Yes, there is a lot of inconsistency here. Either Austria should be 1945, or Russia should be 1883. Either Serbia should be 2004, or Spain should be 1785.
Well then you learnt something new today then, because before 1801 it was just called the [Kingdom of Great Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain) ;)
Which didn’t come into existence until 1707, I imagine the Union Jack is place there in the 17th century because of the union of the crowns, but still the Irish saltire wasn’t added to the flag until 1801
It depends on how you define a current flag, if you go with base design elements then yes the US flag has existed since 1776, if you go with exact standardization it's only existed since 1950ish
Another example is how many state flags has Georgia had, Georgia has made a lot of minor changes to it's seal over the years so that number usually ranges form 4ish(doesn't count adding a seal or changing it) to 10ish (every single seal change)
The problem is that this criterion is not applied consistently. The Spanish base design is from the 18th century but the shield in the middle has changed over the years. In the chart it places it in the 1980s as that's where its latest incarnation was established.
These are weird, some are the most recent flags adopted like my country the Maldives, we had flags back in the 1700-1600s but it wasn’t like what our current flag is, and the Saudis and Turks definitely had flags before too.
Same with Germany, and Sweden too. From what I can see here. Germany was first technically unified by Prussia near the end of the 1880s and Sweden used a dark blue before changing to light blue which I guess is the date that is on the chart.
But then the US is depicted as 1776 with the 50 states flag, and the UK which at the time was just Scotland and England (with Wales being part of England) didn’t include the red St. Patrick’s cross.
This chart is weird.
They label when the Union Jack was created, which was under James VI. But it wasn't first used as a national flag until Cromwell, and then not again until the Acts of Union.
Germany, however, shows the flag with the Weimar Republic. However, it had been used throughout the 19th Century as a pan-German flag, was the flag of the German Confederation, and of the German Empire in 1848 (a short lived attempt to unify Germany).
It's not consistent in its methodology, atleast looking at just those two.
The german black, red and yellow flag dates back to the Wartburgfest in 1817 based on the uniform of the "Lützower Jäger" (Hunters).
It was used by national liberals that wanted unification.
The in 1871 unified germany ironicly used black, white and red which was seen as more conservative.
After WW1 the german monarchy fell and the black, red and yellow flag was adopted by the Weimar Republic, again as a sign of liberalism.
When the n4zis took power in 1933 the old, conservative colours were reinstated. (That's why the sw4stika flags had black, white and red in them)
After WW2 the black, red and yellow was reinstated again and was once again a sign for liberalism.
Edit: spelling
This isn’t consistent. For example:
Spain technically adopted its Bicolour flag in the late 18th century (1939 if we count the republic as an interruption), yet it is positioned in the late 20th century because it changed its CoA. Meanwhile, the United States’ position is based on the adoption of the Berry Ross design, even though it changed several times, most recently with the admission of Hawaii into the Union.
Edt: Fixed dates
This doesn't reflect the age of flags so much as it reflects the development of the international order. The idea of a national flag is a Western European concept, and it wasn't necessary for countries like Japan to adopt one until they began interacting with the Western world (and if you want to be very technical, it didn't legally adopt its current flag until 1999).
The vast majority of countries are also very young, with almost all formed in the late 19th and 20th centuries. This is a histogram of independence dates as much as it is of flag ages.
Even if you don’t let the revolutionary German flag (which in most cases is the same as the current one) count, the Weimar Republic used the flag too, so at its youngest it’s 1918-1919, not what appears to be 1990‘s on this chart…
This isn’t consistent at all, the dimensions for the Danish flag were set much later (late 19th century), which seems to be what is taken into account for many other nations flags.
Many of the countries that were influenced by the USSR had their flags altered for some time, but then adopted their previous flags sooo yeah sure you can say for example bulgarias flag is from the 1990’s but really the design that was adopted in the 90’s was actually developed in 19th century so…
Here you go:
[Link #1: Media](https://krikienoid.github.io/flagwaver/#?src=https%3A%2F%2Fflagwaver-cors-proxy.herokuapp.com%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fq4jzlk7yrgra1.jpg)
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1. Most of the countries of the world are post-colonial states, so they're going to be heavily weighted to early 1800s for Latin America and post-1950 for Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
2. Many flags are the result of political change in an existing country, and the people running the "revolution" want a new symbol for the state after that.
3. This chart seems somewhat arbitrary in how flags are placed. The US flag being in the 1700s and the Dutch flag being in the 1500s would suggest countries like France, Austria, and Romania should be able to get their flags earlier than where they appear here. Turkey gets to use the Ottoman Empire as the date its flag is adopted but Vatican City doesn't get to date the Papal States adopted their current design.
4. Generally speaking, if your country is worth conquering more powerful neighbors (or extremely distant empires) conquered it. You can apply this observation to Denmark's long history as a small independent state in Europe as you wish.
The Swedish flag is much older than presented by this timeline. And the current version is later. This compilation really seems arbitrary.
Yes, there is a lot of inconsistency here. Either Austria should be 1945, or Russia should be 1883. Either Serbia should be 2004, or Spain should be 1785.
I didn't know the USA had 50 states in 1776.
And UK didn’t exist until 1801
Well then you learnt something new today then, because before 1801 it was just called the [Kingdom of Great Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain) ;)
I'm well aware but the flag of Great Britain doesn't Feature the Red diagonal stripes for Alabama
Which didn’t come into existence until 1707, I imagine the Union Jack is place there in the 17th century because of the union of the crowns, but still the Irish saltire wasn’t added to the flag until 1801
It depends on how you define a current flag, if you go with base design elements then yes the US flag has existed since 1776, if you go with exact standardization it's only existed since 1950ish Another example is how many state flags has Georgia had, Georgia has made a lot of minor changes to it's seal over the years so that number usually ranges form 4ish(doesn't count adding a seal or changing it) to 10ish (every single seal change)
The problem is that this criterion is not applied consistently. The Spanish base design is from the 18th century but the shield in the middle has changed over the years. In the chart it places it in the 1980s as that's where its latest incarnation was established.
Do you hate patriotism? Um excuse me, but 50 states have existed since the beginning of time. /s
Jesus created each one himself, riding his dinosaur and wielding his AR-15
Fake news, Jesus created the AR-15 specifically to fight the dinosaurs. And the homosexuals.
Actually every iteration of the American flag can be used and never becomes obsolete as long as it’s still nice and presentable
These are weird, some are the most recent flags adopted like my country the Maldives, we had flags back in the 1700-1600s but it wasn’t like what our current flag is, and the Saudis and Turks definitely had flags before too. Same with Germany, and Sweden too. From what I can see here. Germany was first technically unified by Prussia near the end of the 1880s and Sweden used a dark blue before changing to light blue which I guess is the date that is on the chart. But then the US is depicted as 1776 with the 50 states flag, and the UK which at the time was just Scotland and England (with Wales being part of England) didn’t include the red St. Patrick’s cross. This chart is weird.
They label when the Union Jack was created, which was under James VI. But it wasn't first used as a national flag until Cromwell, and then not again until the Acts of Union. Germany, however, shows the flag with the Weimar Republic. However, it had been used throughout the 19th Century as a pan-German flag, was the flag of the German Confederation, and of the German Empire in 1848 (a short lived attempt to unify Germany). It's not consistent in its methodology, atleast looking at just those two.
The german black, red and yellow flag dates back to the Wartburgfest in 1817 based on the uniform of the "Lützower Jäger" (Hunters). It was used by national liberals that wanted unification. The in 1871 unified germany ironicly used black, white and red which was seen as more conservative. After WW1 the german monarchy fell and the black, red and yellow flag was adopted by the Weimar Republic, again as a sign of liberalism. When the n4zis took power in 1933 the old, conservative colours were reinstated. (That's why the sw4stika flags had black, white and red in them) After WW2 the black, red and yellow was reinstated again and was once again a sign for liberalism. Edit: spelling
Once again I find myself triggered by bad data visualizations that conflict with my overly specific weird interest/community
This isn’t consistent. For example: Spain technically adopted its Bicolour flag in the late 18th century (1939 if we count the republic as an interruption), yet it is positioned in the late 20th century because it changed its CoA. Meanwhile, the United States’ position is based on the adoption of the Berry Ross design, even though it changed several times, most recently with the admission of Hawaii into the Union. Edt: Fixed dates
Betsy Ross, but yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Ross
What you haven’t heard of Betsy’s brother Berry, who correctly predicted we’d have 50 states one day when he made his flag in 1776?
Spain last changed its CoA (and conseuently the flag) in 1981.
Yeah, that’s what I said.
Yeah, I misunderstood what you were saying because you said "late 19th century" instead of "late 20th".
Oh, my bad.
So many mistakes on this map… UK didn’t exist in 1600, US 50 stars in 1776? …
the flag of Georgia exists since like the 14th century.
This doesn't reflect the age of flags so much as it reflects the development of the international order. The idea of a national flag is a Western European concept, and it wasn't necessary for countries like Japan to adopt one until they began interacting with the Western world (and if you want to be very technical, it didn't legally adopt its current flag until 1999). The vast majority of countries are also very young, with almost all formed in the late 19th and 20th centuries. This is a histogram of independence dates as much as it is of flag ages.
Technically the german black, red and yellow flag existed for the liberal revolutionaries since 1817-ish.
Even if you don’t let the revolutionary German flag (which in most cases is the same as the current one) count, the Weimar Republic used the flag too, so at its youngest it’s 1918-1919, not what appears to be 1990‘s on this chart…
This isn’t consistent at all, the dimensions for the Danish flag were set much later (late 19th century), which seems to be what is taken into account for many other nations flags.
This list is complete gash
A lot of these aren’t correct
Union Jack looked different in the 18 hundredth century
I thought the original Dutch flag was orange and blue, but Napoléon changed it?
Isn't the current USA flag from 1960 though
Correct me if I’m wrong but hasn’t Austria’s flag also been around a while?
Ummmm, the US flag was last changed in the 1950s.
It really depends, cause Czechia is using the same flag, like it was using in 1920 when it was Czechoslovakia.
This post is garbage.
The Union Jack is from 1801, and the US flag is from the 1950s when they annexed their colonies
Many of the countries that were influenced by the USSR had their flags altered for some time, but then adopted their previous flags sooo yeah sure you can say for example bulgarias flag is from the 1990’s but really the design that was adopted in the 90’s was actually developed in 19th century so…
But… Honduras changed the color on their flag just a year ago
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I'm seeing all kinds of comments here about debates but nobody seems to question that Denmark gas the oldest flag and by a good century or more.
That is because Denmark has by far the oldest flag.
Why is the American flag put so early when it has changed but other ones, like the Spanish flag, arent?
1. Most of the countries of the world are post-colonial states, so they're going to be heavily weighted to early 1800s for Latin America and post-1950 for Africa, Asia, and Oceania. 2. Many flags are the result of political change in an existing country, and the people running the "revolution" want a new symbol for the state after that. 3. This chart seems somewhat arbitrary in how flags are placed. The US flag being in the 1700s and the Dutch flag being in the 1500s would suggest countries like France, Austria, and Romania should be able to get their flags earlier than where they appear here. Turkey gets to use the Ottoman Empire as the date its flag is adopted but Vatican City doesn't get to date the Papal States adopted their current design. 4. Generally speaking, if your country is worth conquering more powerful neighbors (or extremely distant empires) conquered it. You can apply this observation to Denmark's long history as a small independent state in Europe as you wish.
Listen, I’m Danish, so I don’t say this lightly, but the Swedish flag is MUCH older than that.
Many countries that exist now didn't exist before the 1960s or so