Barbados Flag

How to identify it

Blue, gold and blue vertical bands with a black trident head in the centre. The lower shaft is deliberately absent.

Design and construction

Proportions

2:3

Adoption and legal status

Designed by Grantley W. Prescod, selected from over 1,000 entries in a national competition, and raised at midnight on 30 November 1966, the moment of independence from the United Kingdom.

Construction

A vertical triband of ultramarine, gold and ultramarine, with a black trident head, missing its shaft, centred on the gold band.

Officially documented meaning

The ultramarine bands stand for the sea and sky, and the gold for the island's sandy beaches. The trident head is broken from the full trident of Poseidon/Britannia shown on the pre-independence colonial badge, symbolising the break from colonial rule; the three prongs are also popularly said to stand for government of, for and by the people.

Sources