The current design of the Flag of South Africa was adopted on 27 April 1994 after the end of apartheid made it necessary to replace the former national flag due to its racist connotations to most South Africans. There was a public phase of the design of the new flag when submissions for the new design were sent in by the public, however none of the submissions received enthusiastic support from the committee charged with selecting the final design. With the inauguration of Nelson Mandela looming, an interim flag was designed and released to the public just seven days before Mandela was sworn into office. It was so well received that the interim version was made the final, national flag in the South African Constitution. The flag can best be described as two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side. The Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Africa

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

238: Gordian I and Gordian II were proclaimed Roman Emperors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I)

1765: The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Stamp Act, adding fuel to the growing separatist movement in colonial America. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765)

1888: William McGregor, director of Aston Villa F.C. in Birmingham, England, founded the Football League. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_League)

1945: The Arab League was founded by 7 Arab states. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League)

1995: Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov of the Soyuz programme returned from the Mir space station after 437 days in space, setting a record for the longest spaceflight. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_records)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words?" -- Marcel Marceau (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau)