Flag

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>>1618564

>>1618564
It's literally a European thing.

To be specific: literally a late 18th Century European thing, which they carried with them during their colonializing sprees.

For many peoples, particularly in Asia, a flag was merely a signalling device. The State tended to be represented by other, culturally/religiously relevant symbols.

>>1618719
But that isn't exactly true from what I understand. I have heard of there being flags in Iran and India thousands of years ago. Other civilizations came up with flags independently of Europe, I am almost positive of this.

>>1618709
Best post.

/thread

>>1618971
>India
What
>Iran
Yeah, the Derafsh, which started out as battle standards by each Persian Army.

The Sassanids then created an Imperial Standard which could be said to be like a modern flag, but stood for the state. And then in stopped, The next time an iranic state had a flag was under the Safavids, and they flew personal standards of their Shahs, which varied per each successor.

That said, Europeans still started vexilollogy designs as we know them today. Them and the Nation-state idea they peddled around. And the world is all the more poorer for it since you're required to have fucking one, fuck your culture.

>>1618971
If you have a loose definition of "Flag", sure, there's been plenty of them. But, traditionally, a flag is a rectangle flying lengthwise attached to a pole by one of its shorter legs.

But is a vexilloid a flag? The Roman Vexilloid was a square attached to a T shaped bar. Is that a flag? What about this Persian doohicky, which is made of solid metal? What about flags that are attached to a pole on their longer side? So on and so forth.

>>1619013
I dunno m8, many cultures probably jumped on flags in the modern age just because its conventient.

Can you imagine the United Nations, having to hang European flags, alongside a huge totem pole, a smelly pole with 9 yak tails for Mongolia, a snarling blue sculpture of a Chinese dragon, a Japanese parade flag that is as tall as a building and requires tethers, or a big Aztec calendar of solid gold?

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>>1619074
>Aztec calendar of solid gold?
What? Aztec and the Nahua did not have flags in a modern sense but they had a "flag" of sorts in the form of the map of their city done in local cartographic conventions among the Nahua.

Here's Tenochitlan. This is why Mexico has that Eagle on a cactus with a snake thingy on its flag.

The Aztecs and other Nahua states hang these map in a town square for all too see, as if to tell everyone "remember, this is us."

>>1619035
Well, that goes to one of the original questions in my OP. Why do flags all have to be rectangular? What is the logic or utility behind this? It seem like square would make more sense. Is it because the rectangle shape catches the wind better, thus making it more visible? But again, even there it seem like a square would work better. Do you think the rectangular shape works better when it is flown at a height? Would a square flag need to be much bigger, thus taking up too much vertical space, in order to be as visible from a distance as a rectangular one which is taking up the same amount of vertical space?

>>1618564
>>1618709
Even beyond Nepal, there really is no 'standard' dimensions for rectangular flags. 2:3 ratio is the most common, but less than half the countries in the world use it. Others vary from a perfect 1:1 square (Switzerland and Vatican City) to 11:28 (Qatar)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aspect_ratios_of_national_flags

>>1619282
Wow, I had no idea. I never knew this and I bet that most other people didn't as well. Did you just look this up, or did you already know?

So why then do all the flags appear to be the same aspect ration when you see them flown together, say, at the Olympics or the United Nations? Do they just use flags that are all the same size for those types of things? Because that doesn't really make sense either, because if they were using the correct ratios, it would be impossible to have flags of the same size... Do they actually change the aspect ratio of some flags to make them line up with the others?

Because if they did, that would seem very disrespectful to me. You know how some people are about the flag. Some people take that shit very seriously. Just look at the drama surrounding that San Francisco 49ers quarter back. Now I know that he's not standing during the national anthem, but that is basically just time set out to salute the flag. Or those edgelord fedoras who wouldn't stand during the pledge of allegiance because it has the word "God" in it (although I did always kind of agree with this, as I saw it as a blatant violation of separating church and state).

>>1618971
I know the Maya had flags on their temples.

They do not all have the same dimensions except for international organisations, in order to keep uniformity.

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>>1620247
Most lineups of flags are stretched to the same aspect ratio, usually something like 9:16 like what you see as flag markers in /int/ for example, or world maps.

Additionally, not a lot of countries are as die-hard about their flag as the united states. Look at the way we fold it, we have regulations about how high it should be flown, on military uniforms the flag is actually printed 'backwards' on the shoulder (because it represents that the flag is trailing behind the uniform, represents that the wearer is moving forwards or into the wind), we have ways of retiring it, saluting it based upon military status, if you hang it sideways you need to flip it, it cannot be lower than any other flag, etc.

A significant amount of flags came about from convenience, and the need to represent the region to a global community. The USA's flag was borne during a time when there was fierce urge to define the colonies, and this sentiment was only solidified during the civil war. Look how much some countries change their flag. Besides adding stars the US has not, and it's given us some time to grow attached to it

>>1622706
Is this image where the american bear meme comes from?

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>>1622708
absoludely

>>1622715
kek