Flag of Switzerland used by Burgundy and Maximilian I. The first flag used as a field sign representing the confederacy rather than the individual cantons may have been used in the Battle of Arbedo in 1422 (notably without the participation of the Canton of Schwyz). This was a triangular red flag with an elongated white cross. The white cross was thus in origin a field mark attached to combatants for identification, and later also to cantonal flags. The Lucerne chronicle of 1513, in battle scenes of the Burgundy wars of the 1470s shows cantonal flags with an added white cross. In this context,
Flag of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands the Southern Hemisphere. Flag of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands The flag of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands was first created in 2003; the flag was adopted on 6 April 2004. The flag is green, with a palm tree on a gold disc in the canton, a gold crescent in the centre of the flag and a gold southern cross in the fly. The palm tree represents the islands' tropical flora; the colours are Australia's national colours; the crescent represents Islam, the religion of the Cocos Malays who make up a majority of the population; and the Southern Cross is a symbol