Introduction
The flag of Tristan da Cunha is a British Blue Ensign with the island arms in the fly: a shield carrying four albatrosses, supported by two Tristan rock lobsters, with a Naval crown and a longboat as the crest.
Meaning & Symbolism
The rock lobster is the economy. Crayfish licensing and export is essentially the whole income of the island, so it holds up the shield.
The albatrosses are the seabirds that nest on the group, and the longboat is how islanders moved between the islands and out to ships before modern craft. The motto reads Our faith is our strength.
History of the Tristan da Cunha Flag
The arms were granted in 2002. Before that Tristan used the flag of Saint Helena, of which it is a dependency.
It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, about 2,400 kilometres from Saint Helena and 2,800 from South Africa, with fewer than 250 people, all in a single settlement whose full name is Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. In 1961 a volcanic eruption forced the entire population to evacuate to England; almost all of them chose to return two years later.
Curiosities
- It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, some 2,400 kilometres from Saint Helena.
- The lobsters hold up the shield because crayfish exports are essentially the entire island economy.
- The only settlement is called Edinburgh of the Seven Seas.
- In 1961 a volcano forced everyone to evacuate to England, and nearly all of them chose to go back in 1963.
- Before 2002 the island flew the flag of Saint Helena, having no arms of its own.
Download Flag
Download the flag of Tristan da Cunha in high-quality SVG vector format or PNG raster images. SVG files can be scaled to any size without losing quality.
Digital icon artwork; its proportions may differ from the official flag proportions listed on this page.