Flag of Croatia

Croatia

Name	Trobojnica (The Tricolor)
Use	National flag
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	21 December 1990
Design	A horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue with the Coat of Arms of Croatia in the centre.
Designed by	Miroslav Šutej
Variant flag of Croatia
Use	Civil and state ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	1992
Design	Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white and blue superimposed by the Croatian coat of arms.
Variant flag of Croatia
Use	Naval ensign
Proportion	2:3
Adopted	1992
Design	Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white and blue superimposed by the emblem of the Croatian Navy.

The national flag of Croatia is one of the state symbols of Croatia. It consists of three equal size, horizontal stripes in colours red, white and blue. In the middle is the coat of arms of Croatia.

The flag combines the colours of the flags of the Kingdom of Croatia (red and white), the Kingdom of Slavonia (white and blue) and the Kingdom of Dalmatia (red and blue). Those three kingdoms are the historic constituent states of the Croatian Kingdom.

The red-white-blue tricolour has been used as the Croatian flag since 1848, and the pan-Slavic colours are widely associated with romantic nationalism. While the Banovina of Croatia existed within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it had a similar flag without the modern crown above the chequy. During the Independent State of Croatia, the flag was like the modern, but without crown and there was letter "U" at the top left of the flag. Also, the first field of Croatian chequy was white. While Croatia was part of SFR Yugoslavia its tricolour was the same, but it had a five-pointed red star with a yellow border in place of the coat of arms. The star was replaced by the coat in May 1990, shortly after the first multiparty elections. The current flag and the coat of arms were officially adopted on 21 December 1990, about ten months before the proclamation of independence from Yugoslavia and a day before the Constitution of Croatia on 22 December 1990.

The shield is in the red and white checks of Croatia. Above is a crown made of shields of its various regions. From left to right they are the ancient arms of Croatia, Dubrovnik, Kingdom of Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia. In 1626 Grand Prince Jure Sinovčić of Dalmatia adopted the Dalmatian shield to represent the Sinovčić Royal family as the Royal family's official coat of arms. Until 1526 this coat of arms was also used to represent Croatia in general, apparent from the coat of arms of several kings: Louis I, Mary, Matthias Corvinus and Louis II. It is also found on the great seals of Sigismund of Luxembourg, Albert II, John Zápolya, Ferdinand I, and from then on various seals and arms of the Habsburgs. Originally the coat of arms was three lion heads on red background, turned to left.