Nauru Flag

Description

Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia, a subregion of Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 km (190 mi) to the east. It further lies northwest of Tuvalu, 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast of the Solomon Islands, east-northeast of Papua New Guinea, southeast of the Federated States of Micronesia and south of the Marshall Islands. With only a 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi) area, Nauru is the third-smallest country in the world behind the Vatican City, and Monaco, making it the smallest state in the South Pacific Ocean, the smallest state outside Europe, the smallest island state, and the smallest republic. Additionally, its population of 10,670 is the world’s third smallest, after Vatican City and Tuvalu.

Following the independence of Nauru, the flag of Nauru was raised for the first time. The flag, chosen in a local design competition, was adopted on Independence Day, 31 January 1968. The flag displays the geographical location of the island nation. The narrow gold stripe of the flag represents the Equator. The stripe along with the star signifies the location of the island in the Pacific Ocean just south of the Equator. The separation of the blue flag cloth into two equal parts recalls the saga, that the first inhabitants were to have been brought to Earth from two boulders. The twelve points on the star represent the island’s twelve original tribes. The following twelve tribes are Eamwit, Eamwitmwit, Ranibok, Irutsi, Iruwa, Eamwidara, Eaoru, Emangum, Deiboe, Eano, Emea and Iwi. Blue signifies the Pacific Ocean while white, the colour of the star, represents the phosphate which was a major natural resource of the island nation.