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Location:
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State of Wisconsin, United States of America
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Status:
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Admission to Statehood: May 29, 1848
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Capital City:
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Madison
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Main Cities:
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Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine, Appleton
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Population:
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5,363,675; 18th, 12/00
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Area:
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65,503 sq.mi, 23rd 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 Wisconsin: The flag of Wisconsin consists of the Wisconsin state coat of arms on a dark blue background.
The flag was first designed in 1863 at the request of Civil War regiments who wanted an official flag to fly during the war on the battlefield. The flag was later revised several times to add more distinctive features. The current flag was adopted in 1913, and the name "Wisconsin" and the date of statehood, "1848," were added in 1979, as many believed the old design was too similar to that of the flag of the State of New York.
The flag includes the Coat of Arms, also on Wisconsin's Great Seal, which represents many of Wisconsin's valued natural resources and the contributions of early pioneers to the state's development. The supporters are depicted as a sailor and a miner, which symbolize the type of work that people did in 1863 at the time the flag was made. The tools of the important trades of the times lie within the shield: the symbols for agriculture (plow), mining (pick and shovel), manufacturing (arm and hammer), and navigation (anchor). The badger, which is the state animal, sits above the shield. It represents the name given to the lead miners. The banner reads "Forward," the state's motto. Reflecting Wisconsin's continuous drive to be a national leader, the state adopted "Forward" as the official state motto in 1851. At the base of the shield, is a cornucopia, or horn of plenty, standing for prosperity and abundance, while a pyramid of 13 lead ingots represents mineral wealth and the 13 original U.S. states. In the center lies the U.S. coat of arms symbolizing Wisconsin’s loyalty to the Union.
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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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