Flags of the World #17: Belgium!

lunaticpandora (69)in #writing • 6 years ago (edited)

Hello fellow Steemians and welcome to my review of the Belgian flag! This is the 17th flag that I will be covering in my series to cover most of the flags of the world!

Some say Belgium is a fake, artificial country others say its a real country with strong roots in European history and culture, which side are you on?

Today's Flag is the Flag of Belgium!

Flag of the Kingdom of Belgium
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“Strength lies in unity.” - Belgium's National Motto

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The flag of the Kingdom of Belgium is a classic vertical triband-tricolor flag, inspired by the tricolor flag of France. The colors of the flag from left to right are as follows: black, yellow and red. This flag was adopted on January 23rd, 1831.

The current design is a major direction change, because the original Belgian flag was a horizontal triband but after the revolution ended it was changed to a vertical triband!(You can check out this flag on the other flags section!)

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Meanings

The colors of the Belgian flag are inspired on the colors of the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant, ones of the hundreds of states inside the Holy Roman Empire.

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Great Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Belgium
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The inspiration for the colors of the flag come from the shield in the middle of this grand coat of arms, the lion in the black background and the red claws and tongue.

The black represents the background of the shield and the determination of the lion and the Belgian people.

The yellow represents the lion itself and the generosity of the Belgian people.

The red represents the tongue and claws of the lion and the bravery and strength of the Belgian people.

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Other Flags!

This is the original Belgian flag with the horizontal stripes before they changed it to vertical stripes in 1831.

Original Belgian Flag 1830-1831
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This one is a variant of the current Belgian flag with a the lion in the middle of the yellow stripe, this flag is for government use only and its not supposed to be used by civilians on the streets.

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State Ensign of Belgium
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This one is my favorite flag of "Belgium", this flag was used when the whole region of the low countries (The Netherlands and Belgium) where under the control of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. Its my favorite because i really love when they use eagles on the flags >.< and this is a two headed eagle, so double the awesomeness!

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Flag of the Austrian Low Countries
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Facts

The name of Belgium comes from the time when the Romans took control over the region and named it "Belgica"
Belgium has more castles per square mile than any other country in the world, this is actually a world record they hold.
Belgium has 3 official languages, Dutch (60%~), French (39%~) and German (1%~).
The Legendary battle of Waterloo took place just south of Brussels.
Over 220k tonnes of chocolate are produced in Belgium every year!!

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Location

Belgium is located in western Europe, south of the Netherlands, north of France and west of Germany and Luxembourg.

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Thanks for reading this far down! I hope you enjoyed the read! Help me improve by leaving a comment with suggestions and if you liked it please upvote, reesteem and follow me for more in the future! Here's a list of my other posts if you feel like checking them out!