Landskrona - Sweden

Landskrona is an Swedish city on the coast of the Öresund an strait that divided Denmark from Copenhagen. Landskrona is opposite in straight line of Copenhagen, the distance is 25 km (16 mi). Before 1702 the city was part of Denmark but after an war it became part of Sweden and the rest of Scania, nowadays an province of Sweden. The Danish build an impressive citadel with system of moats to keep the Swedish out, that didn't work very well. But people can visit Copenhagen with the train and the journey takes an hour via the Öresund Bridge, in the past there was an ferry directly to the Danish capital. So this city lost its importance as an border town, ferry to its former capital but there remained one ferry destination to the small island of Ven. Ven is part of Landskrona and its have an population of around 370 people, they live in four small hamlets on the island. Tycho Brahe discovered in 1572 an weird bright star, not knowing he actually saw an supernova. He wrote an book about and became famous in Europe, the Danish king Frederik II offered him the island Ven to stay in Denmark. He build an observatory and found out later how comets really works. Get problems with the next Danish king and went in to an personal exile to Rostock and later Prague. So lets take an look at their flag

Actually its an banner but those thing can wave in the wind to, so that is fine with me. Two colors, four quarters and four symbols. Upper left we see an crown that symbolize the importance of the city to the Swedish Crown. Upper right an red lion with an red sword and palm branch. The lion symbolize strength and the citadel of Landskrona, the palm branch stands for victory. Below left an red ship, two red pillars and the sea. The pillars and ship stand for the port and its importance of it. Below right is an cornucopia stands for wealth, trade and prosperity. The meaning of the colors i din't information about it. The banner has many things to tell, modern city flags can learn something from this.

Orange County - United States / New York

Orange County can be found in the state of New York in the United States and its one of 62 counties of the Empire State. On the moment there are with the one in New York State 7 more in the United States, namely in the states: California, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. The name can derived from the plant or the house of Orange-Nassau and combined. That stuff for the flag so lets continue, Orange County is one of the original 12 counties. When the English take control of New Amsterdam, they renamed the colony in honor after the brother of king Charles II. The Duke of York his brother became later king as James II and have big issues later. When they created the 12 original counties in 1683, the named most of them after Charles II himself and his family, in-laws and personal titles. In this case the son-in-law of James II William of Orange-Nassau, who married his daughter Mary. Eventually he overthrown his father-in-law an became in 1689 king of England, Scotland and Ireland as William III with his wife queen Mary. Nowadays its considered part of the always expanding New York City, so many suburbs can be found and there is still room for rural things. Also the well known to the area is the United States Military Academy at West Point, started as an military fort in 1778 and turned into an academy in 1802. Then there is the eternal squabbling family Teutul with their tv program American Chopper, their company is named after the county. So lets take an look at the flag.

This flag has obviously to do with William of Orange Nassau hence the color. Also the orange tree the symbol of the flourishing family of Orange-Nassau. The colors, orange white and blue are from the Prinsenvlag, the old flag of the Netherlands and can be found on the flag of New York City. The words telling the name of the county, the state and the date of foundation. Typical American flag with words ditch the words and date and enlarged the tree, that make it better in mine opinion. 

San Andrés en Providencia - Colombia

San Andrés en Providencia and not lets forget Santa Catalina these are islands belonging to Colombia. This one of the 32 departments of Colombia and its official name in Spanish is Archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina. This archipel can be found in the Caribbean Sea and the distance from the Colombian mainland is 775 km (481 mi). However its closer to the Central-American nation Nicaragua, that distance is 220 km (137 mi), so that distance gives some political turmoil once in a while. Nicaragua claims the archipelago and before the short-lived United Provinces of Central America but the International Court of Justice in The Hague decide its stays part of Colombia and instead the maritime borders are changed. An little bit of more history the islands are possible discovered by the Dutch somewhere in the 16th century, but Spain claimed everything in that area nevertheless but they have only attention to the mainland. Around 1630 English settles arrived on the island of Providencia, but in 1641 the Spanish take control of their claim. The famous English pirate Henry Morgan control the islands from 1670 till 1689, maybe he hide some treasures. The Spanish came back an assigned the islands to the Viceroyalty of New Granada (present day Colombia) and to this day its remains that way, and became an Colombian departement in 1991. The official language of the archipelago is Spanish but there is minority that speak English, those are the descended of the earlier English settlers. So lets take an look at the flag.

The flag using an white Saint Andrew's cross on light blue background, probably inspired by the flag of Scotland, the name of that flag is St. Andrew's Cross. Saint Andrew is in Spanish San Andrés. That cross is also known as an saltire, and the meaning is "incantation of danger".   

The colors meanings and lets start with light blue that stands for immensity and depth.

The white stands for purity, integrity and honesty.

All those qualities together stands for the people of the islands.

Simple but strong flag and there are more of these in the world.

Oostkamp - Belgium

Oostkamp is an village and municipality that also comprises the villages of Ruddervoorde, Waardamme en Hertsberge and smaller hamlets of Moerbrugge, Steenbrugge, Erkegem and Baliebruge. The municipality can be found in the Belgian province of West Flanders south of Bruges and the population is around 23 thousand. Bruges was once an important city and now its very touristic and the Bruges nobility and elite escaped the bustling town to their castles and mansions in the Oostkamp municipality. There are 20 of them and almost every castle is private property and not visitable. But most of the outstanding buildings are visible from the public road. The name Oostkamp has nothing to do with an certain location of camp in the east. The name is evolved from de medieval name "Orscamp" and that meant "place of horses", "orse" is also old-English for horse. So lets take an look at the flag.

The flag has an red background with an diagonal white stripe. Six duck-like creatures without duckbills and legs are called in heraldry an martlet. An martlet is derived from the bird species the martin, family of the swallows. Knights that participated in the crusades were allowed to use martlets in their arms. So they think one of the Bruges nobility owned land in the Oostkamp area and that nobel arms is use in the municipality's flag and arms now. The noble family of Gruuthuse is one of the biggest contender in this case. So this flag is  an use of medieval symbols, kinda works for me.

Dortmund - Germany

Dortmund is the third biggest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia with an population around 590 thousand. However in one of the largest conurbations in Europe the Ruhr is Dortmund the biggest city. Due its location the city was in some periods in history an important city. In the Holy Roman Empire the city became in 1236 an free imperial city, the subordinate only to the emperor and was kind of autonomous. After an while it became one of the important hanseatic city. In the 19th century and an part of the 20th century the entire Ruhr area became one of the biggest industrialized areas in the world. Mainly coal mining and turning ores with that coal into iron and steel. Rebuild after World War II Dortmund and the Ruhr experienced the Wirtschaftswunder in the 50's and 60's and the big decline of the 70's. Beside the city if known for four things, Borussia Dortmund the successful football club. The beerstyle Dortmunder also know as Export, the shoppingstreet Westhellweg and the highly ranked Technical University of Dortmund. But somehow Dortmundmanaged is risings as an phoenix again and again. So lets take an look at the flag.

The horizontal red and white stripes comes from the Hanseatic League. The League starts using this colors to distinct them from Danish and English ships. Later members of the League creating variations to distinct them from member cities. There are also blue-white and blue-red-yellow variations but mostly its red and white with an symbol or crest. 

Shield in the center is an imperial eagle (Reichsadler) and most of the free imperial cities from the former Holy Roman Empire uses an eagle in their flag of coat of arms. The eagle has its roots from the standard of the Roman empire. The eagle is still in use in Germany and Austria. 

An straight forwarded flag with an strong eagle on it.

Darwin - Australia

Darwin the capital of the Northern Territory the sparsely populated subdivision in the north of Australia. The city is very isolated from the rest of Australia but its connected with an railroad to Adelaide since 2004, an train journey around 3000 km (1164.11 mi). The  city is named after Charles Darwin the man behind the evolution theory, captain John Clements Wickham of the HMS Beagle discovered an natural harbour. Most of us knew that Charles Darwin sailed with him on an previous voyage. Darwin is destroyed four times since its foundation, three cyclones hits the city and in 1942 the Japanese attacked it. After the last cyclone in 1974 the city of Darwin is rebuild, this time cyclone-proof. This tropical city proximity acts as an gateway to South East Asia and vice versa. The city also acts as the tourist hub to nation parks in the Territory, plenty of beautiful beaches and watch out for crocodiles and other annoying marine life. So lets take an look at their flags, yes Darwin use two flags.

At first they use an logo flag and again, to much letters. The dragonfly is the city's official insect and when they spotted an dragonfly the wet season is ending and the dry season starts. Personally they can do beter and this flag can be ridiculed on the internet,

The second flag has green, yellow an red vertical stripes and coast of arms on the yellow one. I could not find information of the colors, maybe it has to do with the nature around Darwin. 

The coat of arms is easier to explain. The left supporter represented an Aboriginal the original inhabitants of Darwin. The right supporter is an European miner or prospector which aided Darwin's growth. Above the shield is an helmet and mural crown and on top of that is an compass, to represented its northern position. 

In the shield are four symbols. 

In the upper part you see an gateway in an fort, that symbolize Darwin is the gateway to and from Australia.
In middle left you see an propeller that tell Darwin has one of the earliest airports in Australia.
In the middle right you see an sailing ship that tells that Darwin was discovered prior the age of steam.
The bottom is an encircles star and that symbol comes from family crest of Charles Darwin.
The motto "progrediamur" is Latin for "forward" and an text with the words "City of Darwin".
Two flags an they can do better, especially the first one.

Chai Nat - Thailand

Chai Nat is an province of Thailand and its located 188 km (116.82 mi) north of Bangkok. The capital of the province has the same name and its translate literally meant "roaring victory". The reason why is that in the old Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya this area successfully used to stop Burmese invasions. The province is rather flat due the Chao Phraya, an import river that flows through Bangkok and further to the Gulf of Thailand. East of the province at this river when the construction finished in 1957 it is use for two purposes. The first purpose is to provide the rice paddies of water and the second is to control possible flooding. Nowadays if you go to capital you will noticed its famous of handicrafts, basketry, sculpture and weaving and don't forget the ceramics. So lets take an look at the flag.

The flag an fuchsia background and i think it has to do with the provincial flower of an tree named rainbow shower tree (Cassia javanica), endemic in the province and rest of southeast Asia. 

The provincial seal is centered on the flag, in don't know what the text is meaning, In the seal we see an Garuda, an mythical half man-half eagle creature from the Hindu and Buddhist faith.

It holds an Dharmachakra also known as the Wheel of Dharma, an ancient Buddhist and Hindu symbol. 

The Chao Phraya river is also seen in the seal with an mountain in the background named Khao Phlong, its more an hill. 

So this was an flag with an unusual color and with an seal that is not really annoying.