Badposter rates every country flag

In this thread, I will rate every country flag (note: even though the statuses of Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan and Western Sahara are controversial , I will count them as countries for this topic). I will rate the flags in alphabetical order, because i'm too lazy to make a list. I aim to post a flag a day, but there will probably be delays. I may post more than one flag in a day if i'm feeling productive
The ratings will have three parts.
Part 1
I determine if a country follows the North American Vexillological Association’s five rules of vexillology http://www.ausflag.com.au/assets/images/Good-Flag-Bad-Flag.pdf (note that a flag isn't nessecarily bad just because it breaks some rules)
Rule 1: A flag should be so simple it can be drawn by a child from memory.
Rule 2: Use meaningful symbolism.
Rule 3: Use two or three basic colors.
Rule 4: No text and no seals.
Rule 5: A country can have flags that are similar to another place's flag, but it should never be too similar too another flag.
Part 2
In this part, i post historical flags of the country that I consider superior to the country's current flag, OR historical flags that I consider interesting. If the country does not have superior or interesting historical flags, this section will be empty
Part 3
I simply state my opinion on the flag.
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Index

Flag of Afghanistan.

Part 1
Rule 1: A child could not draw the flag of Afghanistan from memory. Its emblem is too complicated.2
Rule 2: According to http://www.afghanistan-culture.com/afghanistan-flag.html, the black represents a dark past (this is the meaning of black in many flags), the red represents bloodshed during the history of Afghanistan (if a flag has red, chances are it symbolizes blood), and green represents hope for the future (just like black and red's meaning, this one is also common)
For the emblem, I'll let Wikipedia describe it for me (I told you I was lazy)

The latest incarnation of the coat of arms has the inscription of the shahadah in Arabic at the top. Below it is the image of a mosque with a mihrab and minbar, or pulpit, within.[1] Attached to the mosque are two flags, taken to stand for flags of Afghanistan. Beneath the mosque is an inscription that states the name of the nation. Around the mosque are sheaves of wheat, and underneath that, the Hijri year 1298 (1919 in the Gregorian calendar), the year Afghanistan gained independence from the British influence.

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I like the separation of church and state, so you know what I think of this emblem. But at least it's meaningful.
Rule 3. Uses 4 colors, which don't look good with each other.
Rule 4: Has an emblem AND text. Yuck.
Rule 5: Afghanistan has a distinctive flag.
Part 2
Afghanistan is the country which has changed its flag THE MOST in the 20th century (I forgot to put this in the OP, sorry). So this should be fun.
1747–1842 (Durrani Empire)
Like many historical flags of the world, it's not rectangular or square. Nepal is the last of its kind.
1880–1901
It's all black. Since the Libyan Revolution changed Libya's flag, no countrie currently has a monocolor flag.
1926–1928
Even though it still has a complicated emblem, in my opinion it has better colors than the current flag, making it superior to the current flag.
1929
It has strange color choices (White on the right?), but it doesn't have that complicated emblem, making it superior to the current flag
September 27, 1996 – October 26, 1997


The taliban are *bleep*s
November 13, 2001–January 27, 2002
The taliban are *bleep*s.
Part 3
Terrible flag. Breaks a lot of rules and doesn't look good. And its flag is religious. Country flags, in my opinion, should not be religious.
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Next up, Albania

that 1747 - 1842 flag looks a lot like Gondor's flag in LotR

This thread is extremely hype. Good luck.

i don't think religious iconography is necessarily detrimental to a flag but holy shit badposter have my babies

whether you're a supporter of religion or not, you cannot deny that it has produced some of the greatest pieces of art in every different type of media

without it we wouldn't have the Sistine chapel, chistmas, easter, and various different books, including Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and any of the media inspired by them

so i'd have to agree that it's not too bad to have religious iconography in a flag

I'm curious as to why emblems are bad to have in flags.

Hobbes said:

I'm curious as to why emblems are bad to have in flags.

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A child needs to be able to replicate a flag from memory. Emblems are per definition usually extremely complicated to draw correctly. This is why they are bad.

I usually just draw a circle in place of emblems I can't remember

Chiaki Nanami said:

Hobbes said:

I'm curious as to why emblems are bad to have in flags.

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A child needs to be able to replicate a flag from memory.

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I channeled my inner child. I think you will find the result accurate.

All right, from now I will not complain about religion on flags, unless the country is theocratic (Saudi Arabia and Iran, i'm looking at you)
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Flag of Albania

Ratio: 5:7 (an unusual ratio)
Adopted: 1912 (current version adopted on 7 April 1992).
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could probably draw the flag of Albania, but the eagle would probably be drawn very wrong. For example, take a look at this albanian flag made by a chinese company to celebrate the centenary of albanian independence (it's on the right)(the image is gigantic, so i am linking it.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Albania#/media/File:Albanien_feiert_100_Jahre_Unabh%C3%A4ngigkeit_%288232495148%29.jpg
As you can see, the flag isn't quite perfect, but it is recognizable.
Rule 2: The main element of Albania's flag is the double-headed eagle, which symbolizes Roman and Byzantine heritage.
I'll let Wikipedia explain the rest:

In Albania, the double headed eagle was first introduced by Kastrioti family which used it as the family's Coat of Arms, later this symbol was used by Skanderbeg as the coat of arms of the League of Lezhë, the Albanian resistance movement against the Ottoman Empire in mid 15th Century. The flag consisted of a red background with a black eagle in the middle. In 1912, Ismail Qemali, raised a similar version of that flag. The flag has gone through a lot of alternations until 1992 when the current flag of Albania was introduced. The double headed eagle is also used by some religious entities like the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.

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The red, surprisingly, has nothing to do with blood:

The red stands for bravery, strength and valor

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Rule 3: It uses two colors, red and black, which (in my opinion) look good which each other
Rule 4:

Hobbes said:

I'm curious as to why emblems are bad to have in flags.

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Simple emblems are great. Complicated emblems, like Afghanistan are terrible. The Albanian flag emblem is a good emblem.
Rule 5: This a great example of a flag being similar but distinctive. Montenegro and Serbia also have double-headed eagles on their flag, but all eagles have different colors, the flag of Montenegro has a gold border and the Serbian and Albanian flags are very different, despite sharing symbolism.
Part 2:
Technically, this an emblem, not a flag, and it represents the Principality of Arbanon (1190—1255) (which was located in what is now Albania, and whose people spoke Albanian). But just look at the eagle.
I love medieval art.
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All Albanian flags since independence have had a black double-headed eagle on a red background. The design of the eagle has changed a few times (from 1914 to 1926 its beak and feet were yellow) and so has the backrougnd (the Communist government added a star). Out of all albanian flags flags, though, I like the current one the best.
Part 3
The flag of Albania is proof that, just because a flag breaks a few rules doesn't make it bad, and that symbolism and color can make a flag great
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Next up, Africa's largest country by land area, Algeria

this gon b gud

This series looks amazing. Keep up the great work!

Hobbes said:

I'm curious as to why emblems are bad to have in flags.

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I'm guessing it has to be like logos. You want logos to be simple to convey your nation quickly and clearly. The emblem in Afghanistan looks like a mess and I do agree that it needs a lot to be removed. It's even worse when the symbol is so scrunched in the middle column, which blurs out its details and makes it more of a mess. The 1926–1928 flag doesn't do this (as well as having less detail), making it look better.

Country flags, in my opinion, should not be religious.

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Yup, keep religion out of state.

I'm feeling motivated, so I'll post two flags today
Flag of Algeria
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Flag_of_Algeria.svg/800px-Flag_of_Algeria.svg.png[img]
Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adoptd: 3 July 1962
[b][u]Part 1[/u][/b]
[b]Rule 1[/b]: A child could draw the flag from memory, but I don't he'd draw the star quite right. When I think about this flag I don't think about the design of the star.
[b]Rule 2[/b]: The green represents Islam. The white represents peace. The crescent and star represent Islam (Fun fact: The crescent originated as a Turkic symbol that had nothing to do with Islam. But since the Ottoman Empire eventually became the most powerful Islamic country, conquering much of the Muslim world, inluding Algeria) From now on, if I don't mention the color red, assume it represents bloodshed.
[b]Rule 3[/b]: The flag uses white, green and red. Good, simple colors.
[b]Rule 4[/b]: Simple emblem, good. Complex emblem, bad. Algerian emblem, good
[b]Rule 5[/b]: The flag of Algeria is similar, but distinctive. It has a crescent and star, like many other Islamic and Muslim-majority countries, but the green and white background makes it distinctive.
[b][u]Part 2[/u][/b]
Algeria has never changed its flag since independence. I love easy analysis.
[b][u]Part 3[/u][/b]
An emblem on a bicolored background looks, well... [i]off [/i] to me. But I'm just nitpicking, really. Algeria has a great flag, though it's not as good as Albania's (in my opinion).
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Next time, a microstate and a tax haven which has two heads of state, one of which is the president of France: Andorra!

Striker Mario said:

Country flags, in my opinion, should not be religious.

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Yup, keep religion out of state.

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i don't think theres anything wrong with a little religious influence, it keeps the religious people happy while maintaining a secular state so that people have freedom to choose their own beliefs, or lack thereof

it's when religion is forced upon your citizens and becomes basic law in the country, that's when there's a problem

Me, having religious symbols on a country flag seems to imply that the state endorses a particular religion when it really shouldn't. I don't support "On God We Trust" on my American currency, but I'll just have to grin and bear it. Not a big deal.

As for the Algeria flag, I think the emblem is fine on the flag, but I'd change the white to something else that meshes better with green and red. Maybe yellow, even though we do have a million of flags with green, yellow, and red.

yeah, in the end, i think we all have to accept that religion, whether it is a good or a bad influence, has shaped how our countries are, in both leadership and the general citizenry, so it's highly likely that this sort of influence is here to stay

it's sort of like the constitution, something that probably should be changed to fit in with the current times, but won't be, because it's basic rights

I apologize for opening the religious can of worms. People have diverse opinions regarding the use of religon in state symbols, and I respect that.

actually it's been surprisingly civil

I apologize for opening the religious can of worms. People have diverse opinions regarding the use of religon in state symbols, and I respect that.

Striker Mario said:

Me, having religious symbols on a country flag seems to imply that the state endorses a particular religion when it really shouldn't. I don't support "On God We Trust" on my American currency, but I'll just have to grin and bear it. Not a big deal.

As for the Algeria flag, I think the emblem is fine on the flag, but I'd change the white to something else that meshes better with green and red. Maybe yellow, even though we do have a million of flags with green, yellow, and red.

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That's funny, red green and yellow are the Pan-African colors, which is the reason they're so common
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I accidentaly quoted myself. I'm such a noob

No, no, we're just having a civil, albeit off-topic discussion. We can move on and just focus on the flags.

badposter said:

badposter said:

I apologize for opening the religious can of worms. People have diverse opinions regarding the use of religon in state symbols, and I respect that.

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Striker Mario said:

Me, having religious symbols on a country flag seems to imply that the state endorses a particular religion when it really shouldn't. I don't support "On God We Trust" on my American currency, but I'll just have to grin and bear it. Not a big deal.

As for the Algeria flag, I think the emblem is fine on the flag, but I'd change the white to something else that meshes better with green and red. Maybe yellow, even though we do have a million of flags with green, yellow, and red.

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That's funny, red green and yellow are the Pan-African colors.

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It explains why a lot of African flags have those three colors.

Hey, badposter, how are you going to comment on similar-looking flags like Mali/Senegal?

Striker Mario said:

No, no, we're just having a civil, albeit off-topic discussion. We can move on and just focus on the flags.
OK, sorry.

badposter said:

badposter said:

I apologize for opening the religious can of worms. People have diverse opinions regarding the use of religon in state symbols, and I respect that.

Click to expand...

Striker Mario said:

Me, having religious symbols on a country flag seems to imply that the state endorses a particular religion when it really shouldn't. I don't support "On God We Trust" on my American currency, but I'll just have to grin and bear it. Not a big deal.

As for the Algeria flag, I think the emblem is fine on the flag, but I'd change the white to something else that meshes better with green and red. Maybe yellow, even though we do have a million of flags with green, yellow, and red.

Click to expand...

That's funny, red green and yellow are the Pan-African colors.

Click to expand...

It explains why a lot of African flags have those three colors.

Hey, badposter, how are you going to comment on similar-looking flags like Mali/Senegal?

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I will bring down the hammer on Rule 5 violators (I mixed up rules 4 and 5, sorry)

Flag of Andorra
State flag

Ratio: 7:10 (pretty unusual)
Adopted: 27 August 1971
Civil flag
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw the Civil flag, but not the state flag, because the coat of arms is too complicated.
Rule 2: The flag contains elements of the French flag, the Catalan flag and the flag of the County of Foix. This makes sense, as Andorra's existence is not because its culture is different from its neighbors, but rather because of a compromise between the Bishop of Urgell(which is in what is now Catalonia) and the County of Foix(which was in what is now France)
Rule 3: The flag has five colors: red, yellow, blue, light brown and a darker brown on the text. In my opinion, too many colors, and the brown is not very simple.
Rule 4: Has a complex coat of arms AND text. Bad.
Rule 5: The flag is pretty similar to the flags of Romania, Chad and Moldova, (The civil flag is all but identical to the flag of the first two), countries it has nothing to do with. Bad.
Part 2
1806-1866
It still breaks rule 5 (it looks almost exactly like the flag of Naples), but at least it doesn’t have a complicated coat of arms or look like any other country flag
circa 1866-1934/5
I may not agree with monarchy, but I have to say, a crown is more distinctive than the coat of arms, and no country uses horizontal red, yellow and blue with this exact combination. With or without the crown, it's better than the current flag
Part 3
The flag of Andorra is pretty bad. It is not distinctive, it has too many colors, its seal is too complicated and it has text. Still, it's not as bad as Afghanistan's flag.
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Next up Angola: a country that stopped being communist but didn’t bother to change its flag.

Flag of Angola

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 11 November 1975
Part 1
Rule 1: I have often forgotten the flag has a star on it. Still, it is somewhat easy for a child to draw from memory, though of course the child wouldn't draw the cog and machete.
Rule 2: When Angola was a Communist country, the red symbolized Communism. Afer 1991, Angola abandoned Communism, and the red changed to symbolize what red symbolizes (It starts with bl and ends with ood). I'll let Article 162 of the Angolan Constitution explain the rest:

Black - the African continent.
In the centre there shall be a composition formed by a segment of a cog wheel, symbolising the workers and industrial production; a machete symbolising the peasants, agricultural production and the armed struggle; and a star, symbolising international solidarity and progress. The cog wheel, the machete and the star shall be yellow, symbolising the country's wealth.

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(The colors of this flags are the same as those of the MPLA. In my opinion, flags should not be designed after political parties, especially if the party is corrupt and authoritarian like the MPLA is)
Rule 3: The red, black and yellow are good colors, which give the flag a dark feel.
Rule 4: The emblem is simple enough, though I don't think the star is necessary.
Rule 5: The flag is distinctive, but related. It is similar to other Communist flags (the cog and machete symbolize the same thing the hammer and sickle does: agriculture and industry), but the cog and machete makes it unique.
Part 2
Not even the end of Communism has made Angola change its flag.
Part 3
I don't like the fact it symbolizes a political party, or the fact that it´s outdated, but the colors don't look bad, and the cog and machete are pretty original.
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Next time, fun in the sun.