Flag of portugal
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with the correct capitalisation of this page at Flag of Portugal. Dunc_Harris|☺ 14:28, 6 Jul 2004 (UTC)
The flag of Portugal is a 2:3 green and red rectangle divided vertically into green at the hoist (2/5 of the flag’s length) and red at the fly (3/5). Centered in this partition a coat of arms consisting on an armillary sphere charged with the traditional portuguese shield. It was adopted in 30 June 1911, in consequence of the 1910 Republican Revolution.
Meaning of the flag
The flag has a much more obscure meaning than the traditional one. During the Estado Novo, the Portuguese Nationalist Authoritarian regime which lasted from 1933 to 1974, it was said that th green represented the woods of Portugal and the red represented the blood of those who died serving the nation. However, the original meaning is muh more obscure. The green and red are the traditional colours of Iberic Federalism, a Republican-Socialist ideology very common on the beggining of the century and which defended the Political union of Portugal and Spain. However, the Estado Novo's definition of the colours is currently the commonly accepted one.
The armillary sphere replaced the crown in the old monarchist flag. It represented the Portuguese Colonial Empire at the time of the Revolution and the discoveries that Portugal made. The traditional Portuguese shield is present in almost every single Portuguese flag.
History
Right after the Republican Revolution, on 5 October 1910, the Monarchist flag was abolished and the State ran a contest of flag proposals for the new government.
There was a strong debate whether if the traditional Portuguese blue/white should be mantained or if the green/red from the Republican Party should be adopted. Although most of the proposals centered themselves in blue/white flags, the final winner was a red/green one. Announced on 30 June 1911, it was based on the flag flown by the rebel ship Adamastor, during the Republican Revolution.
Heraldic and Social Problems
Although it is nowadays deeply rooted in the Portuguese people, the red/green, or the Verde e Rubra, as it is called in Portugal, is still rejected by some conservative sectors of the society. The Monarchists, for example, still use the traditional blue/white liberal flag from 1820 and the nationalists like to use a blue/white flag without the crown, being a republican flag without the socialist green/red.
Another problem is the Heraldic Paradoxal question: under heraldic rules, the green should never enter in contact with the red. Being that, many heraldrly and vexillology scholars consider the Portuguese (and the Lithuanian flag, for intance) as being an heraldic mistake. The flag is also considered a bit ugly by most people.