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The flag of Dominica

The flag of Dominica
A green field with a centred cross of three stripes — yellow, black and white — and a red disc at the centre bearing a purple sisserou parrot ringed by ten green stars.
Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1990

Dominica is the only country with purple on its national flag, and the purple is there for a strictly ornithological reason — the sisserou, or imperial amazon, has purple plumage and lives nowhere else on earth. The bird has been redrawn three times since 1978, most recently in 1990, and once briefly faced the wrong way, which was corrected in 1988. The flag is easily confused with nothing at all, which is unusual for a Caribbean flag. Fewer than 250 sisserou are thought to survive in the wild.

What the colours mean

  • Green #006B3F The island's forests
  • Yellow #FCD116 Sunshine, citrus and bananas, and the Kalinago people
  • Black #000000 The rich soil, and African heritage
  • White #FFFFFF Clear rivers and waterfalls, and purity of aspiration
  • Red #D41C30 Social justice
  • Purple #9C4E97 The sisserou parrot's plumage

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

The symbols on it

What What it stands for
Sisserou parrot Dominica's national bird, endemic and endangered; it appears on no other flag
Ten stars The ten parishes
Ratio
1:2
Current design adopted
1990
Colours
green, yellow, black, white, red, purple

Common questions

What does the flag of Dominica look like?
A green field with a centred cross of three stripes — yellow, black and white — and a red disc at the centre bearing a purple sisserou parrot ringed by ten green stars.
What do the colours of the Dominica flag mean?
Green: the island's forests. Yellow: sunshine, citrus and bananas, and the Kalinago people. Black: the rich soil, and African heritage. White: clear rivers and waterfalls, and purity of aspiration. Red: social justice. Purple: the sisserou parrot's plumage.
When was the Dominica flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1990, and its official ratio is 1:2.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))

How these figures are compiled and checked