Flag of the Azores

Azores

Use	Civil and state flag, civil ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	1979
Design	Blue and white bands, superimposed by golden black kite and surmounted by nine stars with traditional Portuguese shield in the left corner.

The Flag of the Azores (Template:Lang-pt) is the regional flag of the Autonomous Region of the Azores. It is a rectangular bicolour with a field unevenly divided into blue on the hoist, and white on the fly. Adopted in 1979 by the regional government of the Azores, it is based on the traditional colours and symbols of Portuguese flags used prior to the revolution of 1910.

Design

19th century symbol of the Azores

Construction

The flag is constructed in the same form as the flag of Portugal equal to 1 1⁄2 times its width, or an aspect ratio of 2:3. The background is vertically divided into two colours: blue on the hoist side, and white on the fly. The colour division is made in a way that blue spans 2⁄5 of the length and the remaining 3⁄5 are filled by white (ratio 2-3). Positioned over the border of these two bands are nine five-sided stars in a semi-circular arch over a stylized golden black kite, with its wings extended so that the end stars.

Background

The 1830 flag of the Liberal forces under Peter IV of Portugal

The Azorean colours have their beginning in the royalist history of the Portuguese nation, first presented in the coat of arms of Henry, Count of Portugal.

During the height of the Portuguese Civil War, in the early 19th century, the Azores served as an important Liberal stronghold, with the prominent Duke of Terceira struggling against the absolutists led by Dom Miguel. The colours of the flag were thus adopted from the Portuguese liberal flag, as to demonstrate the Azores' important role in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Portugal. The Azorean flag therefore came as an adaption of the flag used from 1830 until 1910, when the monarchy was abolished.

Symbolism

Blue and white were traditional colours used by the Portuguese nation.

The name of the archipelago comes from the Portuguese word açor, meaning goshawk, because it was supposed to be a common bird at the time of the discovery. However, these birds never existed on the islands and were actually a local subspecies of the kite (Milvus migrans), that was erroneously identified as European black kites by the first explorers. The Portuguese lesser arms are present in the top left corner of the flag.

See also

• Coat of arms of the Azores
• Hymn of the Azores

References

Notes