How many stars on the flag of New Zealand and what do they symbolize?

Somewhere on the edge of the world is located the wondrous beauty of a small state of New Zealand. The endless green meadows, stretching to the foot of the mountains, amaze the imagination of every tourist and photographer. Bright contrasts of the watery surface of the Pacific Ocean, overgrown with luscious greenery of the vast land, snow-capped peaks of the mountains and azure sky - all this makes the Polynesian continent truly a paradise on the planet. On the New Zealand flag, in addition to the English attribute, or rather Union Jack, there are also stars. In today's article it will be about them. How many stars are on the flag of New Zealand? Where did they come from? Why they were placed this way? All this we learn below.

History of the New Zealand flag

To answer the question of how many stars on the flag of New Zealand , it is necessary to look into the history, more precisely, to tell about how this flag looked initially. At first, the state canvas of Polynesia looked a little different than now: on a blue background from the top in the left corner 1/4 of the entire canvas was occupied by Union Jack. This explained the state's ownership of the UK. In the lower right corner there were two English letters NZ of red color. The designation of these letters is understandable - New Zealand. The blue background of the flag's canvas symbolized, as a few centuries ago, and now, the sea expanses of the state and its turquoise sky. The first version of the flag lasted not for long (from 1867 to 1869). By the way, according to some information, this flag was used up to 1902, when they approved the current version of it.

Description of the flag of New Zealand

And now it's time to answer the question about how many stars on the flag of New Zealand. As mentioned above, in 1902 a new version of the flag of the Polynesian state appeared. It was decided to leave everything as is, but instead of letters to the right, add 4 stars. The color of these stars is the same as the letters on the canvas earlier, red. The stars themselves are framed by a white edging, and the size of each of them is significantly different.

Why on the flag of New Zealand 4 stars?

The flag was designed by Albert Markham - a traveler and navigator (assistant ship captain), he explained that the stars should indicate the right way for sailors to New Zealand. It is well known that they are guided by the stars. The flag depicts the constellation of the Southern Cross, more precisely, its brightest stars. This idea was approved by the government, and the decision was accepted.

Now the questions about how many stars on the flag of New Zealand and where they came from will not stall, because we gave answers!