Flag of Finland

Finland

Name	National flag
Use	Civil flag and ensign
Proportion	11:18
Adopted	1918
Design	Sea-blue Nordic cross on white field
Variant flag of Finland
Name	The State flag
Use	State flag and ensign
Proportion	11:18
Adopted	1978
Design	Sea-blue Nordic cross on white field, rectangular Coat of Arms of Finland (colors gold and silver on red)
Variant flag of Finland
Name	The flag of the Defence Forces
Use	War flag and naval ensign
Proportion	11:19
Adopted	1978
Design	Sea-blue Nordic cross on white field, rectangular Coat of Arms of Finland (colors gold and silver on red), swallow-tailed
Variant flag of Finland
Name	The flag of the President of the Republic of Finland
Proportion	11:19
Adopted	1978
Design	Sea-blue Nordic cross on white field, rectangular Coat of Arms of Finland (colors gold and silver on red), swallow-tailed, Cross of Liberty in canton (colors gold on blue)

The flag of Finland (Finnish: Suomen lippu, Swedish: Finlands flagga), also called siniristilippu ("Blue Cross Flag"), dates from the beginning of the 20th century. On a white background, it features a blue Nordic cross, which represents Christianity.

The state flag has a coat of arms in the centre, but is otherwise identical to the civil flag. The swallow-tailed state flag is used by the military. The presidential standard is identical to the swallow-tailed state flag but also has in its upper left corner the Cross of Liberty after the Order of the Cross of Liberty, which has the President of Finland as its Grand Master. Like Sweden's, Finland's national flag is based on the Scandinavian cross. It was adopted after independence from Russia, when many patriotic Finns wanted a special flag for their country, but its design dates back to the 19th century. The blue coloring is said to represent the country's thousands of lakes and the sky, with white for the snow that covers the land in winter. This color combination has also been used over the centuries in various Finnish provincial, military, and town flags.

The first known "Flag of Finland" was presented in 1848, along with the national anthem Maamme. Its motif was the coat of arms of Finland, surrounded by laurel leaves, on a white flag.

The current blue-crossed design was first used in Finland by Nyländska Jaktklubben, a yacht club founded in Helsinki in 1861. In addition to the blue cross on the white background, the yacht club flag had the crowned arms of the province of Uusimaa within two crossed branches in the upper hoist quarter. Except for the position of the cross, the flag was similar to the flag of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, founded the previous year. The design can be traced to the Russian Navy ensign, which has a blue cross saltire on a white background. During the Crimean War, Finnish merchant ships captured by the British-French fleet flew a flag called Flag of St. George, which was based on the Russian Customs flag. In this variant, the cross was thinner than in the modern flag, and the proportions were equal. Another blue-cross flag was made official in 1861 for private vessels.