Somewhere at the end of the world is the marvelous beauty of the small state of New Zealand. Endless green meadows stretching to the foot of the mountains, amaze the imagination of every tourist and photographer. Vivid contrasts of the water surface of the Pacific Ocean, overgrown with lush green expanses of land, snow-capped peaks of mountains and azure sky - all this makes the Polynesian continent a truly paradise on the planet. On the New Zealand flag, in addition to the English attribute, or rather Union Jack, there are also stars. In today's article, we will focus on them. How many stars on the flag of New Zealand? Where did they come from? Why are they positioned that way? Learn about all this below.
History of the New Zealand flag
To answer the question of how many stars on the flag of New Zealand , you need to look into the history, or rather, talk about how this flag looked from the beginning. At first, the state canvas of Polynesia looked a little different than now: against a blue background, 1/4 of the canvas was occupied by Union Jack on top of the left corner. This explained that the state belonged to the UK. In the lower right corner flaunted two English letters NZ in red. The designation of these letters is clear - New Zealand. The blue background of the flag canvas symbolized, as several centuries ago, and now, the sea open spaces of the state and its turquoise sky. The first version of the flag did not last long (from 1867 to 1869). By the way, according to some reports, this flag was used until 1902, when they approved its current version.
New Zealand Flag Description
And now it's time to answer the question of how many stars are on the New Zealand flag. As mentioned above, in 1902 a new version of the flag of the Polynesian state appeared. It was decided to leave everything as is, only instead of letters on the right side add 4 stars. The color of these stars is the same as the letters located on the canvas earlier - red. The stars themselves are framed by a white border, and the size of each of them is significantly different.
Why is the New Zealand flag 4 stars?
The flag was designed by Albert Markham, a traveler and navigator (assistant to the captain of the ship), he explained that the stars should indicate the right way for sailors to New Zealand. It is known that they are guided by the stars. The flag depicts the constellation of the Southern Cross, or rather, its brightest stars. This idea was approved by the government, and a decision was made.
Now the questions about how many stars on the flag of New Zealand and where they came from will not be confused, because we gave answers!