162 Flags of the World

I’ve actually been writing these posts a few days ahead of time, but limiting my posting to once a day to space them out. It’s a coincidence that this particular post appears on 9/11, but given the world-changing nature of the event, it’s interesting to look at the flags of the world from 1977 and compare them to the flags of today — and also to think about what the flags of the world might look like in 2041, another thirty-two years from now.

Since the post mentions Iraq and Iran, and today is September 11, I want to point out that no connection has ever been found between the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Iraq, despite the apparent belief of many people to the contrary. I also want to point out that Iran and Iraq are in fact two entirely separate and distinct countries, with different histories, languages, cultures, and religious and ethnic compositions — again, contrary to the apparent belief of many people.

This isn’t a book, but a sheet of stickers with flags of the world’s nations, circa 1977, which I’ve had since I was a child. I recently threw it out along with some outdated books.

While the English says “162 Flags of the World”, the Chinese actually says “Ten Thousand Nation Flags”. The Chinese character for “ten thousand” is sometimes used idiomatically to indicate “many” or “all”. In particular, 「萬國」 means “all nations” or “nations of the world”.

There are a hundred and sixty flags in the main body of the sheet. Apart from these, the flag of the United Nations is in the upper left corner, while that of Hong Kong is in the upper right.

The Hong Kong flag is a Blue Ensign design with the coat of arms of Hong Kong, which was used until the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China. I actually have one of these flags, which can be seen in this photo.

Another curiosity about the sticker sheet is that it shows the previous flags of both Iran and Iraq.

The government, and hence the flag, of Iran would be changed soon afterwards by the Iranian Revolution of 1979 (later retroactively called the Islamic Revolution). The Iraqi flag was changed in 1991 when Saddam Hussein added the phrase “Allāhu Akbar” in his own handwriting, which fills the spaces between the three stars. And, of course, it was changed again in 2004, shortly after his overthrow and capture.

– davinci 11777

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