Flag of Belize

What the flag of Belize looks like

The flag of Belize has a royal blue field with a red stripe along the top edge and another along the bottom edge. In the middle is a white disc that holds the national coat of arms, ringed by a green wreath of leaves. The proportions are 3:5.

The coat of arms has a shield with tools of the timber trade, such as paddles, axes and a saw, in its upper sections and a sailing ship in the lower one. On either side of the shield stands a woodcutter, one holding an axe and the other a paddle. Above the shield is a mahogany tree, and below it a scroll with the national motto in Latin, Sub umbra floreo, meaning "I flourish in the shade". The wreath has 50 leaves.

The coat of arms contains so many shades that the flag of Belize is often said to use more colors than any other national flag. Counts vary, from about 12 to 19, depending on how shades are counted. Compare the plain version in the Belize flag emoji.

Belize flag meaning and symbolism

The two woodcutters represent the people of Belize and the importance of logging in its history. They are usually described as men of different backgrounds, one of African descent and the other a mestizo, showing the unity of the different peoples of the country. The tools on the shield refer to the same industry, and the ship to trade and the sea. The mahogany tree, the national tree, stands for the country's forests.

The motto Sub umbra floreo is understood as a reference to the shade of the mahogany tree, and it is also read as a sign of the country's growth in the shelter of its forests. The 50 leaves of the wreath refer to 1950, the year the independence movement began.

The colors are explained mostly through politics. Blue and red are the colors of Belize's two main parties, the People's United Party (blue) and the United Democratic Party (red), and the red stripes were added at independence so that both would be represented. Some sources also read blue as the sea and sky and red as courage, but there is no single official explanation.

History of the Belize flag

Belize was a British settlement for centuries and was named the colony of British Honduras in 1862. Its flag was the British Blue Ensign with a badge that showed a ship, a mahogany tree and the tools of the timber trade, with the motto "Sub umbra floreo".

As the colony moved toward self-government in the 1960s, it began to use a plain blue flag with a coat of arms in a white disc. Self-government came in 1964, and the colony was renamed Belize in 1973. When the country became independent on 21 September 1981, two red stripes were added to the top and bottom of the blue flag, as a compromise between the two main parties.

The flag has stayed the same since independence, and 21 September is celebrated as Independence Day.

Interesting facts about the Belize flag

• Belize is one of the very few countries whose flag shows human figures, in the form of the two woodcutters.
• It is one of the few flags to include a tree, the mahogany, and a Latin motto.
• It has been in use since independence in 1981.

Belize has Guatemala and Mexico as its neighbors. Browse the flags of the world to compare it with other designs.