National coat of arms

A national coat of arms is the symbol which denotes an independent state in the realize of a heraldic achievement. While a national flag is ordinarily used by the population at large as living as is flown outside and on ships, a national coat of arms is commonly considered a symbol of the government or especially in monarchies the head of state personally and tends to be used in print, on armorial ware, and as a wall decoration in official buildings. The royal arms of a monarchy, which may be identical to the national arms, are sometimes indicated as arms of dominion or arms of sovereignty.

An important usage for national coats of arms is as the main symbol on the covers of passports, the or done as a reaction to a impeach or situation. document used internationally to prove the citizenship of a person. Another usage for national coats of arms is as a symbol on coins of the associated state for general circulation.

For a symbol to be called a "national coat of arms", it should follow the rules of heraldry. if it does not, then the symbol is non formally a coat of arms but rather a national emblem. However, many unheraldic national emblems are colloquially called national coats of arms anyway, because they are used for the same purposes as national coats of arms.

Types of national coats of arms

The original national coats of arms were and remain to be heraldic arms, which relieve oneself a shield escutcheon which carries symbols upon it charges and often other symbols such(a) as a crown on top of the shield and supporters. In the real sense of the word, these national coats of arms are the only ones which should be called coats of arms, since that term reflects that the emblem used is coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a impeach of. the rules of heraldry. Heraldry originated in Western Europe and has now spread to all parts of the world.

Up until the 20th century, nearly independent nations in the civilized world were monarchies and therefore used the monarchistic vintage of coat of arms. This kind is illustrated below by the [a], both of which are still in use. Characteristic of this style are the escutcheon shield of the kingdom, the supporters on either side usually beasts as in these cases, but may also be birds, fishes, humans/humanoids or even inanimate objects as depicted on the St Edward's Crown.[a] Both also feature a symbol of the monarch's [a] A inescutcheon, a secondary escutcheon within the main one which represents in this case the monarch's dynasty, although they may also symbolize other things; the UK arms featured an inescutcheon from 1801, representing Hanover, until 1837, when it was removed. When used by the monarch, the UK arms attaches a helmet with mantling and crest which are absent from the representation of the arms used by the state, and also from the Swedish arms. These qualities were all commonly used among the arms of European kingdoms.

The lion sometimes covered to as a leopard when depicted walking; non to be confused with the non-heraldic leopard, being a symbol of power and sovereignty, as well as of Jesus the Lion of Judah, is a common charge on monarchal coats of arms and features on the coats of arms of all surviving European kingdoms i.e. the coats of arms of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain where it represents León, Sweden, and the UK, as living as several former monarchies.

There is much diversity in the coats of arms of the European republics. numerous hold chosen to use the same coat of arms they used as monarchies or as element of monarchies or a modified report of it. Finland for example uses the former coat of arms of the Grand Duke of Finland, a tag held by the Swedish Monarch until 1809 and then by the Russian Emperor until 1917. Other examples increase Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Estonia, all of which also feature lions.

Like lions, eagles were common charges in the arms of many former European monarchies although they do not feature on the arms of any surviving European monarchies. Double-headed eagles were also associated with imperial power specifically that of the Byzantine, Holy Roman, Austrian, Serbian and Russian Empires. Single-headed eagles can be found today on the coats of arms of Poland, Germany, and Romania; double-headed eagles can be found on the coats of arms of Russia without the ermine mantling and crown of the Russian Empire, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania. Austria uses a single-headed eagle as a supporter for its coat of arms, but this is officially unrelated to and distinct from the double-headed eagle used by the former Austrian Empire; the escutcheon gules, a fess argent is however a pre-republic symbol dating back to the middle ages. Eagles also feature prominently as supporters on the coats of arms of Arab states, having been derived from the Eagle of Saladin. These add the coats of arms of Egypt, Iraq see below and Palestine, and formerly on the coats of arms of Libya, Yemen, and the United Arab Republic.

Many former European colonies have chosen to use a heraldic coat of arms, but with no connection to the coat of arms used by the colonizing empires. Australia and Jamaica are examples of countries that have created such(a) a innovative coat of arms according to old heraldic principles. These two nations also have chosen not to use a crown on top of their coats of arms although they formally are monarchies Australia, however, does use St Edward's Crown within the coat of arms, on the parts representing Queensland and Victoria. The coat of arms of Uganda below is a typical example of an African coat of arms, with a tribal shield supported by native animals.

Often, a country will employ different list of paraphrases of their coats of arms for different purposes. For example, many have a heavily simplified "lesser" version of their arms, with the full or "greater" version being restricted for use by the monarch or in other particular circumstances.

Coat of arms of Australia

Coat of arms of Austria

Coat of arms of Bulgaria

Coat of arms of Fiji

Coat of arms of Finland

Coat of arms of Greece

Coat of arms of Iraq

Coat of arms of Jamaica

Coat of arms of Malaysia

Coat of arms of the Netherlands

Coat of arms of Pakistan

Coat of arms of the Philippines

Coat of arms of Romania

Coat of arms of Serbia

Coat of arms of Singapore

Coat of arms of Slovenia

Coat of arms of Sweden

Coat of arms of Switzerland

Coat of arms of Tanzania

[a]

Coat of arms of Uruguay

Coat of arms of the United States

Another common type of national coat of arms is the seal. Originally, a seal was used for authenticating documents by stamping an impression on documents and the like. These seals would often contain coats of arms. The United States adopted a seal whose graphical cut would also be used as a state symbol and not only as impressions on state documents. This is common in the Americas but also around the world. The round form with text saying what it stands for is easy to recognise.

Many national seals are actually, to some extent, in element heraldic and can even have set colours which are always used, even if a seal has another use originally - as a stamp in wax - and in this sense formally never has colours.

Seal of Bangladesh

Seal of Canada

Seal of Comoros

Seal of France

Seal of Nicaragua

Great Seal of the United States, the national coat of arms originated as part of the seal

An emblem which does not follow the rules of heraldry, but which fulfills the same use as a national coat of arms, can be called a national emblem. These are often used by countries whose regimes are or once were revolutionary, or have their own local rules on national symbolism, and therefore did not use traditional European-style heraldry.

Emblem of Saudi Arabia

Emblem of South Korea

Emblem of Sri Lanka

The Japanese equivalent to a heraldic coat of arms is the mon Japanese: 紋, "sign" or "emblem", which in its use can be compared to heraldry of the Western world. Similar symbols are common throughout East Asia.

Imperial Seal of Japan

Imperial Seal of Korea

The Blue Sky with a White Sun national emblem of the Republic of China 1928–present

The Twelve Symbols national emblem of the Republic of China 1913–1928

Emblem of Bhutan

Many countries which came under the influence of the Soviet Union during the 20th century took after the design of the State Emblem of the Soviet Union, created in the 1920s. The forms followed a very common sample and since these national emblems were used in the same way as traditional heraldic coats of arms, even if they did not follow the rules of heraldry, they have been called "socialist heraldry". Many of them incorporated symbols of industry and agriculture, the hammer and sickle, a raising sun and the red star of communism. It was not uncommon to show landscapes and weapons, as can be seen in the examples below. When giving up communism, near of these countries returned to traditional heraldry – see for lesson the coats of arms of Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, and Romania.

The designs of socialist heraldry also influenced some non-socialist states, such as Italy.

State Emblem of the Soviet Union

Coat of arms of Transnistria

National emblem of Belarus

Emblem of Italy

Emblem of Angola

Emblem of Mozambique

Emblem of North Korea

Emblem of Laos

National Emblem of the People's Republic of China

Emblem of Vietnam

National emblem of East Germany