Flag of Saint Barthélemy

Which flag does Saint Barthélemy use?

Saint Barthélemy, known as St Barths or St Barth, is a French overseas collectivity in the Caribbean with about 10,000 residents. Its official flag is the French tricolor, which flies at public buildings.

The island also has a local flag with its coat of arms on a white field. It has no official status, since the French flag is the only flag officially flown there, but it is used on the island. It is the flag this page shows. The island belonged to Guadeloupe until 2007, and its neighbor Saint Martin is a separate French collectivity.

What the local flag looks like

The flag has a plain white field with the island's coat of arms in the middle. The arms show a shield with a mural crown above it, together with a bird and lettering. The shield is divided into three bands: three gold fleurs-de-lis on blue at the top, a white Maltese cross on red in the middle and three gold crowns on blue at the bottom. The blue, red, yellow and grey details come from the arms, and they are small against the large white field. For a digital version, see the Saint Barthélemy flag emoji.

Meaning and symbolism

The coat of arms recalls the island's layered history. The three bands of the shield refer to the powers that ruled the island: the fleurs-de-lis stand for the Kingdom of France, the Maltese cross for the Knights Hospitaller (the Order of Saint John), and the three crowns, taken from the Swedish arms, for Sweden, which governed the island from 1784 to 1878.

History of the flag and the island

French settlers arrived from Saint Kitts in 1648, encouraged by Philippe de Longvilliers de Poincy, a member of the Order of Saint John, and by 1674 the island was part of Guadeloupe. France traded the island to Sweden in 1784 in exchange for trading privileges in Gothenburg. Its main town, Gustavia, is named for the Swedish king Gustav III. Sweden sold the island back to France following a referendum in 1877, and the transfer took place in 1878.

The island's coat of arms dates from 1977, when a French directive required each municipality and territory to adopt its own symbol; it was designed by the heraldist Mirelle Louis. The island stayed part of Guadeloupe until 22 February 2007, when it became a separate overseas collectivity. The local flag, which shows these arms on white, has no formal status next to the tricolor.