Very few countries have purple flags and the truth is this

The truth is that you will almost never see which country has purple on your flag. Why is it?

Today, there are 196 countries in the world with 196 distinct national flags. But there is one thing quite special about them - that is almost no flag is purple. In human history, we have seen something similar to purple: this color has not been used to represent a royal family, an empire.

But what about purple? Why is it so stigmatized?

Purple is a symbol of wealth, nobility and honor.

From before the 18th century, purple was a symbol of wealth, nobility and honor. The reason is because back then, the substance was used to dye extremely rare purple.

In ancient times, Phoenicia - one of the famous ancient civilizations relied heavily on maritime commerce. Therefore, traders are always looking for ways to make their products as valuable as possible. And fabric merchants have done this.

They extracted purple from a sea slug that could only be found along the coast of Sidon and Tire, in present-day Lebanon. People need about 10,000 slugs just to make . 1gr of dye!

The Murex Brandaris snail - due to the excessive "requisition" of the Phoenicians has become extinct.

Therefore, the price of that beautiful dye is not small, only the royal family can afford to buy them for dyeing clothes. Purple then became the symbol of the wealthy ruling class, especially in Egypt, Rome and Persia (Persia).

Purple has many of Tire 's most famous shades, and purple , or Tyrian purple.

This kind of color is even expensive, not all royalty can afford.

This kind of color is even expensive, not all royalty can afford. In the 3rd century, Aurelianus - one of the greatest emperors of Roman history, who took the occupation of the land without knowing the land - did not agree to buy the wife the purple silk shawl she liked, yes Probably because the price is too high!

And it is because of this, not a single country, even the richest empires don't have enough money to print a purple flag.

It was not until the 3rd Industrial Revolution, in 1856, that 18-year-old British chemist William Henry Perkin happened to find a purple dye formula while studying how to prepare anti-malarial drugs.

William Henry Perkin.

Realizing that the substance he had just created could be used to dye fabrics, he produced it himself for sale and became rich. From here, purple chemicals are produced in enormous quantities and become mass-produced.

Anyone can wear a shirt or a pair of purple socks, and the notions of wealth associated with this color also gradually disappear. However, one thing has not been changed and we can still see it today: very few flags are purple.

Of course, there are still a few countries that choose purple. In the 1990s, due to political changes, new countries were born - along with their flags. And some of them chose purple, like the Nicaragua Republic (1908), the island of Dominica (1967), and the Second Spanish Republic (1931 - 1939), .

Dominica.

Second Republic of Spain.