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Understanding Flags Symbolism Explained
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Mar 27, 2025
There are just about 200 international flags; each one representing the history and culture of their places of origin. In this video our CEO, Andrew unfolds the meaning behind three of his favorite world flags: Eswatini, St. Lucia, Papua New Guinea.
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Hi, I'm Andrew, CEO of Bright Trip, and I love flags
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Flag is a symbol, a country chooses to represent itself, so often you have some really interesting messages designed into the flag
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By exploring the shapes and symbols and designs of a flag, you can find some really interesting messages and learn a lot about the country it represents
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Let's look at a few so I can show you. I mean. S. Swatini, formerly Swaziland, which is a whole other video
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I mean, the king decided to change the name and the world was like no and the king's like yes
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This flag is designed by the founding father himself, King Sabusa. He gave this flag to the Swazi Pioneer Corps that fought in World War II and eventually the flag
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was adopted by the nation and it replaced the Union Jack in 1967
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So you see here the fighting stick and the oxide shield are from the 1920s representing the
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the defense of Eswatini and the large red stripe you see here in the middle represent the bloodshed in the past struggles
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So what is this flag telling us? Eswatini had a violent history so much so that they basically adopted a battle flag
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And the country is authoritarian with the monarch even represented on the flag
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Next, one of the most interesting flags in the world, Papua New Guinea. The yellow Kamala bird, a pair of the world
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Paradise is on the top right corner of the flag, as you can see here, representing Papua New Guinea's
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emergence as an independent country. The feathers of the Kamulbird often are used as ceremonial decoration Red white and black were the traditional tribal colors and red white and black were also the colors of the German Empire flag
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reflecting the country's past colonization. The white five-point stars on the lower black
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triangle represent the southern cross constellation, a really cool constellation that can be
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only seen in the southern hemisphere. So based on this flag design, we can see that Papua New Guinea
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has deep traditional tribal roots, is a former colony of the German Empire
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And the country has a great view of the Southern Cross because it's in the Southern Hemisphere
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Lastly, St. Lucia. The blue background of the flag represents the sky
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and the beautiful Caribbean waters that surround the island. The black triangle represents the island's indigenous people
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and the gold stands for sunshine and prosperity. The triangle shape represents the interesting twin mountains that dominate the island landscape
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These mountains are called the Pitons. So based on this flag, we learned that St. Lucia is an island surrounded by beautiful ocean
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and enjoys interesting topography. And there you have it, three really interesting flags
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If you happen to travel to one of these countries, you'll be a little smarter when you get
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So what are some of your favorite flags? Leave us a comment below and tell us which flags we should do next
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And check out brighttrip.com. We have a growing catalog of travel courses that will make you a more informed traveler
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Thanks
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