Flag of Antarctica

What the Antarctica flag looks like

The flag shown on this page is a simple blue rectangle with a width-to-height ratio of 2:3. In the center is a white outline of Antarctica in a stylized form, drawn as a map seen from above the South Pole. Only two colors are used: dark blue for the background and white for the continent.

The design is called "True South" and was proposed by Graham Bartram, a British vexillologist (a person who studies flags) who later served as chief vexillologist of the Flag Institute. It is the version people most often mean when they talk about the flag of Antarctica, and it is the one shown for the Antarctica flag emoji (see the emoji page).

Antarctica flag meaning and symbolism

The white map shows the continent as a single landmass, with no borders and no national symbols. This reflects the way Antarctica is governed: it belongs to no country, and is used for peaceful scientific research. The blue background is often read as the Southern Ocean that surrounds it, while the white stands for the ice that covers about 98 percent of the land.

The colors were chosen for a practical reason as well. A white shape on a dark blue field is clear against snow and sky and works at a distance, and it avoids the use of colors connected with any one nation.

Why Antarctica has no official flag

A flag is normally adopted by a state or a government. Antarctica has no permanent population and no government of its own. Seven countries have made territorial claims: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. Several claims overlap, and many other countries do not recognize any of them.

The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 and in force since 1961, freezes these claims. It reserves the continent south of 60 degrees south for peaceful purposes and science, and it bans military activity. A later agreement, the Madrid Protocol, bans mining. The treaty system has its own emblem, a white map of the continent on a blue field, but it is not a national flag. Since there is no institution that can adopt a flag for the whole continent, the True South design has no official status.

Other Antarctic flags and proposals

• Other proposals. Vexillologists and enthusiasts have suggested many other designs, including flags with a Southern Cross, a penguin or a simple white and blue pattern. None has been adopted by the treaty parties.
• Territorial flags. Some claimed areas have flags of their own, such as the British Antarctic Territory and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
• National flags at research stations. The flags seen on the continent are mostly those of the countries that operate research bases, flown at each station.
• Expedition flags. Explorers and tourists often carry their own flag to mark a visit or a record.

For more about flags that are used by territories and regions, browse flags of the world.