Solid Stars

I've found a series of flags that I think are cool. They sport a single solid star on a solid background. It doesn't always take too much to be considered "cool" by me, and with these guys, simplicity wins the day.

The first is known as the Bonnie Blue flag, which itself was based on the short-lived Republic of West Florida. A region of present day Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and a tiny bit of actual Florida was known as West Florida, and the claims on the swath were numerous and contentious, and during negotiations between the Spanish and American governments in 1810, the white settlers repelled the Spanish soldiers and declared themselves an independent republic. For 90 days the following flag flew, the solid blue with a single white star. Eventually the US snagged the are through annexation of the "Republic". Take that, Spain.

In 1861, a flag of basically the exact same design, credited to Bonnie and known as the "Bonnie Blue", was flown in Alabama's capital when they seceded from the union. The Bonnie Blue:

When Texas was fighting Mexico for independence, one of the first flags they flew as their own was inspired by the Bonnie Blue, or actually, inspired by the original, only they used a golden star. Their's is called the Burnet Flag. One of the major north-south thoroughfares in Austin is named Burnet, named for the same guy as the flag, David Burnet. Here's his flag, one of the early RoT flags, the Burnet Flag:

Now we're getting to actual nations. The first is Somalia. The fag resembles the Bonnie Blue, oddly enough. In 1959 the Somalian government chose the five pointed star as a "Star of Unification", seeing as how today's country "Somalia" is the unification of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland after WWII. The powder blue is a shout-out to the flag of the UN, as the United Nations were key to keeping the peace and brokering the talks that cemented the unification.

Lastly we have the revolutionary star on the red field that is Vietnam. A tougher country would be hard to come across. I'm not sure what I mean, but Vietnam had invasions from China, France, Japan, France again,  and the US, and fought back every single time. They are still Vietnam, and are still just wanting to be free, or free of invaders at least.

Sometimes simplicity is cool enough.