Oceania

Flag of the Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands is an archipelago of nearly 1,000 islands in the southwestern Pacific and was the site of some of the Pacific War's most strategically significant battles during World War II, particularly the Guadalcanal campaign of 1942-43. The islands have extraordinary marine biodiversity with some of the healthiest coral reefs in the Pacific. The Solomon Islands gained independence from Britain in 1978.

CapitalHoniara
RegionOceania
Current flag since1977
Main coloursBlue, Green, Yellow, White
Populationabout 720,000
Areaabout 29,000 km²
GeographyIsland nation
Flags in history2

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of the Solomon Islands means

Blue stands for the water and green for the land, and the thin yellow diagonal for sunshine. The five white stars originally stood for the five districts of the islands when the flag was adopted in 1977, the year before independence from Britain.

More about the flag

The Solomon Islands flag was chosen in 1977 from local entries, the year before independence from Britain on 7 July 1978. Before that the protectorate used a British Blue Ensign with a colonial badge. The five stars kept their place even though the country is now divided into nine provinces and a capital territory. The capital, Honiara, is on Guadalcanal.

How to recognise it

Diagonal blue-green split with a yellow stripe and five white stars on the blue section.

Did you know?

The Solomon Islands was the site of some of the fiercest naval battles of World War II.

Easily confused with

The Solomon Islands' flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

Nigeria

Papua New Guinea

Flag history of the Solomon Islands

Every flag that has flown over the Solomon Islands, from today back through time.

1977–present

Flag of the Solomon Islands

Adopted just before independence in 1977: a yellow diagonal stripe separates a blue triangle (sea and sky) from a green one (land), with five white stars for the island groups. One flag, never changed.