Iceland

The National Flag of Iceland

Íslenski fáninn

The first flag in use in Iceland was seen in 1897, a copy of the Danish flag, but with blue, rather than red. Denmark was the colonial power at the time, controlling Iceland.

Finally in 1904, Iceland's limited home-rule constitution was expanded by the Danish government, and the government adopted its current flag by taking the republican flag of blue with a white cross, and inserting a red cross within the white. Almost copying the Norway flag and its move from independence from Denmark by inserting a blue cross in its Denmark-inspired flag.  This new Icelandic flag began to be seen in 1915, and adopted formally in 1918 when Denmark finally granted Iceland its independence in 1918. 

The Icelandic government also brought in a new state flag, the Tjúgufáni, which is a swallow-tail version of the Icelandic flag.  

The next change came in 1944. Once the Act of Union agreement with Denmark expired, Iceland went to a referendum to decide on whether to keep the Danish king as the head of state, or move on towards being a republic. The referendum lasted 4 days, and by the end, the vote was unanimous. Iceland became a republic.

On June 17 1944, Iceland enacted a new law dealing with the flag. The flag was altered to a darker shade of blue.As well as setting up various official flag days, such as independence day. The flags colours are seen by the Icelandic people as representative of their country. The blue stands for the Atlantic ocean surrounding their island, the white represents the snow and ice, and the red represents the fire from the volcanoes that dominate the island.