Hey everybody. Welcome back to Flag/Fan Friday. Hope you like the Liberia episode. Alright, first order of business
I gotta fix some of the mistakes. I made in the video. Okay number one, the Pinyan footprint is NOT in Liberia.
It's in China. Not even remotely close to Liberia like I don't know how that got in the video.
Number two, in the opening I said that Liberia is
one of the two African states that never got colonized. I should have specified a little bit more.
I meant 'not colonized' by any Western or European power. Technically African Americans or the Americo-Liberians
'colonized' the country but it could also could be kind of seen as like repatriation.
It really kind of depends on how you look at it. Also,
I should have specified a little bit more when I was talking about the units of measurement.
I meant to say it is one of the only three countries that does not use the metric system.
Not all three. Myanmar, Liberia and US used the imperial system. Myanmar does not use the imperial system
They use their own native units of measurement. For example a 'Kawtha'
is about four fifths of a mile or 1.2 kilometers and a 'Ngase Tha' is about two pounds or 880 grams
It's it's weird. It's a weird system. Also,
I didn't expound on how there were a lot of violent acts during the civil war years.
Everything from former President Charles Taylor escaping prison then being trained by the Gaddafi regime,
capturing and torturing former president Doe to death and
supposedly recording himself chewing on the severed ear of said former president
and there was this guy, Joshua Milton Blahyi
Also known as General 'Butt naked'. He went into battle with his troops either naked or
wearing Halloween Costumes or dresses to confuse the enemy. him and his troops practice a series of human sacrifice and cannibalism.
I wish I was joking but these are actual documented incidents. Yeah, the 80s 90s and 2000's were a crazy time.
Oh that and lots of countries register their ships under Liberia to avoid taxes. Liberia is the second most popular flag of convenience
after Panama in terms of foreign registration. And speaking of flags we got to jump into it so without further ado:
Freed slave African-Americans, recolonizing a part of Africa.
No other country has that kind of story. You'll start to understand the flag a
little bit more when we explain. So let's jump into it.
The flag of Liberia contains 11 alternating horizontal bars of red and white
with a small blue square in the upper left or canton corner with a single white star in it.
The red and white stripes stand for the 11 signatories of the Liberian Declaration of Independence
as well as courage and moral excellence. White star represents the first western-style Republic in Africa
whereas blue square represents the African continent
The Flag closely resembles and was modeled after the United States as the country was founded and established
by freed slaves mostly from the United States along with some in the Caribbean, funded by the American Colonization Society.
Now that was cool and fun whatever yada, yada, yada.
But one of the most fun and notable and symbolic images of Liberia would have to be the infamous County flags!
I'm not even joking, this is what they look like!
many vexillologist and design experts have kind of a hard time looking at them because they have...
They portray a little bit of a what's the nicest way I can put this ummm... They look kind of um
childish in their aesthetic technique? For example:
The odd unequally shaped trees of Bomi County.
The Lofa County and its dismembered arm holding a rod and the gradient seems to overlap the fingers.
The river coming out of the tree and floating trees in the sky for the River Gee county.
There's Maryland county's lighthouse with random unequal light streaks and a floating roof.
And this thing for Nimba County.
Now of course, each of these flags has a reason and backstory behind the imagery so I get it.
And I'm gonna be honest. I like these flags. I don't care what the experts say.
I think they're kind of charming.
But anyway yeah moving on. The Coat of Arms.
The Coat of Arms contains a shield with a nineteenth-century ship
representing the ships that brought the Americo-Liberians to the country.
Under it is a plow and shovel representing dignity of Labor and Hardwork.
The Rising Sun represents the birth of a new nation.
The palm tree, which symbolizes prosperity.
The white dove with a scroll meaning peace
And above and below everything, two banners, the top reading "The Love of Liberty brought us here".
In the bottom reading 'Republic of Liberia'.
And keep in mind, both the flag and coat of arms have pretty much stayed the same since the country's inception.
Alright. So that's pretty much about it. You know what time it is?
Geogra-FANMAIL Time!
So yeah, over the weeks, we got a lot stuff.
By the way guys, before we go into this, you guys are totally free and welcome to send any kind of fan mail or
letters or packages to any of the other people that have been on Geography Now.
You can send stuff to Noah or Ken or Keith or Kaleb. You know my triple K
guy of the KKK... Yeah I know. you can send anything to those guys as well.
As usual, you know how we start? Letters and postcards!
Filippo Thank you for sending this from mantova italy austin sends this from the bahamas air sends this from Budapest Hungary
Thank You Lindsay from Delano, Florida lasse is from Slovakia
And he sends us from Andorra Matt sends this from Switzerland Martha sends this from Riga Latvia
I'm sorry. I can't really quite read your name, but this is really cool. You sent it from Rajasthan India all this really cool
I actually met this guy in Northern Ireland on my heritage trip funds. Who is Galician
I believe think he sent this from southern Italy I got a letter from Denmark
Hey, Barb's. We are two Danish girls Anya and goun goun goun
Yeah, good luck trying to brown snake. Okay. Yeah, she actually wrote that. Here's some more foreign currency
We got it from our parents travels
You said you got these from your parents travels like did you get their permission to send these and Danish flags?
All right well
You know what I'm gonna have to do this for the rest of the episode Sam from Israel obviously
Sends an Israeli flag, and he also sends this it's called a rock on which is like a MetroCard
You can use to get on public transportation. I believe route from Lithuania since a Lithuanian flag, okay?
This is pretty cool. Robbie was Syrian but lives in Belgium
He sent this which he says is a Syrian straw used to drink something they call Mach. 10. You know this looks very
eerily similar to a
Yerba mate a spoon straw is this are you sure this isn't just a herb amat a straw thing
I think it might be an Owen from Alameda, California my fellow Californians ah you sent the California flag home
He said his heritage is from many different countries mostly from Italy and also
specifically Tsuchiya Sicily and of course he sent those flags woohoo alright Jay Preston from Tucson, Arizona
I am from the Tohono o odham nation that straddles the US and Mexican border. Oh, that's cool
the reservation is about the size of the state of Connecticut the man in the May is a very important symbol to the
Oldham it basically symbolizes the journey through life, and that's the man in the maze symbol
He was talking about I've said it so many times if you come to the u.s.
one thing you really have to kind of get the
Opportunity to immerse yourself in is the native culture
And I always encourage people that come here to at least try to find a reservation and meet these people and talk to them
Thank You Fran and JJ from Guatemala City they sent these
Guatemalan quetzals if you guys haven't watched the Guatemala episode I highly recommend that Guatemala is
Fascinating it's one of the only few places in Central America that retains such a high population of indigenous people our next Josie from
Minnesota my birth state hey Barb's my name is Josie. I am from Minnesota. Oh you betcha in Minnesota accent
PS. Tell Keith his hair is amazing you guys all love Keith, and I don't blame you that guy is loveable
You know she sends a Minnesota shirt. Yes, you got my size right men's medium
Are you were listening you guys get my size right? I will wear your shirts
alright
Josie this is interestingly shaped it's from Daniel from Iceland Iceland flag
I really liked your episode and your pronunciations of Icelandic places work
I don't know if you could read it, but first he wrote great good
They were okay, and then he crossed it all out see Craig from Canada
Oh, this is the guy that sent me this stuff from Tristan da Cunha Craig? I still have your shirt. I'm sorry
It's like three sizes too big, but I still have it that's cool
So he actually sent a lava rock from Tristan da Cunha, and this is really cool
Craig actually visited North Korea and this is hilarious
He actually kept the barf bag or the motion sickness bag from Air Koryo North Korea's national airline next up
We got a booty from Chung Mai Thailand guys. I know calm yourself down be nice
Look at the detail on this card. Hi Barb's greetings from Thailand. I used your videos to teach my children
I also sent you some souvenirs. Hope you like them. Dude you sent so many magnets
I promise you I will put these on my fridge okay now this package. There's a funny story behind it
This is from the Netherlands when I went to the post office to pick it up the guy was like what is in it coz
I'm shaking it. It sounds like pills, and he was kind of like the Netherlands pills
I'm not even joking the guy working. There was a little suspicious, but as it turns out
It's this stuff. Hey Barb's my name is theis my dream is to cycle across every single country in the world now
You've probably already heard of haggis Loch. Yes, I've gotten that before, but there is another variant called Bruin
Which is kind of the same, but the sprinkles are all multicolored. It's awesome warning very sweet. I will try this dude
I will put it on my toast my buttered toast. I remember you have to butter it first right really appreciate this
This is not pills or drugs and finally one last package from
Bulgaria dude, they loaded it with like everything from Bulgaria. My name is vladimir and my wife's andrea
We've been fans almost from the beginning of the show. We are a mixed bulgarian-romanian family
We also have a wonderful son who has one year and three and a half months old
You really got specific with that I talked to him in Bulgarian and andreas speaks to him in
Romanian we talk to each other in English so it is not clear which language our son will start talking first
That's so crazy like I met another couple the people we stayed with in Italy Matteo and Katya Matteo was Italian
Katya was Russian he would speak Italian to their daughter
And she would speak Russian to their daughter apparently child psychologists say
That's the best way for children to become bilingual if each parent speaks a different language
It's so interesting we sent you a few tasty items. We hope that you'll like
Who made sure he liked her as you guys know? I'm a liquor guy not a beer guy so I
Seriously, gotta try this right now. Just a little bit. Okay. Just a little bit oh
Sweet and good it has a punch
Bulgaria they sent a vial of like pure rose oil if you guys watch the Bulgaria episode you'll know that Bulgaria is the world's leader
In rose products homemade walnut jam okay. You know there's love in it if it's homemade I I?
Gotta go to Bulgaria
Alright, so that's just about it for the packages and letters
And you know what time it is it's time for return address contest. I put all of your return addresses in this bag
I pick one out and whoever wins I send a little gift too right so here are the addresses
I'm just gonna pick one out. I'm not gonna look. I'm not gonna look see
Ah your name is Lake and you live in Jordan, Utah, West Jordan, Utah
You just won, so guys this was really cool. I can't believe how many amazing things
I got to cover through you guys this week once again
If you'd like to send anything to Ken Kaleb Keith or Noah or any of the other guys on the show
Please feel free to do so you don't always have to send everything to me
And I would love to get their reactions if they get fan mail too, but yeah you guys Rock
Thank you so much for the support for the channel, and I hope you guys are doing well
You've just been flagged stay cool stay tuned