Ethnic flag

Like the concept of a state's national flag itself, that of an "ethnic flag" is modern,

first arising in the late 19th century; strictly speaking, the national flags of nation states are themselves "ethnic flags", and often so used by ethnic minorities in neighboring states, especially in the context of irredentism (e.g. the flag of the Republic of Albania used as an "ethnic Albanian flag" by Kosovar Albanians).

Ethnic flags are often used in irredentism, representing the "national flag" of a proposed or unrecognized state.

The first such flags were designed at the end of the 19th century, such as the Basque flag (1894) or the "Flag of Zion" used to symbolize Zionism from 1898, which became the national flag of Israel 50 years later.

Most early ethnic flags imply a connection with an unrecognized state claimed by the respective ethnicities, such as the flag of Kurdistan which originates as the flag of the Republic of Ararat (1927).

A flag of the Hispanic People was designed in 1932.{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.es/espana/20151012/abci-bandera-olvidada-representa-hispanidad-201510092037.html|title=La bandera olvidada que representa a toda la Hispanidad|date=11 October 2015|newspaper=ABC Spain|language=es|access-date=29 June 2019}}

Alternatively, an "ethnic flag" may represent a Pan-nationalism, such as the

Pan-Arab flag which originates as the flag of the Arab Revolt during World War I,Abū Khaldūn Sati' al-Husri, The days of Maysalūn: A Page from the Modern History of the Arabs, Sidney Glauser Trans. (Washington D.C.: Middle East Institute, 1966), 46. the proposed flag of Pan-Slavism (1848),{{cite book|author=Gabriella Elgenius|editor=Thomas Hylland Eriksen|others=Richard Jenkins|title=Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=scHXHTkRmZcC&pg=PA27|access-date=30 November 2015|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-06696-4|page=27}} Pan-Iranism or Pan-Turkism.

The concept of using ethnic flags to symbolize ethnic groups within a multiethnic state, not necessarily connected with irredentism, became popular in the later 20th century, such as the Australian Aboriginal flag (1971), the Assyrian flag (1971),[http://aua.net/assyrian-flag/ "The Origins and Description of the Assyrian Flag" by Homer Ashurian, Assyrian Universal Alliance, 03-1999] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217081913/http://aua.net/assyrians/flag.htm |date=17 February 2009 }} the flag of the Romani people (1971), the Berber flag (1970s), the Sami flag (1986) or the national Māori flag (1990).

Designing ethnic or tribal flags has become very popular since the 1990s, especially for online use, and mostly do not have any kind of "official" status and must be judged based on de facto use.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} In many cases, the national flag of a sovereign state is often seen and used as a de facto ethnic flag by its people.

{{further information|Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization}}

{{self reference|This is a list of links to ethnic flags with referenced entries in Wikipedia articles, including flags of irredentist or nationalist movements motivated by ethnic nationalism. For a looser (unreferenced) collection of proposed or claimed ethnic flags see Flags of ethnic groups on Wikimedia Commons.}}

• {{commons-inline|Cultural flags}}
• {{commons category-inline|Flags of ethnic groups}}
• {{commons-inline|Flags of active autonomist and secessionist movements}}
• {{commons category-inline|Native American flags in Latin America}}
• {{commons category-inline|Native American flags in the United States}}

• List of former sovereign states
• Flags of subnational entities
• Flags of unrecognized states
• Flags of micronations

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Znamierowski |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Znamierowski |title=The World Encyclopedia of Flags |url=https://archive.org/details/worldencyclopedi0000znam |url-access=registration |year=2001 |publisher=Hermes House |location=London, UK|isbn=9781843090427 }}

• {{Commons category-inline|Flags of ethnic groups}}
• Flags of the World - [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ FOTW]

{{Ethnicity}}

{{Lists of flags}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ethnic Flag}}

Category:Types of flags

Category:Lists and galleries of flags