Saint Petersburg - United States / Florida

Saint Petersburg is the fifth largest city in the state of Florida with an population of around 257 thousand. The city is the second largest in the Tampa Bay area behind the city of Tampa. Saint Petersburg is the largest in the county of Pinellas but the city of Clearwater is the seat. But the entire Tampa Bay area has an population of around 2.8 million. Saint Petersburg was founded in 1888 John C. Williams who owned the land and Peter Demens being the railroad to the area. To decide which bake the place get due an coin toss and the winner picked the name and the other naked the first hotel. Peter won and named it after his birthplace,  the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, John wad born in Detroit and the hotel get that name. With an average of 361 days of sunshine it's attracted people to vine live here or go for an holiday. Saint Petersburg hold tbe record of 768 consecutive sunny days between 1967 and 1969 in the United States. So let's take an look at the flag.

The colourful flag had six colours five horizontal colours orange, red, green, blue and dark blue. Also white thin lines also known fimbriations and an semi transparent pelican. The orange en red symbolize the sunshine,  the green the land and the blues for the Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The indigenous pelican stands for the concern of the environment. Maybe the flag is too colourful and the pelican to transparent, and drop an blue. Adjust the flag a bit and it work.

Lombardy - Italy

Lombardy is northern Italian region bordered north with tbe Alps. Most of the major Italian lakes can be found over there. South it's bordered by the river Po and in this part of the basin there are important cities like, Milan, Brescia, Begamo, Mantua and Cremona. This makes the Po Valley the high dense area and most industrialized of Italy. It's has the highest population of all Italian region's with an population of around 10 million. Important cuisine from this region is minestrone soup and osso  buco and west of Milan there are rice fields for the famous risotto. Also the Lombards not invented it but spread the use of it over Europe, the system of pawnbroker. In the Renaissance it's was forbidden to put interest on an loan, but being your valuable stuff to the Lombard bank to get money was not, only you have to pay an "fine" when you wanted your items back. The trick to bypass the rules an make misuse of the people, until regular banks came with "affordable" interests. So lets take an look at the flag.

The flag had an green background with an white curvilineair cross. The cross is called "Rosa camuna" or the rose of the Camunni. The Camunni lived in Lombardy before the Romans conquered it, they where known for the rock art carvings found over Lombardy. The meaning of the rose is not certain but they think it had to do with good luck.Around the Renaissance there were plenty of small states with important history like the duchies of Milan and Mantua and other important historical cities like Bergamo, Cremona, Pavia, Monza and Como. All of then have  their flags, colours and coat if arms,  so the use of the prehistoric rose won't offend each faction. This flag with an prehistoric image with an modern twist is to un-Italian to me.

Voeren - Belgium

Voeren or in French Fourons is an Dutch speaking Belgian municipality that's bordered south the province Liège and north to the Dutch province of Limburg. It's not connect to Flanders the Dutch speaking part of Belgium,  this makes Voeren an enclave. Once it was part of Liège but Voeren is transferred to the Dutch speaking province Limburg in 1962 after the determination of the language border. Belgium has an language issues for years and this municipality with around 4 thousand people gives the Belgian government headaches and even the federal government fall in 1987. The French speaking people had to speak Dutchand that give some controversy, even an political party was formed to get the area back to Liège. Nowadays it's much peacefully and quieter and the municipality is banned after the steam the Voer. The municipality comprise of six villages namely Moelingen (Mouland), 's-Gravenvoeren (Fouron-le-Comte), Sint-Martens-Voeren (Fouron-Saint-Martin), Teuven and Remersdaal (Rémerdael). The French names are in brackets. So let's take an look at the flag. 

Actually the flag is an stretched out coat of arms. For quarters with lions and those had the do with two duchies. The red lion with double tails had to do with the duchy of Limburg and in the Middle Ages the owned land in the area. The villages of Teuven and Remersdaal was part of the duchy of Limburg. That Limburg had borging to do with the current provinces of Limburg which is divided over Belgium and the Netherlands.The other villages mentioned earlier was part of the duchy of Brabant and there lion is yellow with red claws and single tail on an black background. Those colours made the Belgian national flag. Unite and divided over the years is Voeren, geographically and linguistically. This flag is about unite but no room for Liège.

Queensland - Australia

Queensland is the second largest state of Australia and the nation of Libya is slightly bigger, the size of the state is 1,730,620 km² (668,196 sq mi). Also known as the "Sunshine State" has an population of around 5 million. Initially the capital of Queensland Brisbane started as an penal colony, only the convicts came from New South Wales the ones that get in trouble again. From an penal colony to another penal colony, but eventually the area became an normal colony. In 1859 Queensland was created after separated from New South Wales and it's named after the British Queen Victoria. Queensland is diverse with in the north we find the triangle shape peninsula Cape York which points to Papua New Guinea, that area is tropical. The east borders the ocean and the Great Barrier Reef is located off-shore. The west has mountains and getting arid and the south has the most population. Don't forget all those beaches which attracts sunbathers, ofcourse more sights are to discover for the more active traveler. So lets take an look at the flag.

All Australian State flags has an common thing, they all are Blue Ensigns with an badge or emblem. The origin of the blue ensign can be found in the British Royal Navy, used by ships which commanded by an Royal navy officer or ships in public service. And where those ships operating at possible British overseas possessions.  So continue with the badge which contains an light blue Maltese cross with an crown. That crown was used at the coronation of Elisabeth II in 1952, before this crown they used the head of Queen Victoria but that design was costly and the crowns are changed two times over the years. The Maltese Cross has no meaning but it's changed in time over the years from an darkest blue to this light blue one. Australian state flags maybe needs some redesign. 

East Java - Indonesia

East Java is one of the six provinces of the island Java which is the most populous island of Indonesia. This part on Java is good for an population around 39 million of the 141 million total of Java. Ancestors of humans lived in this area since prehistoric times, the most famous is the Java Man. Remaining of the human species Homo erectus are dated around 300 thousand to 400 thousand years old, it's was discovered at the banks of the Solo river which runs trough East Java. More recent from 1293 to 1527 the Majapahit Empire was an Southeast Asian powerhouse and controlled what is now Indonesia and Malaysia at it's peak. Even the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan tried to take over this empire but failed. The province is very fertile and seismic very active, like the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park with five active volcanoes. Who wants some overcrowding can visit the capital of East Java, the second city of Indonesia Surabaya. But people come here eventually for the stunning nature. So lets take an look at the flag.

This is the best picture i could found but it's mainly the coat of arms. The flag has an green background and don't found an explanation. The coat of arms has more symbolism. The red star symbolize the an almighty or supreme deity. The monument is symbolize the heroes of the war of independence. Behind you see an volcano which symbolize to achieve justice and prosperous society. Left you the cotton plant and right an rice plant with the water symbolize prosperity. The half green cogwheel and the yellow chain below in the coat of arms symbolize of strength. Text in two banners, the upper one says "East Java" in the Indonesian language. The lower means something as "success requires seriousness". This flag looks an little bit communist to me.

  

Suchitépequez - Guatamala

Suchitépequez is an departement of the Central American nation of Guatemala, it's located southwest at the Pacific Ocean. The name of the departement is derived from the Nahuatl (Aztec language) word Xōchitepēk, "Xōchi" means "flower" and "tepē" means "hill", the "k" means "from". So we get "flowers from the hill" or in Spanish "cerro de las flores". The population of Suchitépequez is around 570 thousand, it's capital is Mazatenango. The most famous Guatemalan thing of this city is it's carnaval which are lot of parades and parties throughout the city, it;s unparalleled elsewhere in this country. So lets take an look at the flag.

There are three vertical stripes two green and one white. The green represented ecotourism which the departement comprises of jungle, forest, mountains and savannas. Also represented the enormous fertile soil with prosperous crops. The white represented the history, festivities, legend and many traditions. Also it's represented the founders and settlers of Suchitépequez. In the center there is an coat of arms and lets start with the 20 stars and that represented the 20 municipalities of Suchitépequez. There is an deer head which symbolize the animal was once common in the area but almost hunt to extinction, it's an symbol of regret. The green field left and right of the deer stands for the vegetation. The two palmtrees symbolize the artisan products from the departement. The blue triangle in the bottom stands for the many rivers running trough Suchitépequez. The flag works well with this coat of arms to stand out from the rest of the Guatemalan departmental flags, there are few green one to write about.

Wageningen - The Netherlands

Wageningen is an small city and municipality in the Dutch province of Gelderland with an population around 38 thousand which ⅓ is student at the Wageningen University. Sidenote Wageningen is the only university town in the Netherlands without an trainstation, in the neighboring municipality of Ede has an station. The station name is however Ede-Wageningen but the distance is 7.2 km (4.5 miles), so that means you need bus or bike to get there. Wageningen is situated at the north bank of the river Nederrijn, the Dutch part of the river Rhine and the Gelderse Vallei an area of wet boglands. It's borders the Veluwe and forest-rich area with small hills and one of those hills called the Wageningse Berg. Since 1992 the local professional footballclub FC Wageningen went bankrupt is there still their abandoned stadion left alone. Because the Wageningse Berg is an natural park it's not allowed to tear it down, over the years the municipality tried to find another purpose. On 5 May 1945 the allies and the occupying Nazi-Germany signed the surrender to official ending the war in the Netherlands, this happened in the still standing Hotel de Vrede in the center of the city. To this day the event is celebrated with an veteran soldiers parade and an large music festival. So lets take an look at the flag.

The flag has two vertical stripes in colors white and red with an image of an wagon wheel with spokes. In the upper spoke you can see an cross. The meaning of the wheel is not certain but one of the explanations that in Roman times there was an ford to cross the Rhine and there was an pagan site that changed to an church. Simple flag with an unclear meaning.