Flag of the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

Name	Flag of the Falkland Islands
Use	Civil and state flag, state ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	25 January 1999 (1999-01-25)
Design	Blue Ensign with the coat-of-arms of the Falkland Islands in the fly.
Variant flag of the Falkland Islands
Name	Civil Ensign of the Falkland Islands
Use	Civil ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	25 January 1999 (1999-01-25)
Design	Red Ensign with the coat-of-arms of the Falkland Islands in the fly.
Variant flag of the Falkland Islands
Name	Flag of the Governor of the Falkland Islands
Use	Other
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	29 September 1948 (1948-09-29)
Design	A Union Flag defaced with the coat-of-arms of the Falkland Islands.

The current flag of the Falkland Islands was adopted on 25 January 1999 and consists of a defaced Blue Ensign, with the Union Flag in the canton and the Falkland Islands coat-of-arms in the fly.

The Falkland Islands have been claimed and occupied by several nations throughout its history, who generally used their national flags on the islands. It wasn't until 1876 that the islands were given a flag of their own, which consisted of a Blue Ensign defaced with the seal of the islands - an image of HMS Hebe (which brought many of the early British settlers to the islands, including Richard Moody, in the 1840s) in Falkland Sound, overlooked by a bullock (representing wild cattle which once roamed the islands). A new coat-of-arms for the islands was introduced on 16 October 1925, consisting of the Desire (which was captained by John Davis who is reputed to have discovered the islands in 1592) and a sea lion in a shield surrounded by the motto of the islands, Desire the Right. This coat-of-arms later replaced the image of the bullock and ship on the flag.

On 29 September 1948 the flag was updated to include the new coat-of-arms (a ram above the Desire on shield with the motto below) superimposed upon a white disc. The flag was banned by the Argentine military junta from 2 April-14 June 1982, during their occupation of the islands, when it was replaced by the flag of Argentina.