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Flag Types - 2

Analsysis of the FOTW Library

Last modified: 2006-05-06 by phil nelson
Keywords: fotw statistics | flag type statistics |
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Editor's Note: In November, Jorge Candeias began reviewing certain items regarding flag types on FOTW. This series is still on-going as the November material was being edited.


Vertically tricoloured triangular flags can be subdivided according to the apparent proportions of the three bands. There are a number of possible variations of these, but only the flags with three equal bands pass 10 instances, so the numbers become:

Equal     43    89,58%
Unequal    5    10,42%
Total     48

By countries, the distribution goes:

Equal (43)

Mexico    32    74,42%
France     5    11,63%
Belgium    2    4,65%
Others     4    9,30%

Unequal (5)

One flag per country

Those flags that have equal bands can be further divided amongst those that don't have other basic design elements and those that do. But this last group is composed by one flag, so the numbers become:

Simple    42    97,67%
Others     1    2,33%
Total     43

By countries, the distribution goes:

Simple (42)

Mexico     32    76,19%
France      5    11,90%
Belgium     2    4,76%
Others      3    7,14%

Others (1)

It's a Danish flag (with a triangular canton)

A more varied type of flag would here suffer other kinds of subdivision, but this one, with the domain mexican flags have, is divided between green-white-red tricolours and other tricolours:

Green-White-Red   33    78,57%
Others             9    21,43%
Total             42

By countries, the distribution goes:

Simple (33)

Mexico   32    96,97%
Italy    1    3,03%

Others (9)

France    5    55,56%
Belgium   2    22,22%
Others    2    22,22%

The next subdivision of the larger group considers the presence and placement of charges in the flags. The only subgroup that reaches 10 instances is that of flags with charges (or sets of charges) centered in the central band and in the hoist band. There's no easy and accurate terminology for this, but I use "Center and Hoist" as a working shortcut:

Center and Hoist   27    81,82%
Others              6    18,18%
Total               33

By countries, the distribution goes:

Center and hoist (27)

Mexico    26    96,30%
Italy      1    3,70%

Others (6)

All Mexican

All of the "center and hoist" flags include a COA, and the vast majority also include stars, so I used this to make the next subdivision:

COA and stars   26    96,30%
Others           1    3,70%
Total           27

By countries, the first group only has Mexican flags, the second group is the Italian flag.

And the next subdivision is the last one. These mexican flags have different numbers of stars centered in the hoist band (1, 2 or 3), and we can use these to subdivide them. However, the only group that reaches 10 instances is that of flags with only one star:

One star     13    50%
Others       13    50%

Horizontally tricoloured triangular flags have the same basic subdivisions vertically tricoloured triangular flags do, but they are fewer in number and the various kinds of flags are more balanced. The first cnsequence is that also here flags with equal bands are the only cathegory to reach 10 instances:

Equal     14    82,35%
Unequal    3    17,65%
Total     17

By countries, the distribution goes:

Equal (14)

Mexico     5    35,71%
Germany    4    28,57%
Others     5    35,71%

Unequal (3)

One flag per country

The second consequence is that this is their only subdivision.

Triangular flags can carry crosses throughout (these are the only crosses that concern us here) in several different ways. But by far the most common of these ways is crosses with straight arms, disposed horizontally and vertically. The abundance of these passes all other so widely that they compose the only subcathegory to reach 10 inscances in this group (that is not so small anymore):

Horizontal    88    95,65%
Others         4    4,35%
Total         92

By countries, the distribution goes:

Horizontal (88)

Spain           14    15.91%
France          13    14,77%
Italy            9    10,23%
Austria-Hungary  4    4,55%
Portugal         4    4,55%
Others          44    50,00%

Others (4)

Germany      2    50%
Others       2    50%

Horizontal crosses can be of several different types. They can be fimbriates or simple, they can be centered or off-centered and, if off-centered, they can display one of several different kinds of off-centeredness. In triangular flags, however, only two kinds of flags show more than 10 examples: flags with simple off-centered crosses and flags with off-centered fimbriated crosses. These are all skewed towards the hoist. Numerically, this means:

Simple off-centered      59    67,05%
Fimbriated off-centered  21    23,86%
Others                    8    9,09%
Total                    88

By countries, the distribution goes:

Simple off-centered (59)

Spain          12    20.34%
France          8    13,56%
Italy           8    13,56%
Portugal        3    5,08%
Signal flags    3    5,08%
Others         25    42,37%

Fimbriated off-centered (21)

France           3    14,29%
Austria-Hungary  2    9,52%
Germany          2    9,52%
Spain            2    9,52%
Others          12    57,12%

Others (8)

France   4    50%
Ecuador  2    25%
Others   2    25%

Fimbriated crosses can have a simple fimbriation of more complex fimbriations. In triangular flags, however, the number of fimbriations is only either one or two, and that's the only subdivision of this cathegory, since further potential subdivisions don't reach 10 items:

One fimbriation    16    76,19%
Two fimbriations    5    23,81%
Total              21

By countries, the distribution goes:

One fimbriation (16)

Austria-Hungary  2    12,5%
France           2    12,5%
Others          12    75,0%

Two fimbriations (5)

Germany    2    40%
Others     3    60%

Simple off-centered crosses can be subdivided by how the background is coloured. Since a cross divides a flag in quarters, these quarters can be all of the same colour, or can display different colours. In triangular flags, only the simplest group, that of monocoloured backgrounds, reaches 10 images, so the subdivision goes:

Simple     45    76,27%
Others     14    23,73%
Total      59

By countries, the distribution goes:

Simple (45)

Italy         8    17,78%
Spain         5    11,11%
France        5    11,11%
Portugal      3    6,67%
Signal flags  3    6,67%
Others       21    46,67%

Others (14)

Spain    7    50,00%
France   2    14,29%
Others   5    35,71%

Blue    18    40,00%
White   14    31,11%
Red     11    24,44%
Others   2    4,44%
Total   45

By countries, the distribution goes:

Blue (18)

Spain         2    11,11%
France        2    11,11%
Greece        2    11,11%
Portugal      2    11,11%
Signal flags  2    11,11%
Others        8    44,44%

White (14)

France           3   21,43%
Austria-Hungary  2    14,29%
Spain            2    14,29%
Italy            2    14,29%
Others           5    35,71%

Red (11)

Italy     5    45,45%
Others    6    54,55%

Others (2)

One flag per country

The next logical subdivision is by the colour of the cross. Of all these groups, only in that of blue flags there is a subgroup with more than 10 elements: blue flags with white crosses. So:

White cross    14    77,78%
Others          4    22,22%
Total          18

By countries, the distribution goes:

White cross (14)

France         2    14,29%
Greece         2    14,29%
Signal flags   2    14,29%
Others         8    57,14%

Others (4)

One flag per country

Flags with borders can have several types of border, but basically they ban be complete, going all the way around the flag, or incomplete, leaving out one or more of the sides. In triangular flags, this means the following numbers:

Complete    61    57,55%
Incomplete  45    42,45%
Total      106

By countries, the distribution goes:

Complete (61)

Germany    20    32,79%
USA         8    13,11%
Croatia     7    11,48%
France      5    8,20%
Others     21    34,43%

Incomplete (45)

Germany       14    31,11%
USA            4     8,89%
Signal flags   4    8,89%
Belgium        3    6,67%
UK             3     6,67%
Yugoslavia     3    6,67%
Others        14    31,11%

Jorge Candeias, November 2003