Like the concept of a state's
national flag itself, that of an "ethnic flag" is modern, first arising in the late 19th century; strictly speaking, the national flags of
nation states are themselves "ethnic flags", and often so used by ethnic minorities in neighboring states, especially in the context of
irredentism (e.g. the flag of the
Republic of Albania used as an "ethnic Albanian flag" by
Kosovar Albanians). Ethnic flags are often used in irredentism, representing the "national flag" of a proposed or
unrecognized state. The first such flags were designed at the end of the 19th century, such as the
Basque flag (1894) or the "Flag of Zion" used to symbolize
Zionism from 1898, which became the national
flag of Israel 50 years later. Most early ethnic flags imply a connection with an
unrecognized state claimed by the respective ethnicities, such as the
flag of Kurdistan which originates as the flag of the
Republic of Ararat (1927). A
flag of the Hispanic People was designed in 1932. Alternatively, an "ethnic flag" may represent a
Pan-nationalism, such as the
Pan-Arab flag which originates as the
flag of the Arab Revolt during World War I, the proposed flag of
Pan-Slavism (1848),
Pan-Iranism or
Pan-Turkism. The concept of using ethnic flags to symbolize ethnic groups within a multiethnic state, not necessarily connected with irredentism, became popular in the later 20th century, such as the
Australian Aboriginal flag (1971), the
Assyrian flag (1971), the
flag of the Romani people (1971), the
Berber flag (1970s), the
Sami flag (1986) or the
national Māori flag (1990). Designing ethnic or tribal flags has become very popular since the 1990s, especially for online use, and mostly do not have any kind of "official" status and must be judged based on
de facto use. In many cases, the national flag of a sovereign state is often seen and used as a
de facto ethnic flag by its people. ==Individual flags==