The flag of Haiti is a Diminished Tricolor Flag

The flag of Haiti is that of one of the earliest ex-colonies of modern France.

Haiti was first visited by Europeans with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and is located in the Caribbean Sea.

Haiti is the western third of the island of Hispaniola.

The other two thirds of the island is the Dominican Republic. The island is east of Cuba.

The flag of Haiti has two equally sized horizontal bands with blue on the top and red on the bottom.

In the center is a square white block, which has the coat of arms of Haiti.

The coat of arms has a royal palm in the center topped with a red and blue cap of liberty.

There are also six blue and red flags and two smaller red banners on the sides. Many rifles with bayonettes, two yellow cannons and many cannonballs, a drum, an anchor, green grass complete the picture. A white banner shows the nations motto and reads "L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE," which mean "Union is Strength."

In 1803, the French were defeated in the battle of Vertiéres and a proclamation of independence was provided to Haiti in January 1804.

Dessalines, the General in Chief of the insurrection army took the French tricolor, eliminated its white strip to create the first flag of Haiti.

The coat of arms of Haiti was added in the center with a white square block background.

Later the vertical blue and red stripes were changed to horizontal banners.

Often the flag of Haiti is also shown as two horizontal banners of red and blue. And the white square with the coat of arms is sometimes much larger.

The people of Haiti take great pride in their flag.

They consider any offense to their flag of Haiti to be an offense to their country.

Flag Day in Haiti – a national holiday

They have a flag of Haiti day, which is a national holiday throughout the country and is a symbol of their national price and honor. Flag Day is May 18th. Flag Day is celebrated elaborately on the grounds of the national palace.

Haitians often sing their flag anthem during hoisting ceremonies.

This is true whether the flag of Haiti is hoisted at schools, barracks, or other public ceremonies. The flag of Haiti is closely linked to their history of struggle for freedom.

Concise History of the Flag of Haiti

The first known settlers on the island were Ciboneys.

They migrated from North America about 450 A.D.

The Tainos came from the Amazon valley in 900 A.D. These were peaceful farmers who lived in large villages.

The Caribs, who were cannibals arrived in the late 15th century and killed most of the men and enslaved the women of the villages.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed at what is currently Mole Saint Nicholas on the western tip of the northern peninsula.

Columbus loved the soil, the water, and the weather of the island.

The Tainos thought these men were coming from heaven to help them.

They carried timber to help repair the ships and to build the first European settlement called La Navidad or the Nativity.

The Spanish flag was the Royal Standard of Spain. It is a quartered banner of red and white. On the two red squares, a golden castle sits in the center of the square.

This is the emblem of the province of Castile. On the white squares is a lion, the emblem of the province of Leon.

The Spaniards enslaved the people and many died from exhaustion and disease between 1492 and 1550.

In 1630, French and the British buccaneers arrived on the island. They plundered any Spanish ship for treasures of the New World.

Spain ceded the island to France in 1697 and the French tricolor flag of red, white, and blue flew over the island.

The French developed farms and exported sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, cocoa, and ebony back to Europe. The labor that made this possible was slave labor.

Because of this long established presence of the French, and links to France that Haiti is a place one can learn French, practise speaking French and consolidate one’s French language skills.

The French revolution of 1789 did not get much attention from the French colonists.

The slaves were still slaves.

In 1791, a slave uprising destroyed sugarcane plantations and thousands of colonists were killed.

Believing that the French were again establishing slavery, the islanders defeated the French in battle in 1803.

They proclaimed the independence of the colony and gave the area back its native name of Haiti.

This was the first republic to cede from a European colonial power and be led by a person of African descent.

Haiti had been a colony of France since 1697.

The new flag of Haiti, now called the republic of Haiti was adopted in May 1803 and Haiti officially gained independence in January 1804.