Flag of Vanuatu

What the flag of Vanuatu looks like

The national flag of Vanuatu has a ratio of 3:5 and is split horizontally into a red band on top and a green band below. At the hoist is a black isosceles triangle. A yellow horizontal Y-shaped band, edged around the black triangle, has its two arms starting at the upper and lower hoist corners and meeting along the border between the red and green fields, from where a single stripe continues toward the fly. Its shape is said to reflect the layout of the island chain.

Inside the black triangle is a yellow emblem: a curved boar's tusk, and across it two crossed leaves of the namele fern. The flag therefore uses four colors, green, red, black and yellow, and the emblem is the only picture on it.

Vanuatu flag meaning and symbolism

The colors are explained in the following way. Red is often said to represent the blood of men and boars, which are important in traditional ceremonies. Green stands for the richness of the islands' land. Black refers to the Melanesian people of Vanuatu (the ni-Vanuatu), and yellow stands for the light of the Gospel, a nod to the Christian faith of most people in the country.

The Y shape is often said to look like the islands spread across the Pacific in a Y pattern. The boar's tusk has long been a sign of wealth and prestige in many of the islands. Pigs with curled tusks are traditionally prized, and tusks are worn as pendants. The namele fern leaves stand for peace and are used in rituals. There is no Bible on the flag: that question is sometimes asked in error, and the Dominican Republic is the country that places a Bible on its flag.

History of the Vanuatu flag

Vanuatu was called the New Hebrides during the colonial period and was ruled jointly by Britain and France from 1906 as a condominium, one of the few of its kind. Both countries flew their own flags, and the territory had a flag that combined the two. As independence neared, the Vanua'aku Pati, the leading independence party, held a competition for a new national flag. The winning design was created by a local artist, and was adopted in early 1980, a few months before independence on 30 July 1980.

The flag has not changed since. Vanuatu is a member of the Commonwealth and the Francophonie, and its official languages are Bislama, English and French. The flag is flown across the country on Independence Day, a national holiday.

You can also see the flag as an emoji on the Vanuatu flag emoji page, and find other national flags in the Oceania list.