Blue, Red And Green Flags

Hanging Country's Flags, Picture by Karan Dalal on Pexels

Have you ever wondered how many similar flags are there on the globe? As we know, the most frequent flag layout includes three colours; therefore, the flag is called a tricolour. While blue, white, and red might be the most popular colour combinations, there are lots of flags with different palettes. For example, blue, red, and green – do you know any flags carrying these colours? If not, read on and learn about five countries often unknown to most tourists. By discovering the history and meaning of their flags, we can unveil the mysteries of these destinations.

Red, blue and green flag of the Gambia

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Gambia_%2816-9%29.png

The national flag of the Gambia is a horizontal tricolour with the upper bar of red, middle bar of blue bordered by thin white stripes from both above and below, and the down green bar. These three colours represent the important objects of life in the Gambia.
Blue epitomises the Gambia River, the country’s key feature in terms of geography, from which its name derives.
Red symbolises the sun, the savanna, and the proximity to the equator.
Thin white stripes represent unity and peace.
Green, in its turn, stands for the forest, which plays a vital role in life of the Gambians, and the agriculture, the state’s main industry.
The flag has been in use since February 18, 1965, when the country became independent from the United Kingdom.

Blue, red and green flag of Azerbaijan

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Azerbaijan_%2816-9%29.png

The national flag of Azerbaijan is also a horizontal tricolour. The upper bar is light blue – the traditional colour of Turkic peoples. The middle bar is red – the colour symbolising progress – with a white crescent, which represents Islam, the country’s predominant religion, and a white eight-pointed star, the points of which stand for eight Turkic peoples – Azeris, Jagatais, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Ottomans (Turks), Seljuks, Tatars, and Turkomans. The lower bar is green, showing that Azerbaijan belongs to the Islamic states.

The history of the flag in its current form began in 1918 when the tricolour was adopted as the national flag. It was in use only until 1920 when Azerbaijan became part of the USSR under the name Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Flags kept changing every several years until 1952 when the flag remained unchanged until 1992. It had two bars: the broad upper one, red with the Soviet emblem of yellow hammer, sickle, and an outline of a five-pointed star; and the narrow lower one, of deep blue colour. In 1991, Azerbaijan became an autonomous state and adopted its own flag, the same it has today.

In 2007, the National Flag Square was created in Baku. A large flagpole – 162 m tall and 220 tons in weight – was mounted there. The flag attached to the pole was also quite large – 35 by 70 m in size and 350 kg in weight. Until 2011, this flagpole was the tallest worldwide, overtaken by the 165 m Dushanbe Flagpole. In 2017, the flagpole in Baku was dismantled due to the threat of its collapse. The Azerbaijani Flag Day, held on November 9 annually, is celebrated since 2009.

The blue, red and green flag of Namibia

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Namibia.png

Another flag featuring these three colours isn’t a simple tricolour. The Namibian flag has two triangles – the upper deep blue with the yellow image of the 12-pointed sun and the lower green; between them, a red stripe framed with two narrow white lines is placed.

The blue represents Namibia’s sky, the Atlantic Ocean, water resources, and rain.
The sun epitomises life and energy, while its yellow colour speaks of the country’s wealth.
The twelve rays are Namibia’s main ethnicities, divided into four large groups.
The white stands for peace, harmony, and unity.
The red symbolises the Namibian people as the most valuable resource, as well as their strength and determination to achieve a better future.
The green, in its turn, represents the country’s vegetation, as well as its agricultural resources.

The Namibian flag’s history isn’t long; it starts in 1990 when the country finally gained independence and was separated from the South African Republic. Meanwhile, the state uses other flags for the Presidential Standard and Namibian Defence Force.

The blue, red and green flag of New Caledonia

https://openclipart.org/detail/343439/new-caledonia

New Caledonia is an overseas territory of France in the South Pacific. As such, it actually uses two flags – the Tricolore of France and its own Kanak Flag (or FLNKS – The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front – flag). The latter presents a horizontal tricolour with bands of blue, red, and green (from up to down) and a round yellow disc offset to the left, which contains a black image of a traditional carved rooftop spear/spire/finial. The Kanak flag was adopted fairly recently, in 2010; since then, it’s been hoisted next to the Tricolore.

The meanings of the colours displayed on the flag are quite traditional. The blue symbolises the sky and the ocean, while the red stands for the blood of the Kanaks who sacrificed their lives fighting for independence. The green epitomises the land and the ancestors lying underground. The yellow disc is an outward symbol of the sun, and the construction shown within the disc is the so-called flèche faitière, a traditional roof decoration, and as such, the representation of the nation’s self-determination.

The green, red and blue flag of Eritrea

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Eritrea_%2816-9%29.png

The flag of Eritrea is divided into three parts: the green triangle in the right-upper corner (fly-side), the red triangle with a yellow wreath and an olive branch in the centre (hoist-side), and the blue triangle in the right lower corner (fly-side). The meanings of the colours are traditional. The widening green triangle epitomises the growth of agriculture, as well as livestock. The isosceles red triangle is the symbol of the blood shed by Eritreans who fought for freedom and independence; its narrowing shows the end of bloodshed. The yellow wreath stands for peace, unity, and natural resources. It has 30 leaves, 15 on each side, which symbolise thirty years spent on the struggle for independence. The olive branch in the middle of the wreath has three branches from each side; each branch has three leaves, nine altogether from either side. This indicates the nine languages and nine ethnic groups existing in Eritrea. At last, the widening blue triangle represents the increase in marine preservation and the development associated with the Red Sea.

https://picryl.com/media/flag-of-eritrea-1952-1961-c2cf7a

The flag of Eritrea has had a complicated history. Between 1935 and 1941, the country was occupied by the Italians. In 1949, Eritrea was handed over to Britain under a mandate of the UN. Arab nationalism grew, leading to the establishment of an autonomous state in 1950. Having gained independence in 1952, Eritrea got its own flag, known as the “Blue Flag”. It featured three olive branches on a blue background. In 1961, the Civil War started, and the Blue Flag was banned, but it remained the nation’s symbol of liberation. The current flag came into being in 1993, having derived some features from the previous flag. In 1995, the number of leaves on the wreath and the length-to-breadth ratio were modified.

To Sum Up

Now, you certainly know more about five completely different countries, if only about their flags. The only thing they have in common is, perhaps, their obscurity: all of those remain secluded destinations waiting for the tourists to discover their hidden beauty. How about making a trip to one of the red-blue-green countries? Hotelin.com offers a variety of hotels regardless of the chosen destination. Check the corresponding links attached to the names of the countries mentioned in the article. May your trip be unforgettable and unrivalled!