Country and Flag Origins - Part A

I was reading through some of my old blogs for inspiration, and realised that I haven't researched the origin of the country names, I've done the capitals, and second cities, but not the countries themselves. I was thinking I would write a series about this, but also include the flags of the countries and what they represent. Sort of a two-pronged approach if you like.

Instead of a layout the same as all the other blogs, I thought I would change this series a little. You may have noticed that this first blog in the series isn't "Part 1" but "Part A". There is a reason for this. In this first blog I shall be including all of the countries that start with the letter A. Then B, C, D and so on. Now, I know this means some blogs will be longer than others, especially Q, O, Y , I shall probably lump those together at some point. Or I may just make a short blog, who knows at this point, certainly not me. We shall see how it pans out.

So anyway, lets start at the very beginning, in a place known as the Graveyard of Empires, Afghanistan.....

The flag of Afghanistan has been recently changed, the governing Taliban brought in the new flag in 2021. The white background represents the "(Islamic Movement of Taliban's) purity of faith and government". The inscription in black is the Islamic declaration of faith, the shahada. It reads "I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God"

The name Afghanistan can be split into Afghani- and -stan. The -stan part is a Persian suffix meaning "land of". All of the "stans" have the same meaning. The name Afghans was used to depict ethnic Pashtuns, but it is thought that the term originally came from a Sanskrit word, Aśvakan, which referred to horse breeders of the Hindu Kush region.

AFGHANISTAN = LAND OF THE HORSE BREEDERS

The flag of Albania was first adopted in 1443, there was a period between 1946 and 1992 that saw a star added to the flag just above the eagle. The red of the flag stands for bravery, strength, valour and bloodshed. The double headed eagle represents the people and state of Albania. The symbol comes from the crest of the Kastrioti family, who were instrumental in fighting for the country's independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

Albania's name comes from the ancient tribe of the region, the Albani. Incidentally, the Albanians name for the country is Shqipëri or Shqipëria which dates to the 14th century and means "Children of the Eagles"

ALBANIA = LAND OF THE ALBANIS

There are different interpretations to the symbolism of the flag of Algeria. Some say the green and white represent Islam, whereas others think the crescent and star are the Islamic symbols and the green stands for the earth and agriculture, whilst the white represents peace. Still others think all three colours represent the three countries of the Maghreb and the first union of the nations. The five pointed star does represent the five pillars of Islam.

The country's name comes from the city of Algiers, not the other way round. Way back in 2021, I covered the etymology of the capital, in my blog about capital cities, it derives from the Arabic al-Jazāʾir meaning "the islands".

ALGERIA = LAND OF THE CITY OF ISLANDS

Although the three vertical colour bars of the Andorran flag appear the same, the centre yellow stripe is slightly wider. The design of the flag symbolises the countries position and proximity to France, Catalonia and Spain. The red and blue are elements of the French flag, and the yellow and red, Catalonia and Spain. The Coat of Arms in the middle has the motto Virtus Unita Fortior which means "Virtue United is Stronger" and depicts symbolism representing the Bishop of Urgell (in Catalonia), the Count of Foix (now part of France), Catalonia, and Viscounty of Bearn (also part of France).

In my Capitals blog, we read about the meaning of Andorra's capital, Andorra la Vella which means "town in a forest". Well, Andorra is the forest, or at least that's what the etymology tells us. In that blog I wrote..."From the Arabic al-darra meaning "the thickly wooded place" and from the Navarro-Aragonese language andurrial meaning "land covered with bushes"".

ANDORRA = LAND COVERED WITH BUSHES

The meaning of Angola's flag changed slightly following the country's independence from Portugal. The red colour represents the bloodshed during the independence battle and the black represents the continent of Africa. Previously the red was described to represent the blood of revolution. The central symbol is yellow referring to the wealth of Angola, whereas the machete represents peasants and agriculture. The cogwheel, workers and industry. And the star, international solidarity and progress. The placement is reminiscent of the hammer and sickle in the old Soviet Union flag.

The name of Angola is a Portuguese rendition of a title held by the rulers of the Kingdom of Kongo, or more specifically the region of Ndongo and Matamba which were in what is now Angola. The kings had the title of ngola, meaning "Ruler".

ANGOLA = RULER

This country's national flag was introduced in 1967 following a competition amongst residents to design a new flag with the introduction of self-governing. Over 600 entries were received, and local artist and sculptor, Sir Reginald Samuel, submitted the winning entry. The rising sun denotes the start of a new era for the islands with the other colours representing...

Black - the African heritage of the inhabitants

Blue - for hope

Red - for energy and life of the people. The V shape stands for Victory.

Within the V the black, yellow, blue and white stand for soil, sun, sea and sand. The seven full points on the star represent the six parishes of Antigua and Barbauda.

The name Antigua and Barbuda has Spanish origins, Antigua meaning "ancient" and Barbuda meaning "bearded". The "bearded" of Barbuda is thought to refer either to the male inhabitants of the island, or the bearded fig trees that can be seen there.

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA = ANCIENT AND BEARDED

The Argentine flag was first raised in 1812 during the Argentine War of Independence by it's creator, Manuel Belgrano. The colours used represented the Spanish Order of Charles III, symbolising the "allegiance to the rightful" meaning the captive King Ferdinand VII of Spain. The yellow "Sun of May" was added in 1818. The Sun of May is a national symbol of Argentina, as well as Uruguay and Ecuador where it also features on state flags. It represents Inti, the Incan god of the sun. The "of May" refers to the May revolution of 1810 which marked the beginning of independence from Spain.

Despite being part of the Spanish Empire, Argentina's name derives from the Latin word for Silver, Argentum. It is thought that the early explorers from Genoa and Venice named it to enforce the silver mountain legend about a fabled source of silver in South America.

ARGENTINA = LAND OF SILVER

The Armenian flag was first adopted in 1918, but then re-adopted in 1990 following the break-up of the Soviet Union. The symbolism of the colours of the flag is subject to an official statement...

"The red emblematizes the Armenian Highland, the Armenian people's continued struggle for survival, maintenance of the Christian Faith, and Armenia's independence and freedom. The blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. The orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia"

The name of the country in it's native form is thought to originate from Hayk, a great grandson of Noah from the Ararat region. However the name Armenia is thought to have maybe been derived from Armini, or inhabitants of Arme, that settled in the area and in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north.

ARMENIA = DERIVED FROM ARMINI TRIBE

You may already know some of the symbolism of the Australian flag, the top left corner features the Union Flag of the United Kingdom, more about that in a later edition of this blog series. The large star beneath the Union Flag is known as the Commonwealth Star and represents the Federation of Australia. It's seven points represent the original six states of Australia and any future territories or states. The five smaller stars represent the Southern Cross constellation that can be seen at night in the southern hemisphere.

The name of Australia derives from the Latin phrase Terra Australis Incognita meaning "Unknown Southern land" and refers to a continent that was thought to exist but hadn't then been discovered. Common nicknames of Australia are "Oz" and "Down Under" .

AUSTRALIA = SOUTHERN

The flag of Austria was first used in 1230 and as such is regarded as one of the oldest national symbols still in use. The colours of the flag go back to the arms of the Babenberg dynasty but may have been in use even earlier. It is thought that the colours come from Leopold V who reigned as Duke of Austria in 1177. Legend has it that following the Siege of Acre his white coat was drenched in blood, but when removing his belt a clean white band could be seen around his waist.

Austria is the Latinised name of the German name for the country, Osterreich, which means "Eastern Realm".

AUSTRIA = EASTERN REALM

Like Armenia mentioned earlier, Azerbaijan's flag was originally raised in 1918, but then reintroduced in 1991 following the collapse of the USSR. The background colours of the flag from top down represent, Azerbaijan's Turkic identity(blue), progress(red) and Islam(green), the main religion of the country. Whilst the crescent and star are undoubtably symbols of Islam too, the eight points to the star are subject to a couple of theories. Some say that the points represent the number of letters in Azerbaijan when written in Arabic, while others claim they represent the eight Turkic peoples present prior to the introduction of the Soviet Union.

The name Azerbaijan derives from Atropates, a Persian governor under Alexander the Great. The name Atropates is a Greek translation from an Old Iranian compounded name meaning "Land of the Holy Fire". Over many centuries the name evolved into Āturpātākān, followed by  Ādharbādhagān, Ādhorbāygān, Āzarbāydjān and finally Azerbaijan.

AZERBAIJAN = LAND OF HOLY FIRE

Well, that was the first one, all of the countries beginning with A. You can take this quiz on the same subject if you like, it's by a little known user called "Quizmaster", he seems to be doing OK judging by his level of ∞, whatever that means. I think it means newcomer, or something. Please don't ban me QM, its just a little joke!

So, what's next I wonder. Well now, let me see. If I remember my first year in school learning the alphabet with Miss Wilson, who somehow resembled Miss Trunchbull in the 1998 movie "Matilda", the letter following A is G, no wait, B. That's it, I think. Anyway, I'll be doing B next whatever happens. Now the more astute among you will have realised that there are quite a few more B countries than there are ones beginning with A. Six more in fact, 11 As and 17 Bs, starting with Bahamas and finishing with Burundi. Now in this blog, up to this point, I have used just under 12,000 characters, so with a limit of 50,000 I should be OK.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog, if not, well you could let me know in the comments, or just keep it to yourself, why be negative?

Anyway, that's it for now, I shall see you, figuratively, in the next one.