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Location:
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State of Utah, United States of America
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Status:
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Admission to Statehood: January 4, 1896
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Capital City:
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Salt Lake City
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Main Cities:
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Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo, Sandy, Orem, Ogden
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Population:
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2,233,169; 34th, 12/00
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Area:
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84,904 sq.mi, 13th largest
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Currency:
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1 US dollar = 100 cents
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Languages:
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English, Spanish, and over 30 others
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Religions:
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Protestant, Roman Catholic, Judaism
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The flag of Utah: The flag of Utah was adopted in 1913 and consists of the Utah state seal encircled in a golden circle on a background of light blue. The motto "industry" represents progress, as does the emblem of the beehive. The date 1847 represents the year Brigham Young led the first Mormons into the state.
The original Utah state flag was adopted by the new state legislature in 1896. This flag consisted of a solid white depiction of the Utah State Seal on a light blue background. This flag remained in service until the state legislature revised the statutes in 1913.
In 1903, the Utah State Society Daughters of the Revolution presented a state flag to Governor Heber M. Wells, The silk flag, embroidered by Agnes Teudt Fernelius, displayed the Utah State Seal. Each member of the USSDR had donated one dollar to pay for the flag.
In October of 1903, it was determined that an error had been made in the State Seal depicted on the flag and it was also determined that the flag that had been presented and accepted by the Governor was not an official state flag but rather would serve as the Governor's regimental flag. An official state flag would have to comply with an act of the state legislature and thereby be approved by the state legislature.
The USSDR took their flag to artist H.L.A. Culmer and asked him to make corrections to the state seal. A new flag was born of this effort and presented to the Governor. The Governor replied that ""It will be my pleasure to display this flag upon every important occasion where the Governor's flag may be required, both at the World's Fair in St. Louis in celebration of the Louisiana Purchase and elsewhere during my incumbency." This flag was used until 1913.
In 1912, the Sons and Daughters of Utah Pioneers commissioned a flag to be presented to the battleship Utah. This flag displayed the Utah State Seal centered on a blue background and circled by a thin gold line. This flag became the official Utah State Flag as we know it today when it was approved by the legislature and Governor William Spry signed the House Joint Resolution in 1913.
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The flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or mast, generally used for signalling or identification. The design of a flag displayed in another form is also referred to as a flag. The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used).
National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are used in messaging or advertising, or for decorative purposes, though at this less formal end the distinction between a flag and a simple cloth banner is blurred. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin vexillum meaning flag or banner.
Although flag-like symbols have been used by ancient cultures for thousands of years, the origin of flags in the modern sense is a matter of dispute. Some believe flags originated in China, while others hold that the Roman Empire's vexillum was the first true flag. Originally, the standards of the Roman legions were not flags, but symbols like the eagle of Augustus Caesar's Xth legion; this eagle would be placed on a staff for the standard-bearer to hold up during battle. But a military unit from Scythia had for a standard a dragon with a flexible tail which would move in the wind; the legions copied this; eventually all the legions had flexible standards our modern-day flag.
During the Middle Ages, flags were used mainly during battles to identify individual leaders: in Europe the knights, in Japan the samurai, and in China the generals under the imperial army.
From the time of Christopher Columbus onwards, it has been customary (and later a legal requirement) for ships to carry flags designating their nationality; these flags eventually evolved into the national flags and maritime flags of today. Flags also became the preferred means of communications at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals; see International maritime signal flags.
Beginning in the 17th century, European knights were replaced by centralized armies, and flags became the means to identify not just nationalities but also individual military units. Flags became much more elaborate, and were seen as objects to be captured or defended. Eventually these flags posed too much danger to those carrying them, and by World War I these were withdrawn from the battlefields, and have since been used only at ceremonial occasions.
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