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The official Portugal
flag is divided into five sections. Two of these parts are green vertical
bands while the rest is a background of red. The Portuguese coat of
arms is positioned on the line where the two colors meet, in the upper
left corner, making the Portugal flag a colorful and historic national
emblem.
The flag of Portugal
The green color
is meant to stand for King Henry the Navigator, one of Portugals
most famous explorers. The red indicates the revolution that took
place in Portugal in the 1800s. The coat of arms depicts an armillary
sphere, which is a navigational instrument, and the Portuguese
shield.
This shield commemorates
Portugal’s role as leaders in ocean
exploration. When folded, properly, the national flag is in
the shape of a square with this coat of arms showing.
The current version of the Portugal flag was adopted on June 30,
1911. It was originally representative of Portugal, Brazil, and Azores.
But in 1979, the Azores adopted a flag of their own. Although the
Azores are a part of Portugal, they are recognized as an autonamous
region, and this relationship is refelcted in the design of their
flag.
How the Azores
flag differs from the national flag
They chose vertical
bands of blue and white for their background colors, which many
say reflect a version of a royal Portugal flag no longer in use.
It has the Emblem of Portugal in the upper left corner.
The Azores flag
depicts what is meant to be a soaring golden goshawk beneath 9
golden stars shaped in an arch. Azores means goshawk, and the nine
stars stand for each island. There is also a white shield with
a blue cross and a red border with seven gold castles. This shield
is the lesser arms of Portugal. Both
the Portugal flag and the Azores flag are colorful reminders of
the country’s
celebrated past.
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