Hawaiian Flag

Hawaii Magazine has written a great piece about the history of the Hawaiian flag - you can view here. I have been thinking about writing this piece for a while so it's a coincidence that I happened to find an article in about it in the same week. Very nice story though and I wanted to write about the flag because of the Union Jack - it is also a key piece of the Australian flag, which is why I like the Hawaiian flag so much! It reminds me of home in a way, and with the red, white and blue stripes it reminds me of the American flag with it's red and white stripes. So this flag has a lot of meaning for me.

The key part of the Hawaiian flag history that I like and wanted to share is how the flag became what it is today. Hawaii was once an independent kingdom, from 1810 - 1893. The flag was designed at the request of King Kamehameha I to avoid international conflict (as he had been waving the British flag around for quite some time, and it was thought that Hawaii may be seen as an ally of the United Kingdom should war break out). It has eight stripes of white, red and blue that represent the eight main islands. A ninth stripe was once included to represent the island of Nihoa, but has since been removed. The flag of Great Britain is emblazoned in the upper left corner to honor Hawaii's friendship with the British. Isn't that lovely? Makes me miss the motherland!

The Flags of the World website has some great pictures information about variant designs, and flag-flying days. This is serious stuff! Happy learning!