- Flag of the Azores
The flag of the
Azores is similar to theflag of Portugal used from 1830-1910, except that the Portuguese coat of arms has been removed from the center, where it wasreplaced by theGoshawk (in Portuguese: "Açor") - the symbol of the Azores, and moved to upper left corner.Colours
Blue and white have always been the traditional colours of the Portuguese Nation, first present in the coat of arms of
Henry, Count of Portugal . During the height of thePortuguese Civil War , in the early 19th century, the Azores served as an important Liberal stronghold, with the prominentDuke of Terceira struggling against the absolutists led by Dom Miguel. The colours of the flag were thusly adopted from the Portuguese liberal flag, as to demonstrate the Azores' important role in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Portugal.It should be relevant to remark that the current flag of the Azores was mostly based on the flag first employed by the
Azores Liberation Front , a right-wing independentist movement which appeared after theCarnation Revolution , out of the fear of Portugal becoming a Soviet puppet-state. According to the organisation, blue and white stood for Portuguese classical liberalism, as opposed to the "totalitarian socialist forces" that would dominate the country in the mid-70's.ymbolism
The name of the archipelago comes from the Portuguese word "açor", meaning goshawk, because it was supposed to be a common bird at the time of the discovery. However these birds never existed on the islands, they actually were a local subspecies of the buzzard ("Buteo buteo"), that was erroneously identified as goshawks by the first explorers. The eagle on the flag is intended to be the celebration of that historical mistake.The nine stars stand for the nine islands of the archipelago, while the Portuguese lesser arms are present in the top left corner of the flag.
ee also
*
Coat of arms of the Azores
*Hymn of the Azores
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