's Federative Units (similar to states). Whenever a new Federative Unit is created, an additional star is added. The flag was last updated in 1992. The motto means "order and progress", and is derived from the longer saying, "order as the basis; progress as the goal".
I think this is one of the world's most easily identifyable and beautiful flags. It's simple enough to be memorable and unique enough to really stand out.
Oriental Republic of Uruguay
The flag of Uruguay (along with the flag of Argentina) is charged with the Sun of May, a symbol that represents Inti, the Incan god of the sun. Symbolically, that represents the sunlight dawning on a new era. Like the flag of the United States, the stripes on Uruguay's flag represent the nine original departments (like states) of the country.
This one is interesting to be because of its unique symbology. The flag is one of the few world flags to feature indiginous symbology. The colors and design are appealing to me, and I think that it's a beautiful tribute to the country's culture, history, and heritage.
Republic of Panama
Panama's flag was officially adopted in 1925, and is a symbol of unity, strength, and cooperation. The flag was designed specifically to call for bipartisanship, reflecting the politics of the time. The stars stand for the rival political parties at the time of the flag's adoption. Blue was the color of the conservative faction and red was the color of the liberal faction. The fields of white surrounding the stars stands for peace.
A truly successful flag is one that is unique and identifyable, symbolic, and yet simple enough that someone could easily freehand it or a child could draw it in a school. Too many flags become overcomplicated and too busy with symbols. In my opinion, Panama's flag is one of the best.
Co-operative Republic of Guyana
Guyana's flag, adopted in 1966 upon gaining independence from the UK, is nicknamed "the golden arrowhead" for obvious reasons. It's got a pretty cool history of vexillogical cooperation. After Guyana's independence, the flag was suggested (minus the black and white lines around the arrows) by an America vexillologist.
The red was to symbolize zeal, gold for mineral wealth, and green for forests and agriculture. The arrow shapes represented progress. The black and white lines were later added at the suggestion of the College of Arms of the United Kingdom, creating a cleaner division between the colors and representing encurance and rivers respectively.
The reason I like this flag is partially because of the story of its design and partially because it's just nice to look at. The colors are pleasant and symbolic, and I like flags that try to blaze their own way in creating a unique culture for the country over which they fly.
Republic of Suriname
The flag of Suriname was adopted in 1975 upon its independence from the Netherlands, and while it remains the only sovereign state outside of Europe where Dutch is spoken by the majority of the population, the flag was designed with its own distinctive color scheme to separate itself from its parent country.
The star represents unity in one of the world's most diverse countries. Green stands for hope, white stands for peace, and red stands for progess and love.
It's a unique flag, and features a slightly less common color scheme. It's also one of South America's lesser-known countries, so I really wanted to feature it to share its interesting history and culture.
That's all for today! Come back tomorrow for my top five flags from Europe.
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