Flag of French Polynesia

What the flag of French Polynesia looks like

The flag has three horizontal bands: red, white and red. The white band is twice as wide as each red band, so the proportions are 1:2:1. The flag itself has a 2:3 ratio.

In the middle of the white band is a circular emblem. Its upper half is a golden sun with rays that alternate with white ones. The lower half is blue and shows the sea, with stylized waves in white and blue. A Polynesian outrigger canoe (pirogue) sails across the top of the waves. The canoe carries five red figures, and its hull is red as well.

French Polynesia flag meaning and symbolism

The red and white bands follow the colors long linked to Tahiti and the kingdom of the Pomare dynasty. They are also close to the red and white of the French tricolor, which suits a territory that is part of France. The official reading of the emblem is as follows:

• The sun rises over the Pacific and stands for a new era and for the light that gives life.
• The sea and waves in the lower half represent the ocean that links the islands and made Polynesian settlement possible.
• The canoe recalls the vessels in which Polynesians crossed the Pacific.
• The five crew members stand for the five archipelagos of French Polynesia: the Society Islands, the Tuamotus, the Gambier Islands, the Marquesas and the Austral Islands.

History of the French Polynesia flag

Tahiti and the surrounding islands became a French protectorate in 1842 and a colony in 1880. During this period the flag of France was the main flag, although the Tahitian kingdom had flown red and white flags of its own. After a long period as the territory of French Oceania, the islands received a more autonomous status in the 1970s and 1980s.

The current flag was adopted in the mid-1980s, when the territory gained internal autonomy under a new statute. It was designed to give the territory its own identity and to be flown beside the French tricolor, not in place of it. Both flags are used officially, and the French flag is still the flag of the state. The flag is also seen in the flag emoji used for Tahiti and the other islands.

Is French Polynesia a country?

French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France, not an independent country. It has a large degree of self-government, its own president and assembly, and its own flag. France is responsible for defense and certain other matters. Residents are French citizens, and the currency is the CFP franc. See the flag of France for the national flag.