Flag of Bethania

Name	National Flag
Use	National Flag and Naval Ensign
Proportion	3:4
Adopted	October 14, 2010
Design	Three Blue stripes enveloping two Yellow ones and a canton housing the coat of arms in the upper left corner.

The Flag of the Republic of Bethania consists of five stripes of alternating Blue and yellow and a canton housing the coat of arms of the republic.

Symbolism

The national flag of the Social Republic of Bethania consists of five equal stripes of Blue and Yellow running horizontally down the flag and a canton housing a flag similar to those carried by Swiss Mercenaries in the 1500's and 1600's. Superimposed over the canton is a armillary sphere and a red star. The stripes represent the ocean (blue) and the beaches (yellow) of the country. There are purposefully more blue stripes than yellow ones, representing the country's oceanic heritage and the different overseas empires of which Bethania was a part. The armillary sphere is another symbol of overseas colonization, this time representing navigation, while the red star is often misunderstood to represent communism, but on the Bethanian flag, it represents Social Democracy.

The flag's layout is very similar to that of the flag of Togo, in that there are five different stripes and in the size of the canton. The government has said that it used the Togolese flag as a template because it "served the purposes of the flag". An older flag, shown below, had the same design, but different colors, the same as the Delawarean flag, meant to show the Delawarean heritage of the country. It also had the first coat of arms, which was almost indentical to that of Delaware.

Historical Flags

Flag	Name of Flag	Description	Dates in Use
Colonial Flags
	Flag of the Dutch Republic and the Dutch East India Company	The Flags of the Dutch Colony of New Netherland (which was centered around New York, but went as far south as Ocean City) were both displayed at the Dutch trading post at Swaanendael, in present day Lewes (just across the border from Bethania) and displayed by Dutch explorers and fur traders who traded along the length of the coastal New Netherland Colony.	1614-1667
	Flag of the Swedish Empire	The Flag of the Swedish Empire was the de facto flag of the Colony of New Sweden, which ran the length of present day Delaware.	1638-1655
	Flag of Great Britain	The Flag of Great Britain and the British Empire was the de facto flag of Delaware and Maryland when they were colonies of the British Empire. Britain's control of the whole of their colonies was better than any other colonial power at the time and the colonial governments were more firmly in place (at least in the Americas) and so the British flag was a common sight in the colonies.	1664-1776
	Flag of the Continental Congress	The Flag of the Continental Congress was a flag of rebellion in the colonies by the time war broke out between the British troops and colonial militias, but it was originally intended to be a flag representing the colonials in the Thirteen Colonies, and so is technically a colonial flag, although it did become the first flag of the United States.	1775-1777
United States Era Flags
	Bennington Flag and Betsy Ross Flag	The Bennington Flag and the Betsy Ross Flag are some of the earliest American flags, with thirteen stars representing the Thirteen Colonies on each one. While they were not official flags of the United States, they are important in American history.	1775-1783
	Flag of the United States of America	The Flag of the United States as represented today has fifty stars, one for each state, was the official flag of the individual towns of Bethania, until Bethanian independence, when they were united.	The American flag has had fifty stars in its canton since July 4, 1960, but the actual design of the Star-Spangled Banner dates back from 1777, when the Betsy Ross flag and the Bennington Flags became popular symbols of American separatism.
	Flag of Delaware	The Flag of Delaware, while not important greatly to Bethanian history, did help design the first Bethanian flag, which used the colors and the coat of arms featured on the Delawarean flag.	1913–present
After Bethanian Independence
	Flag of the North American Confederation	The flag of the North American Confederation was used by Confederationalists in the first months of Bethanian independence who wanted to become a state within the NAC.	October–December 2010
	First Flag of Bethania	The first flag of Bethania used the colors of the Delawarean flag and the Delawarean coat of arms, just in a different design and was replaced because it was unoriginal.	October 10-December 5, 2010
	Second Flag of Bethania	The Second Flag of Bethania used the modern-day colors, but still employed the Delawarean coat of arms as the official coat of arms of the country.	December 5, 2010 – April 23, 2011
	Fourth and Fifth Flags of Bethania	The Fourth and Fifth flags of Bethania show the two different coats of arms of Bethania that were not identical to the coat of arms of Delaware.	April 23-June 4, 2011
	Current Flag of Bethania	The first flag of Bethania to not display the coat of arms, the current flag of Bethania has incorporated a Swiss Military style flag in the canton with an armillary sphere and a red star.	June 4, 2011 – present