The flag of the Communidad of Madrid was officially established by law on 25th of February in 1983. The law came into force on 1st of March in 1983. It is a plain crimson coloured bunting and shows seven five-pointed white stars in two rows. The red is the colour of Castile, to which Madrid originally belonged. The seven stars come from the coat of arms of the City of Madrid (although they are six-pointed there). They symbolize the seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major. In practice, the flag is not always reproduced in true colour. It often appears only in normal red than in crimson. The flag of the city of Madrid is a solid red-violet (purple) colour with the city's coat of arms in the centre. The red-purple colour is called morado (mulberry).
The coat of arms of the Communidad Madrid was officially introduced on 23rd of December in 1983. It features a crimson shield with seven five-pointed white stars in two rows, including two golden castles. Above the shield is placed a royal crown. Red is the color of Castile, to which Madrid originally belonged. The seven stars come from the coat of arms of the city of Madrid, and the castles are also taken from Castile heraldry and stand for Old Castile and New Castile. The coat of arms of the city of Madrid shows a silver shield with a blue border. On the silver shield a scene in natural colors showing a bear sniffing a strawberry tree (botanical name: Arbutus unedo, Spanish: Madrono). The coat of arms commemorates an agreement between the church and the city regarding the lands around Madrid. In the blue border of the shield there are seven white six-pointed stars, they symbolize the seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major. Above the shield is placed a stylized royal crown.
Madrid is mentioned for the first time in Arabian sources of the 9th century. King Alfons VI. of Castile liberated Madrid from the Arabs in the year 1083. Since 1561 is Madrid the residence of the Spanish kings and in this way capital. In the year 1833 whole Castile was separated in provinces, New Castile (Castile southern the mountains of the Central System) in the provinces of Madrid, Guadalajara, Cuenca, Albacete, Ciudad Real und Toledo, and out of them arised the Autonomous Community of Castile-La Mancha on 16th of August in 1982. Madrid became an own Autonomous Community on 1st of March in 1983.
The origin of the name and even of the place "Madrid" from the pre-arabian times is unknown. The Arabs changed the name of the place in "Madshrit", what means "pasture".
