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National flag

A national flag is a flag which symbolises a country and which can be flown by citizens of that country. Usually it is also the flag used to represent the country abroad.

There are many regulations concerning the display of national flags. The following come from South Africa, but are typical of the regulations in many other states.

When the National Flag is displayed together with

any other flags, it must be hoisted first and lowered last;
the national flags of other countries, all the flags should be of approximately equal size and must be flown at an equal height, and the National Flag of the Republic of South Africa must be on the right side of the building or platform (that is to say, on the left side from the observer's point of view);
any other flags, not being other national flags, on separate flagstaffs, the National Flag must be in the middle or on the left side from the observer's point of view or at the highest point of the group;
any other flags on the same flagstaff, it must be at the top;
any other flag on crossed staffs, the National Flag must be to the spectators' left and its staff must be in front of the staff of the other flag; and
another flag or flags in procession, the National Flag must be on the marching right. If there is a row of flags, the provisions of (c) above apply.

List of national flags

The following is a list of articles on individual national flags:

See also

List of flags, National anthem, coat of arms. Most articles on specific countries describe the country's flag under the sub-page Government. See countries of the world.

External Links

Flags of the World (http://www.fotw.ca/flags/) website contains images of national and other kinds of flags.

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

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