The today's flag of Iowa was adopted on 29th of March in 1921. It was created by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt and features three vertical stripes of blue, white and red, with the white stripe twice as wide as the others. In the centre of the white stripe is an eagle with a banner in its beak bearing the country's motto: "Our Liberties we prize and our Rights we will maintain". According to Gebhardt, the blue colour stands for loyalty, justice and truth, the white for purity and the red for courage. The design of the flag is deliberately based on the French tricolour. This is a reminder of the history of the country, which was once part of French Louisiana. The eagle stands for the USA. The first flag of Iowa, also created by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt, was adopted in 1917, but was only used by the military. It only showed the eagle with the banner in its beak.
ca. 7000 B.C. · Settlement by Indians (Quapaw, Caddo, Osage)
ca. 1600–1660 · tentative Spanish exploration and colonization
about 1670 · French explorers and researchers reach the area
from about 1700 · construction of French forts and settlements, especially on the Mississippi River, French colonization, to the colony of French Louisiana
Iowa is named after one tribe of the Chiwere-Group of the Sioux Indians who lived before on the lower Mississippi. According to another theory, the name comes from the Indian language and means "sleepy land".
