The Nordic Cross

The following list of Nordic Cross flags is by no means exhaustive, but I always wanted to see them put together with little explanations.

There is also an entire set of flags that sport the Southern Cross, which I'll get to at some point. The Southern Cross is a constellation that's visible to the southern hemisphere most year round, and even southern latitudes of the northern hemisphere at certain points during the year.

The first, and originator of all the followers, is Denmark. They adopted this symbol and color scheme in 1209, and set the Scandinavian theme for the centuries to come.

The Danes ruled for so long over the region, that the first main rial to break free did so in the 1500s, and that rival was Sweden. In Sweden's underground resistance, they'd adopted a flag similar to the Danish design, but they used colors associated with  their royal family, blue and gold:

The next flag to historically get designated was for Norway. Norway had been settled by both Danes and Swedes, and then had been subjugated by both Danes and Swedes. Not wanting to ruffle any feathers (too much), they took for the base the red Danish flag (since they were the last to have control of Norway) and put a cross of blue inside, to show the respect for and history with their immediate neighbor, Sweden. That's how to tell Norway: red background like Denmark, blue cross for Sweden:

The next is Iceland, which was colonized by Norway. They inverted the red and blue:

The next is Finland. The last country to adopt the Nordic cross flag as a national emblem, the Finno-Urgic people of Finland developed this flag as an antidote to Russian occupation. The Finns identify with the Scandinavians mostly through location, but it counts, right?

There are so many other examples of the Nordic Cross. Autonomous regions, historical regions, and provinces alike. I'll get to them, I just wanted to hit up the majors, and how to tell the differences right away.