GEORGIA REPUBLIC

A white flag with the single red St. George's cross was used by the Georgian King Vakhtang Gorgasali in the 5th century as the national symbol of the Georgian state and nation. The central element of the flag is St. George's cross, who is the patron saint of Georgia. According to the Georgian scholar Giorgi Gabeskiria, the four extra crosses were probably added during the reign of George V of Georgia, who drove out the Mongols. The flag was revived by Georgian patriotic movement following the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.