But a particular color is very rarely seen on flags-purple. The reason behind this is strange. In the early days, purple was an expensive colour, due to the fact that it was made from a special kind of snail found only in the Mediterranean.
Purple is one of the least used colours in vexillology and heraldry. Currently, the colour appears in only four national flags: that of Dominica, El Salvador, Spain, and Nicaragua, and one co-official national flag, the Wiphala (co-official national flag of Bolivia).
There are 196 countries in the world today and virtually none of them have purple on their national flag. So what's wrong with purple? After Skool explains how the color was worth more than gold.
There are two main reasons for this. For centuries, due to the complicated process of producing purple dye, it proved too expensive to incorporate into flag designs. Purple also has a time-honoured association with royalty, making it a risky colour for a nation to promote.
Purple is the rarest colour on national flags. In fact, of the 196 countries of the world, virtually none of them use purple on their national flag. However, a small number of nations have amended or changed their national flags over the years to feature very small portions of purple.
So, what is the rarest color used in flags? The answer is — purple! The color of the kings, the color of wealth and royalty, was by far the most unpopular choice for making flags, even if the nation was extremely wealthy. Let's check the story behind the rarest flag color in the world.
No color has arguably done so more than the color purple. Specifically, Tyrian purple, the production of which was a closely guarded secret for millennia, making the dye the rarest and most expensive color in history.
The flag of Libya from 1977 to 2011 featured a solid-green field and was the only single-colored flag in the world. The flag of Libya from 1977 to 2011 was unique in the world. It featured a solid-green field with a 1:2 ratio and was the only single-colored flag in the world.
The Flag of the Libyan Arab Republic (1969 – 1972)
This was short lived because the countries could not agree on rules. In 1977 Libya broke free of the merger and became the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. A plain green flag, the only plain coloured flag in the world, was chosen to represent Gaddafi's political philosophy.
Despite being a royal color, the nobles opted not to use purple dye in their flags since it was expensive to produce. Flags and standards had to be mass-produced, and there wasn't enough dye.
Created in 1998 by Michael Page, the bisexual flag features the colors pink and royal blue with an overlapping purple stripe in the center. The pink is intended to represent attraction toward the same sex while the royal blue stands for attraction toward the opposite sex.
The pink, white and green tricolour flag, or PWG, can be seen all around Newfoundland and Labrador.
Did you ever notice that you rarely see purple on national flags? In fact, only two countries, Dominica and Nicaragua, have purple in their flag. This is because purple dye was very expensive in the past. Purple dye was made from collecting the mucus from thousands of sea snails.
Purple flag means dangerous marine life spotted.
Purple as the royal color started with ancient monarchies. The color was difficult to produce, which made it expensive and available only to upper society. Rulers wore purple robes and used purple ink to sign their edicts. Some Roman emperors penalized their citizens by death for wearing purple garments.
The country of Ukraine, located in eastern Europe, has one of the simplest flags. Two equal-sized fields of blue and yellow run horizontally on the flag. The blue is for the blue sky.
Red is the most popular color being found on approximately 75 per cent of all national flags of the world.
For example, the Vietnamese flag has only two colors: a red background with a golden star.
The modern English word purple comes from the Old English purpul, which derives from Latin purpura, which, in turn, derives from the Greek πορφύρα (porphura), the name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity from a mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail.
February | Amethyst
Amethyst, the birthstone of February, is a variety of Quartz that carries a spectacular purple color that ranges from a blend of deep violet and red to a lighter lilac hue. Ancient Greeks believed that the stone protected the wearer from drunkenness and enabled them to keep a balanced mindset.
Visually, purple is one of the most difficult colors to discriminate. It also has the strongest electromagnetic wavelength, being just a few wavelengths up from x-rays and gamma rays. 9 For this reason, it is often used in visual illusions such as the lilac chaser illusion.
Denmark's national flag is the world's oldest and longest-running flag. In 1625, the current design of a white Scandinavian cross on a red background was established, and the square shape was adopted in 1748. The 'Dannebrog' or 'Danish cloth' is how it's known in Denmark.