Flag of Haiti

The flag of Haiti is a bicolour flag featuring two horizontal bands coloured blue over red, defaced by a white panel bearing the coat of arms.

The coat of arms depicts a trophy of weapons ready to defend freedom and a royal palm for independence. The palm is topped by the Cap of Liberty.

The motto is on a white scroll reading L'Union Fait La Force ("Unity Makes Strength.")

Present design

The present design was first used by the Republic of Haiti under President Alexandre Pétion in 1806. It was readopted by Article 3 of the current Constitution of Haiti on February 25, 2012, and made square as part of its readoption.

In its semi-official English translation, Article 3 reads:

Omitted from the English translation is section b of the French original: Au centre, sur un carré d'étoffe blanche, sont disposées les Armes de la République ("In the center, on a square of white cloth, are placed the Coat of Arms of the Republic.")

The civil flag and ensign lacks the coat of arms.

History

The first purely Haitian flag was adopted on May 18, 1803, on the last day of the Congress of Arcahaie, about fifty miles north of Port-au-Prince. Haitian lore holds that the newly appointed revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines created the flag by taking a French tricolor and ripping out the white center, which he discarded. He then asked Catherine Flon, his god-daughter, to sew the remaining bands together. The white pale removed, the blue was taken to represent Haiti's black citizens and the red the gens de couleur. The story is widely known in Haiti: the anniversary of the date is celebrated as the Haitian Flag Day and images of Catherine Flon have appeared on Haitian currency and stamps.

Haiti

Coordinates: 19°00′N 72°25′W / 19.000°N 72.417°W / 19.000; -72.417

Haiti (ⁱ/ˈheɪti/; French: Haïti [a.iti]; Haitian Creole: Ayiti [ajiti]), officially the Republic of Haiti (French: République d'Haïti; Haitian Creole: Repiblik Ayiti), is a country in the western hemisphere, and is located on the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) in size and has an estimated 10.6 million people, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the third-most populous country in the Caribbean as a whole.

Originally inhabited by the indigenous Taíno people, Europeans first became aware of the island on December 5, 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic. When Columbus first landed in Haiti, he had thought he had found India or Asia. Deciding to establish the first settlement in the area, a contingent of men were left at an outpost christened La Navidad because of the wreck to their sunken flagship, the Santa Maria, that occurred at Christmas, north of what is now Limonade. The island was named Hispaniola and claimed by Spain, which ruled until the early 17th century. Competing claims and settlements by the French led to the western portion of the island being ceded to France, which named it Saint-Domingue. The development of sugarcane plantations, worked by slaves brought from Africa, led to the colony being among the most lucrative in the world.

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design that is used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or as decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have since evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging (such as the maritime environment where semaphore is used). National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for other decorative purposes. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin word vexillum, meaning flag or banner.

Due to the use of flags by military units, "flag" is also used as the name of some military units. A flag (Arabic: لواء) is equivalent to a brigade in Arab countries, and in Spain, a flag (Spanish: bandera) is a battalion-equivalent in the Spanish Legion.