The flag of the island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has a vertical tricolor design made up of a vertical blue band on the hoist side, followed by a wide double-width gold band in the middle and then a green band on the far end side. At the center of the gold band is a set of three diamonds arranged in a “V”, indicative of the first letter of the country’s name. The new flag was officially adopted on October 12, 1985.
The blue color is symbolic of the Caribbean tropical clear sky and crystal clear waters. The yellow of the flags represents sunshine, although it may also signify personal warmth. Lastly, green represents the wide-spread lush vegetation cover. The v-shaped diamonds, also known as the “gems”, represent the three Grenadines Islands as the jewels of the Antilles.
After winning the elections in June 1984, Prime Mister James Mitchell and his New Democratic Party found the old flag inappropriate and commissioned the creation of a new flag for St Vincent. Later on, after the local competition failed to produce a satisfactory design, the puzzle was passed on to Julien van der Wal, a meticulous Swiss graphic artist and author of some great design work including the flag of the Canton of Geneva. Julien created a new version by omitting the white fimbriations on the old flag, thus leaving only the simple blue-yellow-green distinct bands and besides replacing the breadfruit in the center with three V-shaped green diamonds.
In October 1969, when St. Vincent became an Associate state, the first tricolor flag with green, yellow and blue with a white diamond in the center was granted in 1967. However, this flag was never used, and instead, the British Blue Ensign flag with a circular badge (coat of arms based on the Seal of The Colony) continued to be used until October 27, 1979 when the island attained independence. At independence, the flag retained the tricolor design of blue, yellow, and green, but swapped the white diamond at the center with a breadfruit leaf. The current flag came into existence after the opposition won in 1985 elections.
This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018
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