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Penang

 

Contents

• Flags

• Historical Flags

• Meaning/Origin of the Flag

• Coat of Arms

• Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

• Map

• Map of the Federal States of Malysia

• Numbers and Facts

• History

• Origin of the Country's Name



Flags

Flagge Fahne flag Pinang Penang
Flag of Penang,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Flaggen Enzyklopädie




Flagge Fahne flag Gouverneur Governor Pinang Penang
Flag of the Governor of Penang,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: www.penang.gov.my/en/



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Historical Flags

Flagge Fahne flag Kedah
1821–1867,
Flag of Kedah,
Source, by: Die Welt im bunten Flaggenbild, Wikipedia (EN)




Flagge Fahne Flag Großbritannien Vereinigtes Königreich United Kingdom UK Great Britain Naval jack jack State flag state
1867–1949,
Union Flag → quasi National flag,
Flag of United Kingdom,
ratio = 1:2,
Source: Wikipedia (EN)




Flagge Fahne flag Straits Settlements
1868–1877,
Penang is part of the Straits Settlements,
Flag of the government (state flag),
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Flags of the World




Flagge Fahne flag Straits Settlements
1879–1904,
Penang is part of the Straits Settlements,
Flag of the government (state flag),
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Flags of the World




Flagge Fahne flag Straits Settlements
1904–1925,
Penang is part of the Straits Settlements,
Flag of the government (state flag),
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Flags of the World




Flagge Fahne flag Straits Settlements
1925–1941,
Penang is part of the Straits Settlements,
Flag of the government (state flag),
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Flags of the World




Flagge Fahne flag Japan
1941–1945,
Penang is occupied by Japan,
ratio = 7:10,
Source, by: Wikipedia (EN)




Flagge Fahne flag Pinang Penang
1946–1949,
Flag of the government (state flag),
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Wikipedia (EN)



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Meaning/Origin of the Flag

The flag of Pinang was introduced in 1949 and shows three vertical strips in blue, white and yellow. In the middle of the white stripe is placed a Pinang tree, a Betel nut palm tree (Areca), to which the name of the state goes back. The blue stands for the sea, the white for the dignity of the country and the yellow for prosperity. In the years before 1949, Pinang was with its flags also involved in the British colonial system. Initially as part of the Straits Settlements, after their dissolution in 1946 as a separate colony. Great Britain introduced a flag system in 1864 in which:
• war ships fly the "White Ensign" (naval flag), a white flag often with an uninterrupted red St. George's-Cross and with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag,
• merchant ships fly a "Red Ensign" (also named "Civil Ensign" → civil flag, the real merchant flag), a red flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag, and
• governmental ships fly the "Blue Ensign" (flag for the use by the gouvernment → the actual state flag), a blue flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag.
Since 1865 ships of colonial governments were permitted to fly the Blue Ensign with a badge in the flying end of the flag. The badge of the Straits Settlements showed three British crowns. On land, the individual citizen and also the authorities represented their status as citizens or organs of the British nation, embodied in the United Kingdom, through the use of the Union Jack, then called the "Union Flag". At sea, the British citizen was thus provided with the British merchant flag, the Red Ensign. In a few cases, the citizens of a colony were allowed by the Admiralty to use their own Red Ensign with the colony's badge at sea. Pinang got his own badge in the year 1946. It was a splited shield, with blue and white waves underneath, separated by a pinnacle-line from the golden shield-head, which showed a bundle of blue Prince of Wales's feathers in the middle. This coat of arms goes back to the coat of arms of the city of Georgetown. The Prince of Wales's feathers remember, that Penang Island became in 1786 a British possession as Prince of Wales Island.

Source: Flaggen Enzyklopädie, Die Welt der Flaggen, Flags of the World

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Coat of Arms


Wappen Coat of Arms Pinang Penang
since 1988,
Coat of arms of Penang,
Source, by: www.penang.gov.my, Wikipedia (EN)


Wappen Coat of Arms Pinang Penang Gouverneur Governor
since 1957,
Coat of arms of the Governor of Penang,
Source, by: www.penang.gov.my, Wikipedia (EN)


Wappen Coat of Arms Pinang Penang
1950–1988,
Coat of arms of Penang,
Source, by: www.penang.gov.my, Wikipedia (EN)


Wappen Coat of Arms Pinang Penang
1946–1950,
Coat of arms of Penang,
Source, by: www.penang.gov.my, Wikipedia (EN)


Wappen Coat of Arms Pinang Penang
1946–1949,
Badge of Penang,
Source, by: www.penang.gov.my, Wikipedia (EN)

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Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

The today's coat of arms of Pinang was introduced in 1988. In this way the previous coat of arms was modified in the head of the shield, the pinnacles and feathers became removed, and instead the Pinang bridge was added to the head of the shield. The silvery banner with the motto "BERSATU DAN SETIA" ("United and Loyal") became golden colored.

Source: Wikipedia (EN)

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Map

Größere Karte anzeigen
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Map of the Federal States of Malysia

Clickable Map
interaktive Landkarte
Map: Volker Preuß, to Malaysia? → click or tap here

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Numbers and Facts

Area: 398 square miles

Inhabitants: 1.740.405 (2020), thereof 43% Chinese, 41% Malays, 10% Indians

Religions: 44% Muslim, 36% Buddhists, 8% Hindu, 5% Christians

Density of Population: 4.372 inh./sq.mi.

Capital: Georgetown, 178.358 inh. (2005)

official Language: Malaysian

other Languages: Chinese, Penang Hokkien, English

Currency: Malaysische Currency

Time Zone: GMT + 8 h

Source: Wikipedia (DE)

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History

7th–11th cent. · to the Shrividjaja Empire

11th cent. · first mention of a state of Kadaram (Kedah) in the region, to which today's Penang belongs

12th cent. · Islamisation

14th-15th cent. · to the empire of Siam

15th cent. · Conquest by Malacca

17th cent. · Portuguese attacks, Kedah temporarily comes under the control of the Sultanate of Aceh

1786 · the Sultan of Kedah calls for the British East India Company against Siam (Thailand), Francis Light occupies Penang Island and develops it to a base

1800 · the British East India Company acquires the mainland across from Pinang Island (Wellesley Province)

14th of August 1826 · Singapore becomes joined with Penang and Malacca to the colony of the "Straits Settlements" under the supremacy of the British East India Company, seat of government is Gerorge Town on Pinang Island

1832 · the seat of government of the Straits Settlements becomes transfered from Penang to Singapore

1858 · the administration of the Straits Settlements becomes handed over to British India

1st of April 1867 · the Straits Settlements become a British crown colony

1941 · Japanese conquest

1945 · withdrawal of the Japanese

1st of April 1946 · formation of the Malay Union by confederation of the Malaysian Sultanates (British protectorates) and the Straits Settlements (British crown colonies), but without Singapore. Penang (inclusive Wellesley) as a British colony becomes in this way a part of the union

1948 · re-organization of the Malaysian Union, creation of the Malaysian Federation under a British High Commissioner

31st of August 1957 · independence and proclamation of the Kingdom of Malaysian Federation

16th of September 1963 · proclamation of the Kingdom of Malaysia by confederation of the Malaysian Federation (Malaya) with the former British colonies Sarawak, Sabah (North Borneo) and Singapore. Brunei rejects the joining and remains at Great Britain

9th of August 1965 · Singapore leaves the Federation of Malaysia

Source: Atlas zur Geschichte, Wikipedia (D), Discovery '97, Weltgeschichte

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Origin of the Country's Name

The name Pinang derives from the modern Malay name "Pulau Pinang", which would be translated as "Areca Nut Island" or "Betel Nut Island". Originally, the island in this region was called "Pulau Ka-Satu", the "First Island", because it was the first large conspicuous island on the sea route between Lingga and Kedah. The Siamese also called the island this, but in their language "Koh Maak". The actual root of the name Pinang goes back to their 15th century Chinese name: "Binlang Yu" ("Arekanuss Island"). The Portuguese scholar Emanuel Godinho de Eredia then mixed Chinese and Malay to "Pulo Pinaom" in the 16th century, which became "Pulau Pinang" many years later. Other, poetic names that are readily given to the country are: "Pearl of the Orient" and "Island of Pearls" ("Pulau Mutiara").

Source: Wikipedia (EN)

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