The flag is a mirror of culture, geography, and history of the country. In the modern world there are over two hundred states. And each of them has its own national banner. In our article you will find descriptions and photos of the flags of the Scandinavian countries. In addition, you will find out what unites them and why they are so easily confused with each other.
Scandinavian countries: names and flags
Scandinavia ... Imagination immediately draws us harsh rocky mountains piercing the cold winds and bearded men-heroes. Geographers by this term mean the peninsula of the same name. From the point of view of history and geopolitics, it is a European region uniting five states: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.
Flags of the Scandinavian countries are very similar to each other. An ignorant person in this topic can easily confuse them with each other. At the heart of all the flags of the Scandinavian countries lies the so-called Scandinavian cross. Unlike the classic cross, the vertical bar in it is slightly shifted to the right. The Danes call him the word "Dannebrog." According to legend, he fell from heaven in 1219 during the battle of Lindaniss and helped the Danish crusaders defeat the army of pagan Estonians.
The table below provides a list of Scandinavian countries and flags, which are their official state symbols:
State | Flag description | Flag Approval Year |
Denmark | White cross on a red background | 1625 |
Sweden | Yellow cross on a blue background | 1899 |
Norway | Blue cross on a red background | 1898 |
Finland | Blue cross on a white background | 1918 |
Iceland | Red cross on a blue background | 1918 |
Thus, the flags of the Scandinavian countries differ from each other only in the color scheme, as well as in the thickness of the cross-shaped stripes crossing the canvas. Next, we will talk in more detail about each of them.
Flag of denmark
If we consider the region of the Scandinavian countries, the flag of Denmark is the oldest of them. Moreover, it is considered the most ancient state flag in the whole world! In this wording, he is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Dannebrog dates back to the beginning of the 13th century. It was he who became the prototype for the flags of all the other countries of Scandinavia.
The national flag of Denmark is a red flag, crossed by a white cross. In this case, the horizontal strip passes through the center of the canvas, and the vertical one is shifted to its left side. The Danish flag has a non-standard aspect ratio (28:37) - that is, it is almost square.
Flag of sweden
The very first image of a yellow cross on a blue background dates from the 16th century. But de jure, the modern flag of Sweden was approved only in 1899. It is identical to the Danish flag, if you do not take into account the color scheme. The vertical strip of the cross in it is also shifted to the left. In Sweden there is one curious law, the essence of which boils down to the following: if any state flag becomes unusable, it must immediately be burned and replaced with a new one.
Flag of norway
The Norwegian state flag became official at the end of the 19th century. This is a rectangular red cloth with a blue cross in a white border. The color scheme repeats the colors of the French flag. In those days, the blue-white-red tricolor was considered a kind of symbol of freedom. In this way, the developers of the Norwegian flag once again tried to show Europe and the world that Norway is a free and independent country.
Flag of finland
This is one of the youngest Scandinavian flags. And Finland itself gained independence only in 1917 (from Russia). The official date of birth of the Finnish flag is May 29, 1918. It looks as concise as possible: a blue cross on a white background. The combination of these two colors was proposed back in 1870 by the Finnish poet Tsakarias Topelius. The flag canvas, according to this famous writer, embodies "the blue of the lakes and the white snow of Finland." It is curious that until 1918 the country for some time used another version of the national flag: a red-yellow banner with a heraldic lion in the center.
Flag of iceland
A red Scandinavian cross with a white border on a blue background - this is the modern flag of this island state. It was officially adopted in 1918, although its version was developed at the end of the XIX century by the Icelandic poet Einar Benediktsson.
The colors of the flag reproduce the traditional Icelandic landscape. White is the color of Atlantic waters, blue is the color of ice and snow, and red is the color of the fire of numerous island volcanoes. In addition, the color scheme of the flag is associated with the coloring of the Order of the Silver Falcon - the most honorable state award in Iceland.