There are 197 countries in the world but virtually none of them have the colour Purple in their National Flags.
Well, the answer to this question is straightforward but very much thought-provoking.
The colour purple was just too expensive. Back then, 1 lb of purple was worth 3 lbs of gold. Purple was expensive because it was from a sea snail only found in present-day Lebanon from a Phoenician place called Tyre.
Even though there were so many purple sea snails, 1g of purple dye required 10,000 snails. Since purple was so rare and expensive, only the Wealthy Kings and Queens could afford it and thus purple became the colour of Royalty.
In 1856, Great Scientist William Henry Perkin accidentally discovered purple in his laboratory. He was then titled ‘The Man Who Discovered A Colour That Changed The World’.
And so, the colour purple became as ordinary as other colours.
The Countries with newly made flags such as ‘Dominica’ and ‘Nicaragua’ are the only countries with purple in their National Flags.
Dominican Flag