Born in 1803, when the Haitian rebels tore the white stripe off the French flag and sewed the blue and the red ones together.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field —the field is the cloth of the flag— with a 3:5 ratio, divided in half into two horizontal stripes: blue on top and red below. In the centre, a white rectangle carries the coat of arms of the country.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
In 1791 a great rebellion broke out which ended up becoming a war of independence
According to tradition, on 18 May 1803
On 1 January 1804 Haiti declared its independence
After Dessalines’ death in 1806 the blue and red come back
Except for a break in the mid-19th century, it lasts until 1964
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Haiti has two horizontal stripes, blue on top and red below, and in the centre a white rectangle with the coat of arms of the country. It is the flag of the first republic founded by former slaves, and it was born from a very clear gesture: to break the flag of the country that had enslaved them.
In the late 18th century Haiti was Saint-Domingue, the richest colony of France, worked by hundreds of thousands of African slaves. In 1791 a great rebellion broke out which ended up becoming a war of independence.
According to tradition, on 18 May 1803, at a congress of the rebel leaders in Arcahaie, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines took a French flag, the one with blue, white and red stripes, and tore off the white stripe. A young seamstress, Catherine Flon, sewed the two that were left together. On 1 January 1804 Haiti declared its independence.
The flag has changed colours and layout several times, depending on who governed the country.
1803-1804
The first flags have the stripes vertical and, sometimes, the motto ‘Liberty or death’.
1804-1806
Dessalines proclaims himself emperor and changes the blue for black, with vertical stripes.
1820-1964
After Dessalines’ death in 1806 the blue and red come back, now horizontal and with the coat of arms in the centre. Except for a break in the mid-19th century, it lasts until 1964.
1964-1986
The dictator François Duvalier brings back Dessalines’s black and red flag.
1986
Ten days after the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier, son of the previous one, the blue and red flag comes back.
The colours tell who made the independence:
Blue
the black population.
Red
the mulattoes, people with African and European ancestors. Together, blue and red represent the union of the two groups against France.
White torn off
the departure of the French colonists.
Coat of arms
a royal palm, the tree typical of the island, crowned with the red cap of liberty, over cannons, rifles and flags.
Motto
L’union fait la force, ‘union makes strength’.
At the 1936 Olympic Games it was discovered that the flag of Liechtenstein was identical to the Haitian one without the coat of arms. The following year Liechtenstein added a crown to set itself apart.
Every 18 May Haiti celebrates Flag Day, in memory of the congress of Arcahaie. Catherine Flon, the seamstress, is one of the symbols of the independence.
The coat of arms in the centre carries several Haitian flags next to cannons and rifles. It is one of the few national flags that depict themselves.
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Where it is and what borders it.
Test what you have read about the flag of Haiti.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Haití” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: (colours and size changes of the now deleted versions) Madden, Vzb83, Denelson83, Chanheigeorge, Zscout370 and Nightstallion Coat of arms :Lokal_Profil and Myriam Thyes, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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