A brief overview of the meaning, history, and key facts about the national flag of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Flag of the United Arab Emirates
The national flag of the United Arab Emirates consists of a vertical red stripe at the hoist and three horizontal stripes of green, white, and black. The colors are inspired by a verse by the poet Safi-u-ddin Al Hali, in which white symbolizes noble deeds, green represents the plains, black reflects the dark battles, and red symbolizes the swords used to defend the nation.
Printable United Arab Emirates Flag (PNG Download)
Interesting facts about the United Arab Emirates flag
1. The flag of the United Arab Emirates was first raised on 2 December 1971, the day the UAE federation was officially formed.
2. The design was created by Abdulla Mohammed Al Ma’enah, who won a national competition to design the new flag. Around 1,030 designs were submitted to the competition, with only six shortlisted before the final design was selected.
3. The colors of the UAE flag are known as the pan-Arab colors, which also appear on the flags of several other Arab countries.
4. The four colors of the UAE flag are arranged in a shape that resembles the letter “E,” with red forming the vertical section and green, white, and black forming the horizontal stripes.
5. The first person to raise the UAE flag was Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates.
Explore more about the United Arab Emirates:
Facts about the United Arab Emirates
History of the United Arab Emirates flag
Formation of the federation
In 1820 several emirates of the region signed the General Maritime Treaty with Britain, which placed them under British protection. A white segment was added to each emirate’s flag.
In the late 1960s, Britain decided to withdraw its military protection from the region, ending the treaty relationships that had governed the emirates for more than a century.
As the new country prepared for independence, a national flag was needed to represent the union of the federation.
Creation of the national flag
In 1971 a nationwide competition was announced in the Al Ittihad newspaper inviting designs for a national flag. About 1,030 designs were submitted.
The winning design was created by Abdulla Mohammed Al Ma’enah, who was only 19 years old at the time.
On 2 December 1971, the day the United Arab Emirates was founded, the flag was raised for the first time by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the country’s founding president.
Adoption across the emirates
All seven emirates use the federal UAE flag interchangeably as the flag of the emirate, although most of them also maintain their own separate flags.
Explore more: Asian flags.
Caitriona Maria is an education writer and owner of The Facts Institute. With seven years of teaching experience and a background in educational content, she specialises in creating clear reference resources about countries, geography and global topics.