Flag of North Rhine-Westphalia
Encyclopedia
The flag of North-Rhine Westphalia is the flag
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

 of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 state of North-Rhine Westphalia.

After the establishment of North-Rhine Westphalia in 1946, this flag had been in use since 1948 although it was not formally established until 1953. The plain tricolour is the state's civil flag
Civil flag
A civil flag is a version of the national flag that is flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. The use of civil flags was more common in the past, in order to denote buildings or ships that were not manned by the military....

. Government authorities use the state flag
State flag
There are two separate meanings for the term state flag in vexillology – the flag of the government of a sovereign state, and the flag of an individual subnational state.-Government flag:...

 (Landesdienstflagge), where the flag is defaced by the state coat of arms
Coat of arms of North Rhine-Westphalia
The Coat of Arms of North Rhine-Westphalia is the official coat of arms of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.After World War II on August 23, 1946 the British military administration in Germany established the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia with the merger of the Province of...

.

The flag is a combination of the two former provinces of Prussia
Provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...

 that comprise most of the state: the Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...

 and Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...

, which unfortunately can easily be confused with the much older Flag of Hungary
Flag of Hungary
The flag of Hungary is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green. In this exact form, it has been the official flag of Hungary since October 1, 1957.-Origin:...

 and with the plain version (not currently used) of the flag of Iran
Flag of Iran
The current flag of Iran was adopted on 29 July 1980, and is a reflection of the changes brought about by the Iranian Revolution. Its field is a tricolour comprising equal horizontal bands of green, white, and red...

.
Flags from preceding Prussian provinces:
Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...


(1822–1946)
Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...


(1815–1946)
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