Flag of Belgium

Flag origins

Belgium’s vertical black-yellow-red tricolour derives from the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant in what is now central Belgium, rather than assigning each color a meaning from nature or an ideal. The arms showed a golden lion on black, with red claws and tongue: black for the field, yellow for the lion and red for its claws and tongue. The colors were used during the Brabant Revolution against Austrian rule in 1789 and adopted again as distinctively Belgian during the independence revolution of 1830. Today they run black, yellow and red from the hoist outward.

Flag story

Belgium’s flag was not originally striped vertically. Early flags made during the 1830 revolution used the same three colors in horizontal bands. The horizontal design could be confused with the Dutch flag. Belgium was seeking independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, so distinguishing the sides mattered. The design gradually changed to vertical stripes; horizontal and vertical versions reportedly coexisted for a time.

Editorial notes and references

Edited by ABELHA WORKS. The English text translates the administrator-edited Japanese description. Legends should be distinguished from documented history. General reference links do not substantiate every statement in the text.

• Belgium — general information on Wikipedia
• Japan MOFA: countries and regions (Japanese)

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