Which Country Had The First Flag In The World?

The idea of a nation having a flag is fairly new, but did you know that flags have existed from the earliest times. A flag is basically a piece of cloth as we all know which contains different colors, symbols, designs. symmetry etc. A flag is a prideful representation of a country. Each country in the world has its own flag with respectful meanings. I have discussed about flags and a special confusion in my Chad And Romania | The Flag Confusion article. Do check it out to know more.

Now, flags were used in war to mark the positions of their leaders in the past. In very ancient times, most of the flags were carved poles. The ancient Greek's flag was merely a piece of armor or single letters held aloft upon poles. But, where did this all began? The first cloth flag was the invention of the Romans and consisted of a square banner attached to a crossbar at the end of the spear.

When the United States adopted a national flag, the idea was still very new. Most European nations were then fighting under the flags of their kings. The French used the white flag of the Bourbon family which was later changed after the French Revolution. The original national flag of England was the banner of St. George. The present form of union flag was proclaimed on January 1, 1801. Probably the two oldest national flags are those of Denmark, adopted in 1219, and of Switzerland, used as early as 1339. Both Denmark and Switzerland are European countries. From this, we can say that Europe and The Americas were the first to adopt flags as a logo or symbol of their nation on a piece of cloth.

After the US had chosen a national flag, many other nations followed the same. After the French Revolution, the Tricolor was chosen to represent France. The green, white and red flag of the Italians was first established in 1805. In the 19th century, many south American republics designed flags for themselves and the idea of a national flag became universally accepted.

Did you know that in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War the Colonies had flags of their own? Massachusetts (A US State) had a flag with a pine tree; South Caroline (A US State) had a rattlesnake; New York (A US City) had a white flag with a black beaver on it. Take India for example. The British had colonized India around the 18th century and had made a flag which consisted of the British Union Jack fitted at the top left corner of the flag. This was later modified due to internal revolutions and mass protests in India against the British and thus India adopted its current Tricolor "Tiranga" Flag.

Tiranga Flag

Hundreds of countries, just like India were colonized and had a lot of different flags. Like say Chad which was ruled by The French, adopted a French inspired flag after it got freedom. In designing America's flag it was first proposed that the English Union Jack be part of it. But this was rejected and it was decided to substitute 13 stars for the Union Jack.

British Union Jack Flag

So, we see that history of flags is very deep. And we can say that the Europeans were the first to kind off "invent" flags. But maybe that too is not true. According to mythology, flags were used way back than those of Romans around the time they had wars. Like in the Hindu Mythology, great events like The Mahabharata and The Ramayana had flags used in wars as a symbol to represent their sides. And even today, these flags are worshipped and are found massively in all the Hindu temples.

Below is a list of some famous Hindu mythological flags:

• Garuda Dhwaja - The flag of Vishnu.
• Indra Dhwaja - The flag of Indra. Also a festival of Indra.
• Kakkai kodi - The flag of Jyestha, goddess of inauspicious things and misfortune.
• Kapi Dhwaja or Vanara dwaja (monkey flag) - The flag of Arjuna in the Mahabharata, in which the Lord Hanuman himself resided.
• Makaradhvaja - The flag of Kama, god of love.
• Seval Kodi - The war flag of Lord Murugan, god of war. It depicts the rooster, Krichi.
• Om Dhwaj - The holy symbol of Om on a saffron (Kesariya) flag.

Om Dhwaj

So, these are some examples of mythological flags that are said to be the earliest. That may be true. But approaching the real life scientific world, we arrive at a conclusion:

There are two aspects to look at the invention of flags. First, the historical aspect, which says that the Romans and other Europeans were the first to use flags to represent themselves globally. Second, the mythological aspect, which just basically means each religion has their own history of flags so it is not right to say which religion used the flags first. So final answer to the question: Which country had the first flag in the world? The answer is Denmark And Switzerland. Denmark and Switzerland were the first NATIONS to adopt a flag whereas Romans formed the Roman empire. They weren't exactly a nation. So, that's why the answer is Denmark and Switzerland. Denmark to be more precise.

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