Hello fellow Steemians and welcome to my review of the Belizean flag! This is the 18th flag that I will be covering in my series to cover most of the flags of the world!
Belize is a small country located on what used to be the lands of the Mayan Empire! They are an English speaking country surrounded by Spanish speaking countries and they have small border disputes with all their neighbors :-(
Today's Flag is the Flag of Belize!
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The Belizean flag is a royal blue flag with red stripes at the top and bottom, defaced with a Belizean coat of arms in the center of the flag. The current flag is the flag that won a contest to design a flag after Belize's independence.
This flag was adopted on September 21st 1981, on the first independence day of Belize
Meanings
The meanings of the flag of Belize are quite unique compared to the other flags around the world, since most flags have the color represent values or independence or blood shed for the independence, the colors of the Belizean flag represent the 2 main political parties of the country.
The blue represents the People's United Party, this political party led the fight in leading the country to its independence back in 1981.
The red represents the United Democratic Party, another major political party of the country.
Belizean Coat of Arms
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The Belizean flag is quite special and thats because its the only flag in the world featuring humans, its actually quite weird, we are humans and we don't really put ourselves in the flags representing us, we use animals, shapes, colors, but not us.
The coat of arms of Belize has a mahogany tree on the back, 2 men to each side of the shield in the middle, the man on the left is a Mestizo (a person of Indigenous and European descent) and the man on the right is a Mulatto (a person of Mixed African and European descent) these men are holding an axe and a hoard respectively, these tools are used to represent the logging and boat building industries of Belize.
The shield in the middle is divided into three sections, on the top left there's a paddle and a maul on a white background, on the top right there's a two handed saw and a axe on a yellow background and on the bottom part there's a ship sailing over the sea.
At the bottom of the shield there's a scroll that reads the national motto of the country "SUB UMBRA FLOREO", this translates to "Under the Shade I Flourish".
The leaves surrounding the coat of arms also have a meaning, they are 50 Mahoney tree leaves and they represent the year 1950 when the country started to rise against British rule.
Other Flags!
This is the unofficial flag of Belize, used by the independentist groups from 1950 to 1981 and its the precursor of the current Belizean flag, the only thing that changed was the addition of the red stripes at the top and bottom to represent the second political party of the country.
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This flag is second flag is a bit more interesting, its the flag of the governor of British Honduras and it was used by the imperial governor of Belize that was there representing the British government, the flag consist of an Union Jack defaced with a coat of arms in the middle.
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Facts
Belize is the only central American country with English as its official language, although there are a few other recognized indigenous languages.
The name of the capital of Belize is Belmopan, this is a combination of Belize and Mopan. Mopan is the language of an indigenous tribe that inhabited the region. The city was built after hurricane Hattie destroyed the previous capital of Belize City on 1961.
Belize is home to more than 900 Mayan ruins!
Location
Belize is located on central America, with its coast facing to the Caribbean Sea, south of Mexico and East of Guatemala.
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