Flag of Guam

What the flag of Guam looks like

The flag of Guam is a dark blue rectangle edged on all four sides by a thin red border. In the center is the Guam seal. The seal is shaped like a Chamorro sling stone, an oval that is pointed at the top and bottom, and it has a red outline. The top of the seal carries the word "GUAM" in red capital letters.

Inside the seal is a landscape scene. A coconut palm leans over a beach, and the sea in front of it is shown in light blue. A traditional sailing canoe, called a proa, sails across the water. A river flows into the bay in the background. The scene is based on the Hagåtña (Agana) Bay area. A small version is shown in the Guam flag emoji.

Guam flag meaning and symbolism

The flag has no officially defined meaning for the blue and red colors. The meaning is found in the seal. The sling stone shape recalls the stones used by the Chamorro people, the indigenous inhabitants of the island, for hunting and fishing. The proa, a fast outrigger sailing canoe, stands for the seafaring tradition of the ancient Chamorros, who sailed between the islands of the Marianas.

The coconut tree is a symbol of the island's natural life and of its resilience, since it provides food, drink and building material. The river and bay represent the geography of Guam. Together the elements of the seal show the traditional culture and the natural setting of the island, with the word GUAM as the only text on the flag.

History of the Guam flag

Guam was a Spanish possession for more than two centuries before it was ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War in 1898. It remained under US naval administration, apart from a period of Japanese occupation during the Second World War, from 1941 to 1944. In that time the island used the flags of the ruling powers.

An earlier Guam flag was flown from about 1917 and used until the late 1940s. After the war, the Guam legislature adopted the present design on 9 February 1948. The flag is credited to Helen Paul, who designed the artwork, and its present form has been used since. Since 1950 Guam has been an unincorporated, organized territory of the United States under the Organic Act, and its residents are US citizens. The Guam flag is flown beside the flag of the United States.

Guam and the United States

Guam is a territory of the United States, located in the western Pacific Ocean in the Mariana Islands. Its capital is Hagåtña. People living on Guam are US citizens but do not vote in presidential elections and elect a non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives. For that reason the island uses its own territorial flag, as do other territories such as Puerto Rico and American Samoa.