Explore Flag Design Families
Most national flags belong to a recognizable historical design lineage. Explore the major vexillological families below.
Major design lineages
French Tricolor Lineage (10)
Vertical three-band flags inspired by the 1794 French Tricolore as a symbol of constitutional sovereignty and republican nationhood across Europe and West/Central Africa.
Dutch Tricolor Lineage (4)
The oldest tricolor tradition in vexillology, descending from the sixteenth-century Dutch Prinsenvlag and Statenvlag.
Nordic Cross Family (5)
The cohesive Northern European flag family descending from Denmark's Dannebrog, sharing an off-center hoist-shifted cross across every sovereign Scandinavian state.
Pan-African Color Lineage (4)
Flags combining green, yellow, and red (drawn from the 1897 Ethiopian imperial tricolor) to signify African sovereignty, independence, and continental solidarity.
Gran Colombia Miranda Lineage (2)
South American horizontal tricolors of yellow, blue, and red descending from Francisco de Miranda's 1806 liberation flag and Simón Bolívar's Republic of Gran Colombia.
Stars and Stripes Lineage (5)
Flags featuring alternating horizontal stripes or bicolors paired with a starred canton or hoist triangle, originating with the 1777 United States Flag Resolution.
British Ensign & Union Flag Lineage (1)
The family of flags built from or carrying the 1801 British Union Jack, combining the crosses of St George, St Andrew, and St Patrick.