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Flag of Östergötland

unofficial provincial flag in Sweden

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 9, 2025
Entity authorityQ1426636 ↗
Source-derived summary

The flag of Östergötland is an unofficial provincial flag in Sweden which was created by Per Andersson from Mjölby in 1972. Back then, the flag was a part of a tourist project called "Vätterlandet", and was first supposed to represent the entire region of Götaland. Its purpose was to attract more visitors to the Lake Vättern region, but the project failed and the flag was more or less forgotten. However, the flag has started to get some attention, and is more and more used by local inhabitants in Östergötland.

The flag has the same proportions as the Swedish flag, but with reversed colours; Blue cross on a yellow field. The cross represents Göta Canal and Kinda Canal, the province's two principal waterways. The yellow field represents the central plains of the province. The flag also has a great similarity to a proposed flag for Åland, which was rejected by the municipality who thought it was too ugly.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Flag of Östergötland” is unofficial provincial flag in Sweden. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Flag, Östergötland and unofficial, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1972—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Flag, Östergötland and unofficial is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “unofficial provincial flag in Sweden” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1426636. The first chronological checks are 1972.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
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  • Locating named sources
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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Flag of Östergötland”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Flag of Östergötland primary sources, Flag of Östergötland archive and Flag research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Flag of Östergötland” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.