Red is the most common colour on national flags, and appears on more than two...
QUIZ WHIZ
Answers
1.A
Red is the most common colour on national flags, and appears on more than two-third of the flags in the world. The area taken up by red on flags varies; some – like the flags of China, Morocco, Turkey, and Vietnam – are primarily red, while others – like Fiji, Guam, and Zambia – only have smaller areas of the colour.
White and Blue are the second and third most frequent colours on flags.
2.B
The most frequent flags in the world are the three-coloured flags.
Tribands – flags with three parallel bands – are a popular choice. Around one-third of all current national flags are triband, and many of these are tricolour. Red, again, is the most popular colour.
3.C
There is a reason purple is linked to royalty – it used to be very expensive. Centuries ago, purple dye came from sea snail and was very difficult and costly to make, which is why it became the colour of nobility and was not suitable for flags.
Today only small touches of purple can now be found on the flags of Dominica (a sisserou parrot) and Nicaragua (rainbow).
4.A
The star is the most common symbol on the flags of the world. At least one star appears on the flags of more than 50 countries, including our own beloved Parcham-e Sitarah o-Hilal. The flag of the United States of America has fifty stars which represent the 50 U.S. states.
5.C
This is the flag of New Zealand, one of a number of countries and territories – also including Australia, Fiji, and Tuvalu – that incorporates the British flag, the Union Jack, into their own flag.
But the Union Jack is disappearing from the flags as the Commonwealth nations drop the British symbol and adopt new flags. Canada made the change in 1965, and South Africa dropped the it in 1994. Tuvalu removed the Union Jack in 1996 but reinstated it in 1997. In recent years, there has also been interest in changing the flags of New Zealand, Australian, and Fiji.
6.D
Venezuela, Malawi, Libya, and Georgia have all changed their flags recently.
Until 2011, Libya had a plain green flag that was chosen by Muammar Gaddafi to symbolise his political philosophy (which was detailed in The Green Book) and was introduced in 1977. After the revolution in which Qaddafi was overthrown, a new flag was adopted, which is actually an old flag that was previously used for the Kingdom of Libya (1951 – 1969).
7. C and D
The flag of Switzerland consists of a red base with a white equilateral cross in the centre, and is one of only two square sovereign-state flags. The other one is the flag of Vatican City, a vertical bicolour with gold/yellow and white bands, with the crossed keys of Saint Peter and the Papal Tiara centred on the latter.
8.B
Nepal has the only national flag in the world that isn’t four sided. The non-quadrilateral flag has five sides, a combination of two triangles. It is red in colour with a blue border and features the sun and the crescent moon as emblems.
9.C
Druk, the Thunder Dragon of Bhutanese mythology, graces the flag of Bhutan. The flag, adopted in 1969, is divided diagonally into two triangles, one yellow and the other orange, and has the white dragon holding four jewels in its claws in the centre.
10.D
The Fijian flag – a sky blue background with the Union Jack in the upper right corner – also features a shield that represents the agricultural activities on the Pacific island. The white shield with a red cross and red chief is divided into five part:
- Top: a British lion holds a cocoa pod between its paws
- Upper left: sugar cane
- Upper right: coconut palm
- Lower left: a dove of peace
- Lower right: a bunch of bananas.
11.A
The flags of Chad and Romania are almost identical. Both are tricolors with vertical stripes of blue, yellow, and red. The only minor difference is in the shade of blue – Chad’s flag has a slightly darker shade of blue than Romania. When Chad adopted the flag in 1959, Romania’s flag was different and featured an insignia in the middle of the tricolour. Concerned about the near-identical flags, Chad asked the United Nations to examine the issue in 2004, but Romania said they would not give up the tricolour or change the flag.
The flags of Ireland and Ivory Coast are vertical mirror images of each other (that is, the colours are in reverse order), as are the flags of Guinea and Mali. And the flags of Indonesia and Poland are horizontal mirror images of each other (or upside down).
12.B
The obverse and reverse of all national flags are either identical or mirrored, except for the flag of Paraguay. A horizontal triband of red, white and blue, the flag has the coat of arms of Paraguay on the front and the reverse side of the arms on the back.
- S.A
