{{Short description|Historical flag}}{{Infobox flag | Name = Orange Free State | Image = Flag of the Orange Free State.svg | Adoption = 23 February 1857 | Relinquished = 31 May 1902 | Design = Seven alternating white and orange horizontal stripes with the [[Flag of the Netherlands|Dutch Flag]] displayed in the top left. }}
The '''flag of the [[Orange Free State]]''' was officially used from 1857 to 1902. It was superseded by the [[flag of the Orange River Colony]].
==History== [[File:The Flags of the World Plate 22.png|thumb|209x209px|Incorrect version with five stripes shown in [[s:The Flags of the World/Plate 22|''The Flags of the World'']] (1896)|left]] When the Orange Free State became an independent republic in February 1854, the government hoisted a red, white and blue flag. Details of the exact design have been lost, but it was presumably similar to the contemporary [[flag of the Netherlands]]. It was evidently intended as a temporary flag, as the first State President, [[Josias Philip Hoffman]] asked King [[William III of the Netherlands|Willem III]] of the Netherlands (r. 1849–1890) to give the new state which bore the Dutch royal family's name a flag and coat of arms. The king graciously agreed.
A flag and coat of arms were designed by the Hoge Raad van Adel. They duly arrived in the Orange Free State in January 1856, and the [[Volksraad (Orange Free State)|Volksraad]] (legislature) resolved on 28 February 1856 that "the design of the flag sent by the King of the Netherlands shall be adopted".<ref name=vr>''Notulen vande Volksraad van de Oranje Vrijstaat'' (1856)</ref> It was officially taken into use a year later, on 23 February 1857, the third anniversary of the republic.<ref name=plv>Pama, C. (1965). ''Lions and Virgins''.</ref><ref name=bnps>Brownell, F.G. (1993). ''National and Provincial Symbols''.</ref>
It was used until the republic came to an end on 31 May 1902.
The flag was later incorporated into the design of the national [[flag of South Africa (1928–1994)|flag of South Africa]] (from 1928 to 1994) and used by the [[Anglo-Boer War Museum]] and the [[Voortrekker Monument]].
The flag also appears in the music video of the [[Afrikaans]] song ''[[Koos de la Rey|De la Rey]]'' by [[Bok van Blerk]].
==Description== The flag consisted of seven horizontal bands of white (4) and orange (3), with the [[Flag of the Netherlands|Dutch flag]] in the canton.
==See also== * [[Coat of arms of the Orange Free State]] * [[List of South African flags]] * [[Flag of the Cape Colony]] * [[Flag of Goshen]] * [[Flag of Natal]] * [[Flag of the Natalia Republic]] * [[Flag of the Orange River Colony]] * [[Flag of South Africa]] * [[Flag of the South African Republic]] * [[Flag of Stellaland]] * [[Flag of Transvaal]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * Brownell, F.G. (1993). ''National and Provincial Symbols''. * Burgers, A.P. (1997). ''Sovereign Flags over Southern Africa''. * Burgers, A.P. (2008). ''The South African Flag Book''. * Pama, C. (1965). ''Lions and Virgins''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orange Free State, Flag of the}} [[Category:Flags of South Africa]] [[Category:South African heraldry]] [[Category:Obsolete national flags|Orange Free State]] [[Category:Orange Free State|Flag of the Orange Free State]] [[Category:1857 introductions]] [[Category:Quadcolor_flags]]