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Manhattan, New York (U.S.)

New York County

image by Mark Sensen, 25 July 2001

Description of the flag

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Description of the flag

The Borough of Manhattan does not have an official Borough flag. However, by order of the Borough President, a variant of the City flag, with the seal of the Borough President in place of the City Seal is used for "ceremonial" occasions. This seal, besides being circular, bears the inscription "President of the Borough of Manhattan N.Y.C." around the perimeter instead of the wreath on the City Seal and replaces the date with two stars and omits the Latin inscription found on the City Seal. The shield is also a different shape but all the other elements of the NYC Seal are the same.
Dave Martucci, 30 November 2002

The orange, white and blue stripes recall New York City's Dutch heritage (orange, blue and white). The seal's symbolism is as follows: The sailor represents the Dutch and the Brave the Lenni Lenape who originally lived here. The English are represented by the fishing plum on the left side of the scroll. The windmill, beavers and barrels represent New York's raison d'être, trade and commerce. The crest bears an eagle over the northern hemisphere. This represents sovereignty and independence. It replaced the royal crown in 1783. New York County (also known as Manhattan) was organised on 1 November 1683 along with 11 other counties when the Royal Colony of New York was created by King Charles II.
Daniel S. Padovano, 20 November 2002

The sailor is English, I think, and also has a star sighting device behind him, coming from the scroll with the legend. (As there's no scroll on the Manhattan Borough flag, this doesn't appear). The Dutch are symbolized with the windmill. The crown was also on the arms of the colony as a whole, now (on the state flag) it lies upside down under the foot of "Liberty." The eagle, on the Western Hemisphere, replaces it there too.
Nathan Lamm, 21 November 2002