What Happened to the Old South African Flag?
South Africa's flag has 6 colours on it, while its former flag had 7-9 flags... within the flag. So what's the history and symbolism behind the flags used in South Africa from 1910-2024? There'll be Dutchmen, British, Boers, Afrikaners, South Africans, Stroopwafels and memes in this one!
Timestamps:
00:00 - 00:38 - Intro
00:38 - 02:10 - The Dutch Cape Colony
02:10 - 03:24 - The British Cape Colony
03:24 - 04:20 - The African National Congress
04:20 - 05:55 - Symbolism of the South African Flag
05:55 - 08:00 - Voortrekkers, Afrikaners, and Boer Republics
08:00 - 09:44 - The Union of South Africa Flag (1928-1982)
09:44 - 11:10 - The Apartheid Flag of South Africa
11:11 - 12:11 - The New South African Flag (1994)
12:11 - 13:22 - The Old South African Flag Today
13:22 - 14:33 - Outro
Music Used:
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Mozart
Midsummer Night's Dream - Mendelssohn
Egmont Overture - Beethoven
Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod
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#southafrica #flags #history
Next people are going to ask "Why did Germany change its flag?"
There's already a Video for that
Germany has changed its flag so many times. Which historical era exactly are you referring to?! If you mean this current flag 👉🏻 🇩🇪, then this is nothing new to Germany. This current flag has a long history in Germany since 1848. So, it’s not a new design. It’s just a restoration.
@@cyrusthegreat1893Obviously the transition from the Brown Scum Bags to todays Germanys Flag which as you said was first flown in the German Revolution of 1848
@@cyrusthegreat1893you know what he means, (Austrian painter flag)
🙄
The answer's pretty simple, dont Boer us with the details.
Hehehe
I get it, foreigners can't pronounce boer, they say it as bore when it is actually bu-oor.
😂
What a delightful suggestion by the KZhead algorithm! As a South African I must say that your pronunciation of Afrikaans words is *chef's kiss*.
Baie dankie! Ek is bly jou hier te sien! Welkom!
@@historywithhilbert146 Ek is bly om jou hier te sien*
@@historywithhilbert146 lees nuutste openbaringe van Judith de Beer, God se Woord van Goud nr. 1389, Afrikaans nr. 1649 ...;-)))
Complete honesty, the dutch flag bit nevergets old.
What do you mean
Even during F1
Same. I look forward to it on a lot of his videos lol.
@@jeffbob1776Everytime Hilbert talks bout the Dutch, he plays that flag bit at 0:43. It’s a running gag on the channel lol.
You forgot to mention: The current SA flag was made in one week's notice to serve as a temporary flag in 1994 for the interim government, prior to the election. However, a new flag was never made to replace it, and it has remained the official flag of South Africa ever since.
Woah really. So thats why we are a country of procrastination
My favorite flag symbolism is Bhutan's. The orange half represents Buddhist tradition while the yellow represents civil tradition and temporal authority, with the dragon between them to show their equal importance and evokes the strength of the sacred bond between sovereign and people. But the dragon is of course the coolest part! In Dzongkha, dragon is druk, and the country is known as Druk Yul or Dragon Country. It being white signifies the purity of inner thoughts and deeds that unite all the linguistically diverse peoples of Bhutan. The jewels held in Druk's claws represent Bhutan's wealth and the protection of its people, while the dragon's snarling mouth symbolizes Bhutanese deities' commitment to defense. Why a druk? According to traditional accounts, when the sect's founder, Tsangpa Gyare, 1st Gyalwang Drukpa, began to build Ralung Monastery, there was a violent storm. Thunder, or the "Cloud Voice," is seen as the roar of the dragon. Deciding that this was an omen, he named the monastery Drug-Ralung, adding the word "thunder dragon" to the name. The disciples were known as Drugpa, or "Those of the Thunder." I also love the celestial globe on the Brazilian flag! It reflects the sky over the city of Rio de Janeiro in November 1889 when the Republic was proclaimed. Not only that, but each star corresponds to a Brazilian Federal Unit, so the flag has to be updated every time a state is created or dissolved. When it was first adopted, it had 21 stars and was last updated in 1992 to include Amapá, Roraima, Rondônia and Tocantins for 27 stars. So there are 26 stars for the different states, and another for the Federal District (the capital Brasília). The green and yellow on the other hand come from the previous imperial flag, with green for the House of Braganza (Pedro I) and yellow for House of Habsburg (his wife).
Hey kim
Our imperial flag is much more beautiful. Most of our state flags are generic and have no history. The Republic in Brazil is so bad that they didn't even have a flag, you have to copy it from the USA and then make a copy of the original
As a black South African myself I love our current National flag, which I personally consider one of the best if not the best in the world and I can say most white South Africans love the flag and are very attached to it, I personally don’t thing the old flag is all that hateful as long as it’s being used in an educational manner, we have many great symbols in our country and for me they bring some of the most joy 🇿🇦 Great video by the way
Do you like load shedding? Institutional Ineptitude, poor infrastructure?
@@bobdollaz3391 What do you think his opinion on apartheid is?
He should miss it. The murder rate amongst Bantus wasn't as high
@@bobdollaz3391 That argument's more flaccid than your nads.
@@batrachian149 my nads are rock hard,
The post-apartheid flag of South Africa has to be one of my favorite national flags as a flag nerd. It's one of the few national flags that have 5 separate colors and somehow still made it work. It was a huge improvement over what it replaced. Honestly, the old South African flag was sort of slapped together, just taking the Dutch flag from the Age of Discovery and placing the British flag with two flags of the old Boer republics on it and sticking them in the middle, symbolic of the British colonial arranged shotgun marriage of the British settlers and Boers in South Africa. Not that I'm going to ignore the elephant in the room with the fact the flag disregarded the majority of native Black South Africans that lived in the country as well. Like you said, it is the "rainbow flag" that represents South Africa as an ethnically diverse state with multiple origins, leading South African anti-apartheid activist and theologian Desmond Tutu to call a new South Africa "The Rainbow Nation."
6 colours...if you count white. 🙏🏽
The Union of South Africa flag was created as a compromise as many descendants of Boers found the UK flag unacceptable after the Second Boer War. The Balfour Declaration in 1926 granted South Africa legislative autonomy, opening the possibility of a new flag. British South Africans wanted the UK flag, and the majority British Natal Province threatened to secede if the UK flag was removed, thus a compromise was reached with the three flags in the middle as the result, and the Prinsenvlag was selected as a compromise because they viewed it as politically neutral since the Prinsenvlag was no longer the flag of any nation. A further element of this compromise was that the British flag would continue to fly alongside the South African flag over official buildings, but this dual arrangement ended in 1957. As you mentioned, they unsuccessfully tried to remove the mini-British flag, and even after South Africa became a republic in 1961, they still kept the flag despite the country having left the Commonwealth (South Africa would of course rejoin in 1994). I'm glad they changed it in 1994, not just because it's better representative of the people, but it looks much better aesthetically, and it truly stands out as a unique design instead of just shoving other flags in the middle. It's one of my favorite flags alongside Kiribati, Seychelles, Barbados, Albania, Nepal, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Bhutan, and Brazil. Kiribati's flag is chef's kiss. The flag is the expansion of the coat of arms of the former Gilbert and Ellice Islands colonial flag, like how the flag of the US state of Maryland is just an expanded version of the banner of arms of Cecil Calvert, the 2nd Baron Baltimore. The insignia was designed by Sir Arthur Grimble in 1932. The bird on the flag is a frigate bird which represents power, poise, freedom and Kiribati cultural dance patterns. The sun rising refers to Kiribati's location astride the Equator. It has 17 rays to represent the Gilbert Islands and Banaba. While the waves are of course the Pacific Ocean!
I see you in every yt comment section lmao
TLDR.
Boers are white colonisers who wanted to bring back slavery. Who cares about what they think
And where the hell have _you_ been?
Avery, I am so impressed by your knowledge but am not sure if you are American or Cuban but if you are American I am even more impressed. From my experience of living in the US many years ago, but even more so now, I found that most Americans did not even know what other States bordered the one they actually lived in. I am a Brit and South African (dual national) and must add that the current SA flag is the best in the World and that our anthem is even better.
"But not for long!" One of my favourite bits of Horrible Histories xD
6:12
Did you notice that in the old flag, the Union Flag is deliberately upside down, so that none of the three small flags in the middle could claim precedence?
It isn't upside down, just flipped horizontally
I homestly coudlve never noticed that
I'm South African. Never heard it referred to as Die Seskleur.
By far my favorite video by you
South Africa's modern flag is such a nice design
Too much
ugly old one is better
@@EKWEETREGTIGNIE at least we both agree it's "ugly"
@@itsnevertoolatetodotherigh3271 new one looks like every flag on earth the old one stood out with its vibrant orange and bkue and white coloura
@@EKWEETREGTIGNIE Nah the new is very distinctive, flags like the Mozambican, Kenyan, Zimbabwe, Uganda have almost the same pattern ..our flag is majestic doesn't look like anything else, while the old flag would compare with Nigeria's flag ohh and France there 3 colour pattern which doesn't really stand out,just say I like it because it once stood for what I believe, new one 🔥
It changed from something to be ashamed of to something to be ashamed of 💅🏻
Thank you for doing video's about my country, our history and my language. 😊I have never yet been insulted or gotten irritable watching your videos where you speak Afrikaans, if I didn't know better I would have thought you a local. 😅 Your pronounciation is impeccable, I appreciate the research you always seem to do with the content, and enjoy the obvious interest you have for South African history and Afrikaans. I've said this in a previous comment on a video you did about Afrikaans, "knap gedaan".
wow, that vertical tricolor proposal looks sick
Springbok flag from the 80’s is easily the best.
Are you planning in getting married in South Africa, Hilbert? The Wedding March is an interesting choice for this video…
I always look forward to your videos regarding anything Dutch, cause I love that Dutch flag gag lol 😂😂😂
I think from my past observations the Dutch are much more tolerant of our people in our land. The fact that Afrikaans dialect tags a lot of Dutch isn't representative of the Dutch people as a whole. There are still many fucked up Germans in this country and guess what I say them fuck you'll
Ngl the old flag was actually so beautiful, I really liked the orange, white and blue mixture
Puss
This is not how we were taught the flag in school. They just told us what each of the colours represent. Nothing about the combination of other older flags. Interesting info indeed.🤔 And to answer the question about displaying the old flag, I do think it is a symbol of oppression. It should be kept inside the museum. As a child of parents who lived through Apartheid, it would honestly bring about PTSD for them.
There alot you can learn on internet then what school can teach
Imagine going to school back then and had to draw the flag😂😂
Context is everything, I think
Hilbert good luck in finding the current flag of South Africa that has an orange/red combination! Flag manufacturers don't seem to understand as with the shade of blue in the flag of Tanzania!
In terms of public display of any old flag is acceptable in an educational context at museums and historical monuments.
🤣🤣🤣 Afrikaans people going ham in the comments, such a sensitive lot. This was a flag transition video with no hate intended by the content creator yet I see anguish comments
Amazing research.
i would've guessed that the Y shape was due to the cross on the union jack. so they just used half
6:12 loved that Horrible histories reference😂
As an afrikaaner who often has to suffer the ignorance of people who can't pronounce things right, I just have to say, absolute mad respect to you for going through the trouble of learning the correct pronunciation and getting it on point. Also thank you for all the effort you put into this, despite being afrikaans my parents gave me a very english upbringing, and now that I'm a young adult I realized how little the schools taught about my own and other peoples culture, so now I'm scavenging on the internet for the history of my people and my country.
Good video.
Hey man previously watched your video on Afrikaans and as a kullid I was impressed. Wanted to find out if it would be possible for you to do a video on the history of my tribe?
i would self like to see that
6:12 "But not for long" Horrible Histories reference spoted
thanks for the info, am surprised the ANC flag is in there and the opposition let it slide
Interesting is that Transvaal was never known as "die Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek" it was "de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek" the Union happened in 1910, when the British Cape colony, British Natal, Oranje Vrystaat and ZAR was united to form the South African Republic. The Oranje Vrystaat and ZAR was never Afrikaans, they were Dutch. Afrikaans only became official in 1925.
Thaught I heard the National F1 anthem for a moment 🇳🇱
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The ANc has distroyed our country
Yes it has
Awesome thanks.
I'm glad South Africa changed its flag. The old one is unoriginal and just doesn't look as good. The new one is easily one of the most aesthetically pleasing flags in the world and is a lot better.
That is a matter of taste. The old flag was, and still is, the most beautiful flag in the world for me.
@@Hannodb1961 WHY!?
@@MatthewTheWanderer Having grown up with it is probably the root cause. My favorite flag designs is a horizontal tricolor with the lightest color in the middle, and an emblem in the middle. So, basically flags like that of India, Argentina, Egypt, etc. Then, the Orange white and blue combination is not only very beautiful (orange and blue being oposites on the colour wheel, therefore being a good combination) but also very unique. Most tricolours are either red white and blue, or orange white and green. South Africa had the only tricolour in the world that had the combination of orange white and blue, making it both simple and unique. I liked the historic flags placed in the middle, it was a unique thing to do, and it tells a story. I also like the way the three flags was organised in the middle. I used to experiment with lots of different combinations, but nothing felt quite so right as the way they were. One would argue that I shouldn't like the union jack in there, but I do, and I have no idea why. I tried to recombine it using different Boer flags in the same configuration, butbit just doesnt work. My giess would be that that is due to it being the flag of my childhood, and so I like it because I like it. But politics aside, I think the flag was simple, elegant, unique and beautiful. I would go to my grave loving that flag. Its quite a pity that people decided to associate the flag with a political ideology, that was actually something that happened post 1994. Before then, the flag was seen as a national symbol above politics.
The new flag looks like shit
@@Mabena430 WRONG!
Hey Hilbert! Does any other country flag have (be dominated by) a political party flag like this ? Thanks
Please do why France flag change its color?
Our beloved flag turns 30 tomorrow.
It's a mystery. How could it be that they changed the flag?
i think that the castle of good hope should fly all the flags together to remind south africans of the periods and circumstances we have overcome
wonderful video, could you make one on the flags of the Boer republics?
I would also love to see that 😊
I love white people so much
@@AmandaCalvinNdlovu-sh2tvwhy you pretending to be black?
😂😂😂
Thanks for the education
I dont think this one needs much of an explanation
Big ups for pronouncing Apartheid correctly
How are we supposed to teach our youth of the past when we destroy the evidence of our lands history?
The old South African flag also included the pre-Northern Ireland Union Jack
🤍🙌🏾 This is beautiful work. Love this video and thank you for taking time to talk about my country, I learnt a great deal.
I like the colours of the flag, but l call it a flag of carrupters since the A N C took over
4:12 why is the African National Congress flag in the wrong color order? Dankje.
Whether it is reversed or not, it is the the addition of the colours of Umkhonto we sizwe(ANC spear of the nation) into the old Boere vierkleur(old boer republic colours) I guess they swapped the order of the ANC black/green/yellow/ so it would fit with the vierkleur green/white/(red-blue) instead of being black/green /yellow/green/white(red-blue) I think
What about the south asian origin population in South Africa? Don't they deserve some recognition?
I was wondering the same thing clearly they don’t rank power wise for some reason
They certainly do.
One could argue the same for the Cape Coloured community.
Coloured and South Asian people in South Africa constantly complain about being forgotten about by the predominantly Black ANC, although the ANC has historically had a number of Indian origin members and Al Jamah, the Muslim party in South africa has historically had a close relationship with the ANC
@@JL-ti3us they had special rights under the national party until 1994. Everyone had it better under the national party
Is the 68/69 I think sugestion not the basic idea of the current Dorp Orania flag?
I wonder why. This was a bit of a bloody obvious one
Have you ever tried to draw this new thing?? Impossible.....😢
2:18 - Where my soutpiele at? 💪🏻
South African here, love your vibeos keep it up.
as a boer and as a south African it is not a hate crime its my freedom to keep the flag of my people and no person will tell me different I'm a boer and proudly so
In my opinion if the ANC is out of power because their colours is also in the flag the flag must change
Agree
06:12 Horrible Histories deserves a like matter what
Everything has to change in South Africa. Everything must be destroyed. 😢
I don’t know.
No one as mentioned about very old flag in 1909 of South Africa that look like more Old Canadian flag. and What if Cape Independence separate by language of mix Coloureds community as non White as Afrikaans.
the colours on the south African flag represent 3 political parties that will forever rule in SA Black & yellow = ANC RED = EFF BLUE = DA the green Y part represent us the people, the voters , the citizens
interesting
Hello Hilbert. Who said all those old flags were a Boer? This flag is like a flag nerd's dream. It is sort of pretty too, or am I just too much of a flag nerd myself?
The old SA flag was controversial because it was a compromise, in fact neither the Afrikaaners or English-speaking citizens were happy. The new flag was derided as looking like Y-front underpants by some locals. The mixing of the red and orange to represent white SA shows how little the ANC knows of the completely different cultures of the white tribes here. It is typical of politicians to whitewash history, the Afrikaaners wanted the Union Jack removed, and suppressed the fact that people of many nations fought against the English in the 2nd Boer War, telling us that only the Boer fought the Khakis. (From the colour of their uniforms: khaki.) Banning the old flag is an attempt to change our history, to whitewash a significant period of SAs timeline. It also goes along with the new racist laws enacted here, prohibiting white citizens from getting jobs that they qualify for through hard work and study, and giving the job to anyone else, provided they are not white. It's called Black Economic Empowerment. That is the reality of SA today. This sound very right-wing to you? I'm not. I believe in SA, but one that should respect ALL of it's citizens instead of repeating the mistakes of the right-wing National Party. Forget Apartheid, welcome to Blackheid, or Blackhate if you wish. You won't see any European country standing up against the new racist SA though, because then they'll be called racist by a black government! The real change here in SA is in the peoples attitudes to each other. We show more respect to each other every day, helping to heal old wounds and rebuild our country from within, no thanks to our inept government.
considering the state of SFA removing and the older flags due to their history is probably not the best idea considering how the future of SFA politics is looking atm.
"Why did it change" lmfao
Yep, the modern South African flag is much better than the previous ones. Looks nicer.
Woke opinion.
It just looks like a mishmash mess of a bunch colors and angles just like all the other “modern” designed flags
@@ENU-bc9xt Ahhh yes, preferring a normal flag over a monstrosity of a flag that consists of 3 other flags is considered woke. Do you genuinely not understand what the previous flag represented? It represented the racist regime of Apartheid South Africa that had segregation.
Nuh uh
@@ENU-bc9xtThere. That right there. That demonstrates that woke means absolutely nothing.
I love the current South African flag. It's one of those rare situations where some flags are combined and it creates a really good flag. The other example is of course the UK flag. I don't think the old South Africa flag deserves the hate it gets. It served the purpose it was designed for. Does the ANC think the Union of South Africa shouldn't have had a flag? The row of flags at the castle were awesome.
At some points in the video. They used Botswana 🇧🇼 flag as the background
But we were asked which colours we wanted on the flag. Anc people added theirs, IFP people added thers Afrikaaners too. Who ever made this flag tried to accommodate everyone. If you know Inkatha freedom party all these colours reflect them Also ANC Thats time everyone was scrutinizing. No one would have opnly accept the Dutch flag
6:05 this is my new favorite insult😂
Better question: what happens if you wave the Old South African flag
It's a crime sadly you be sent to jail for waving it. That what I know so far idk if it's true . I just heard of it.
@@Zentio_Animation strange, cause I understand about the nazi flag but the South African colony flag???
@@bullitzfromabove5376 yeah that part is still head scratching to me.
I think that the current SA flag is really well-designed. IMHO, in a historical context like the castle, it is ok to display the historical flags. I'd have a similar attitude to the display of CSA flags in the United States. In a museum or battlefield, yes. Otherwise, no. However, I'm not a South African and don't know if the apartheid flag would have the same meaning and viseral response as the Nazi flag would in modern-day Germany. In that case, maybe it's best not to fly it outside.
As a South African, seeing someone use the flag is no different then seeing them swing a swastika. Its disgusting, it will get you shot.
but i'll fly it anyway
It does help when racists wear it so proudly, makes you easy to find and deal with.
Cool video nicely informative, but I logged off when that racists flag showed up (you used it correctly tho: for educational purposes 👏 👏)
I am a South African, I love my country and my flag too.
All i can say is we have a very distinct history apart from all nations 💯
I love this video, manly because I'm South african
Welcome to fun with flags!! With Sheldon cooper
Being south african is low-key a flex😂
Lived here my whole life & didn’t know the flag had a nick name No wonder y
Fun with Flags!!!
The new Zimbabwe
It got thrown out because of what it is and what it represents
Just knew that the comments would be filled with the 'verkramptes'.
Wow, giving away your age, I see. No one speaks of verligtes/verkramptes anymore
@@Hannodb1961 I'm 23, I just had a propper political education.
@@herr_culas9408 😅😉
That flag must change. A lot to in Africa. Town’s name. Africa is Africa and Black. From the Congo
U should do an episode on why the American flag changed!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
No that terrorist flag is ugly
In South Africa our only Natural Disaster is the ANC
As a New Zealander, I am glad that the South African flag has changed, the old one just reeked of colonialism, and a sad and complex history. The current South African flag is brilliant, and I see many "Saffas" display it with pride. I was a proponent of changing the New Zealand flag, it too reeks of colonialism, and is perhaps outdated. We are a sovereign nation in the South Pacific, and our own flag ought to reflect that.
Well, your country voted No so get over it
@@thomsboys77 Not as simple as that.
@@thomsboys77 I certainly didn't vote to retain the old flag, I suspect the next generation will vote to change.
@@glennfolau6959 Yeah, keep coping 😂
@@glennfolau6959 Doesn’t matter if you didn’t, the majority of you still voted to keep it 😂
yay! south africa get some attention 🙌🏻
New flag looks better.
F1 fans hearing the duch national anthem 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The new South African flag is one of the more meaningful flags in the world. The ultimate meaning is unification of Black and White people.
Colours matter..
G E K O L O N I S E E R D
Love our modern day flag🇿🇦 Amandla!!!✊🏾
Awethu