NorthStar Flags

It is interesting to note that the Papua New Guinea National Flag was designed by a 15year old (Susan Huhume) schoolgirl as the winner of a nationwide competition and was officially adopted on July 1, 1971. On the hoist side of the flag is the Southern Cross (a group of five stars) placed against a black background; and in the fly is a raggiana bird of paradise (found in the national Coat of Arms) silhouetted against a red background.

Red and black had been the traditional colors used by many tribes, also the color of the German Empire’s flag, which had colonized New Guinea before 1918.

Papua New Guinea is an island nation in the western Pacific, whose history is a testament to years of colonization, but was eventually granted independence by Australia in 1975. About 700 Papuan and Melanesian tribes and as many diverse languages inhabit the island nation of Papua New Guinea, thus making centralized governance really hard and challenging.

This island nation occupies the eastern part (western part is governed by Indonesia) and several small islands that include Bougainville and the Bismarck Archipelago. Characterized by a series of mountain ranges, rainforests, and swamplands is the habitat of Papuan and Melanesian tribes that thrives as subsistence farmers, although some grow cash crops. The nation is also found abundant with mineral reserves and petroleum, which could brighten the economic outlook of the nation in the future.

For the moment, the economic activity of the island covers the industry of copra and palm oil processing, plywood and wood chip production; on agriculture, crops like coffee, cacao, coconuts, palm kernels, and poultry abounds; while it also exports oil, gold, copper ore and logs.

Act 383, a state law promulgated by the Alabama state legislature on February 16, 1895, adopted the State Flag of Alabama. It explains in detail, “the Alabama State Flag shall be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The bars forming the cross shall be not less than six inches broad, and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side.”

As referred to in the law, the cross of St. Andrew is diagonal and known in vexillology as a saltire. It is explicit in Act 383 that the bars must be at least six inches wide, therefore duplicates of small or mini flags of the state of Alabama will not meet the legal requirements of the law.

Alabama was the center of the “cotton kingdom” before the civil wars and probably due to its fertile soils it was home to five Native American tribes – the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole.

And today, Alabama continues to be at the center of a revitalized Deep South with Birmingham (the state’s largest city) that leads focus on medical research and producer of steel, iron and coal. Industries that operate in the state include textiles and apparel, rubber and plastics, paper, chemicals, primary metals and also automobile manufacturing. In information technology, the Alabama Research and Education Network created the first state-funded computer network in the U.S. that links universities and school system across the state.

Even with development happening at a fast pace, life in Alabama has remained tranquil and environmentally enhancing to the likes of literary figures Harper Lee and Truman Capote who had called the state home.

The first settlers on the islands of New Zealand had been the Polynesian Maori who came in droves about A.D.800. These indigenous people ruled until 1840 when their chieftain entered into a covenant with Great Britain, with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty gave the British sovereignty over the islands, while the local people retained territorial rights. And out of this new treaty, the British organized the first European colonial settlement on the islands.

The British occupation in New Zealand resulted in the land wars of 1843 and 1872, which eventually led to the defeat of the local folks, ending as a colony of Great Britain. The association with the British produced the New Zealand flag, as a defaced blue ensign with the Union Flag in the canton and together with four red stars with white borders to the right of the flag. The stars actually represent the constellation Crux (the southern cross) as seen in New Zealand. This emblem was adopted even before New Zealand became a colony, as desired by an assembly of Maori chiefs in 1834.

New Zealand though mountainous is a fertile land located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, who was the first European to set his sights on New Zealand describe, “it is a land uplifted high,” with snowy peaks, fjord-scarred shores, and sheep that abounds the countryside.

New Zealand evolved as a parliamentary democracy a constitution patterned after that of the United Kingdom, has stayed a self-governing British colony since 1907. It thus became a founding member of the British Commonwealth in 1926.

As it is, New Zealand enjoys an export driven economy, with trading partners all over the world.

The first settlers on the islands of New Zealand had been the Polynesian Maori who came in droves about A.D.800. These indigenous people ruled until 1840 when their chieftain entered into a covenant with Great Britain, with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty gave the British sovereignty over the islands, while the local people retained territorial rights. And out of this new treaty, the British organized the first European colonial settlement on the islands.

The British occupation in New Zealand resulted in the land wars of 1843 and 1872, which eventually led to the defeat of the local folks, ending as a colony of Great Britain. The association with the British produced the New Zealand flag, as a defaced blue ensign with the Union Flag in the canton and together with four red stars with white borders to the right of the flag. The stars actually represent the constellation Crux (the southern cross) as seen in New Zealand. This emblem was adopted even before New Zealand became a colony, as desired by an assembly of Maori chiefs in 1834.

New Zealand though mountainous is a fertile land located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, who was the first European to set his sights on New Zealand describe, “it is a land uplifted high,” with snowy peaks, fjord-scarred shores, and sheep that abounds the countryside.

New Zealand evolved as a parliamentary democracy a constitution patterned after that of the United Kingdom, has stayed a self-governing British colony since 1907. It thus became a founding member of the British Commonwealth in 1926.

As it is, New Zealand enjoys an export driven economy, with trading partners all over the world.

Three hundred thirty three (333) is the number of islands that comprise the Republic of Fiji Islands. Located in the South Pacific, the Fiji Islands lies abundant with beaches, coral reefs and gardens, and also rainforests. Most of the citizens live on the main island Viti Levu, where the capital Suva is also located. Fiji Islands existed as a British Colony for 96 years, until its independence was granted in 1970.

As an independent state, the Fiji Islands Flag show British influence with the red, white and blue Union Flag of Britain in the top left hand corner and the shield from the Fiji Coat of Arms on a light blue background in the fly. The final design of the national flag was the result of a competition and won by the duo of Robi Wilcock and Murray MacKenzie. The first time that the Flag of the Republc of Fiji Islands flew was on Independence Day, October 10, 1970.

As a British Colony, the Britons on the islands imported indentured servants from India to work as laborers in the sugarcane fields. During the entire British Rule, the influx of laborers were numerous and later settled on the islands to comprise the present day Indo-Fijian citizens that constitute 40% of the population.

The Indo-Fijians are mostly devout Hindu, while the majority had their bearings as Christians. Owing to their difference in religious beliefs, tensions existed between the two communities that resulted in two coup-de-etats, one in 1987 and one in 2000. However, democracy was reinstituted in 2001.

With an improved political climate, record number of tourists are now backed to the beaches and resorts of Fiji.

Australia, the island continent is so diverse geographically that it is home to over 130 species of marsupials, including the kangaroos, koalas and the wombats. Located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Australia’s landscape includes the highest mountains that are part of the Great Dividing Range that extends from the east coast from Cape York Peninsula and leads south to the state of Victoria.

The majority of the citizens reside along the southeast coast, in centers like Melbourne or Sydney because rains frequent these areas, leaving the interior beyond the mountains arid or semi-arid. Mostly plains and plateaus make-up the landscape of the west; the Great Artesian Basin supplies underground water to an area that is otherwise classified as desert; vegetation is dense courtesy of rainforests in the far north, to steppes and deserts in the vast interior (called the outback by the Australians).

A British Colony since 1788, Australia was a place of banishment for questionable subjects until its independence in 1901. As a new nation it needed an emblem, so from entries around the world, the ensuing Australia Flag was chosen and legally recognized. The flag is a blue field with a Union Flag in the canton (upper hoist quadrant), and a seven pointed star – the Commonwealth Star – in the lower hoist quadrant. A representation of the Southern Cross constellation made up of five white stars, complete the ensemble.

Since the discovery of gold in 1851, Australia opened its doors for immigrants. The entry of immigrants into Australia has been the key to its development since 1788 in fact from 1945 through 2000 almost six million immigrants had made the island nation their home.

On the morning of April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 80 miles north of Kiev exploded, in the process sending radioactive particles 3 miles up into the atmosphere and out over portions of Europe, Asia, and even North America. Ukraine was in the history books as the country that suffered the world’s worst recorded nuclear accident.

Not only did Ukraine suffer nuclear meltdown, it somehow experienced another meltdown, though this time its political. On December 1991, 90% of Ukrainians voted for independence, and in effect dissolving the Soviet Union. With the changing of the guards, Ukraine now faces the possibility of eventually facing the Russian Military head-on as it has an ongoing border dispute with Russia.

The USSR flag has now been replaced with the official Ukraine national flag that was used for the first time in 1918 by a short-lived Ukrainian People’s Republic. Article 20 of the New Constitution defines “the State Flag of Ukraine as a banner of two equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow in color.” These colors had always been Ukraine’s symbols that had its origins even before Christian times when yellow and blue were popular during traditional ceremonies, suggesting fire and water.

With a fresh start, the new millennium brought Ukraine economic growth, with a vigorous industrial output and had curbed inflation. And in 2001, the country dismantled its last Soviet-era nuclear missile silo, paving the way for its plans to join NATO in 2002.

Ukraine’s steppe, the rich flatland that stretches for 1,600miles once made it as the breadbasket of the USSR, but also had large coal and iron deposits that feed heavy industry, particularly those of the Donbas (Donets Basin) and Kryvyy Rih regions.

On the morning of April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 80 miles north of Kiev exploded, in the process sending radioactive particles 3 miles up into the atmosphere and out over portions of Europe, Asia, and even North America. Ukraine was in the history books as the country that suffered the world’s worst recorded nuclear accident.

Not only did Ukraine suffer nuclear meltdown, it somehow experienced another meltdown, though this time its political. On December 1991, 90% of Ukrainians voted for independence, and in effect dissolving the Soviet Union. With the changing of the guards, Ukraine now faces the possibility of eventually facing the Russian Military head-on as it has an ongoing border dispute with Russia.

The USSR flag has now been replaced with the official Ukraine national flag that was used for the first time in 1918 by a short-lived Ukrainian People’s Republic. Article 20 of the New Constitution defines “the State Flag of Ukraine as a banner of two equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow in color.” These colors had always been Ukraine’s symbols that had its origins even before Christian times when yellow and blue were popular during traditional ceremonies, suggesting fire and water.

With a fresh start, the new millennium brought Ukraine economic growth, with a vigorous industrial output and had curbed inflation. And in 2001, the country dismantled its last Soviet-era nuclear missile silo, paving the way for its plans to join NATO in 2002.

Ukraine’s steppe, the rich flatland that stretches for 1,600miles once made it as the breadbasket of the USSR, but also had large coal and iron deposits that feed heavy industry, particularly those of the Donbas (Donets Basin) and Kryvyy Rih regions.

1918 was the year the Astro-Hungarian Empire came to an end and the Czechs and Slovaks united to form Czechoslovakia. For the next 75years the country survived two world wars, invasion from Europe’s powers, until the union was dissolved in 1993.

Out of this break-up, the Czech Republic was born and conveniently used the same world flag of the old Czechoslovakia. The current Czech Republic flag in a horizontal band of white and red; and to distinguish it from that of Poland a blue triangle was added at the hoist side.

The Czech Republic being an independent country in central Europe had the regions Bohemia and Moravia. Bohemia is a plateau surrounded by mountains and Moravia on the east is mostly rolling hills and lowlands. During the Second World War, the Nazi’s invaded and annexed the Czech lands, while Slovakia became a puppet state of Germany, then the communists took over and followed years of uncertainty.

After breaking the union with the Republic of Slovakia, the new Czech nation decreed and privatized state-owned businesses to as much as 80%, contrary to 97% state ownership under the communist regimes. As added measures, the country is reducing its dependence to the highly polluting brown coal as an energy source, and instead turning its sights to environment friendly nuclear energy. Tourism is rapidly improving as an industry, with millions coming to Prague to visit architectural relics of castles, palaces and spas.

The economy has stayed vibrant, despite the political and financial crises in 1997 that somehow reduced the country’s stability and prosperity. And finally the Czech Republic succeeded in becoming a member of NATO and the European Union.

Belarus or literally “White Russia” is in Eastern Europe characterized by lowlands, low hills and uplands. Forests drape one third of the land area and the Pinsk Marshes cover much of the south. Foreign powers Kiev, Lithuania and Poland dominated much of Belarus in the 18th century, but it was Russia who took over control of the country after 1772. The post war years were kind to Belarus as it undergoes massive heavy industrial development, which was concentrated around Minsk.

But disaster struck in 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Facility, south of Belarus in Ukraine, and contaminated a third of the country. A meltdown that sent 70% of radiation into the territory that triggers high incidence of cancer and birth defects among the citizens. In effect, radiation rendered 25% of Belarus still considered uninhabitable.

New hope came in 1991 with the granting of independence and with it a new Belarus flag was born. The national flag is rectangular in form consisting of two longitudinal stripes; two-thirds red upper and one-third green lower stripe; together with red-on-white Belarusian pattern that is one-ninth in proportion to the flags length and placed along the hoists side.

The red color signifies the past history of Belarus, also of the Red Army, while green represents the many forests of the country and for aspirations about the future.

With independence in 1991 also coupled economic decline, and to address dissent the government continues to stifle democracy and oppose the privatization of losing and non-performing state enterprises. Belarus remains heavily indebted and dependent on Russia for its energy needs and to this day aims for greater economic and political integration with Russia.