Flag of Belgium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The national flag of Belgium contains three equal vertical bands of black (hoist side), yellow, and red; the vertical design was based on the flag of France, whereas the colours were taken from the colours of the duchy of Brabant. When riots were starting as result of the Belgian revolution against the Dutch domination, a civil guard was established which wore the colours of Brabant. Its unusual proportions (13:15) are of unknown origin.

The flag was adopted January 23, 1831, soon after the Belgians gained their independence from the Netherlands in 1830. The flag had played an important role during the revolt, where the colours of the flag served as a reminder of an older flag with horizontal bands used during a previous revolt in 1789 in the then Austrian Netherlands. The original flag was with horizontal bars, but it was changed to vertical because of the resemblance with the flag of the Netherlands.

Article 193 of the Belgian Constitution describes the colours of the Belgian Nation as Red, Yellow and Black instead of the order used in the above official flag.

[edit] See also

• List of Belgian flags

[edit] External links

• Belgium at Flags of the World

National flags	National coats of arms
Flags of sovereign states	Coats of arms of sovereign states
Flags of dependent territories	Coats of arms of dependent territories
Flags of unrecognized states	Coats of arms of unrecognized states
Flags of micronations	Coats of arms of micronations
Flags of formerly independent states