Last modified: 2024-12-21 by rob raeside
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![[Flag of Greenland]](../images/g/gl.gif)
image by Zoltan Horvath, 6 June 2024
Official Name: Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat)
Capital: Nuuk (Godthab)
Flag adopted: 21
June 1985
Designer: Thue Christiansen
Coat of arms adopted: 1 May 1989
See also:
The flag of Greenland, or Kalaallit Nunaat, celebrated its 10 anniversary in June 10, 1995. For this occasion, the Greenland Post Office, issued some stamps and a brochure explaining the flag. The text in the brochure is written by Thue Christiansen, the flag's designer. Christiansen makes some remarks about the natural features of Greenland, and then goes on to account for the symbolism of the flag:
"the large white part in the flag symbolises the ice cap and our fjords are represented by the red part in the circle. The white part of the circle symbolises the ice bergs and the pack ice, and the large red part in the flag represents the ocean."
In other interpretations the circle is seen as representing
the rising and setting sun.
Jan Oskar Engene, 18 October 1995
As for the design, the following specifications are given in the brochure (mentioned above):
"The flag is 12 parts by 18, the white and red stripe are both 6 parts. The centre of the circle is set 7 parts from the hoist along the dividing line between the white and red, the radius being 4 parts. The upper part of the circle is red, the lower white."
Jan Oskar Engene, 18 October 1995
I found something that is very different from what we have. Source:
http://www.erfalasorput.gl/erfalasorput-ima-atorneqartariaqarpoq-2.html#4
and it has the construction sheet as follows (in Greenlandic):
Kalaallit Nunaata erfalasuata pisortatigoortumik nassuiarneqarnera imaappoq:
Kalaallit erfalasuat sanimut takinermigut qitermigut qaqortumik
aappaluttumillu avitaavoq. Qitermigullu erfalasulerfimmut qaninnerusumik
paarlaattunik qalipaatilimmik ammalortortaqarluni. Ammalortup qiterpiaaniit
erfalasup qummut ammullu killingata annertussusia 1,5 radiusiuvoq radius tassa ammallorissup silliata affaa erfalasup erfalasulerfimmut
qaninnerata sinaanut 1,75 radiusiulluni kiisalu erfalasup avammut naaneranut
2,7025 radiusiulluni.
An image with these specifications can be seen at
http://www.erfalasorput.gl/files/images/erfalasoq.png
I am not sure where this website cites the specifications, but it seems to me
this is a flag association since it contains other things related to the flag,
such as songs and poems dedicated to it.
The sun is the same, so is the bi-color, but it seems the proportions were
shorter than 2:3.
Zachary Harden, 27 February 2011
The flag specs given at this website (all be them somewhat more complex)
produce the same flag as we show, and the specs quoted by Jan Oskar are in exact
accord with those issued by Ministry of Greenland Order No. 305 dated 24 June
1985 some ten years earlier.
The flag should be a horizontal bi-colour in proportions of 2:3, with the disk
at 2:3 of flag height centred at a point 7/18 from the hoist.
Flag is pictured in 2:3 with the disk correctly placed , but there is obviously
a mistake in the figures since they add up to a ridiculous ratio of 3000:44525
and that they should (in fact) be 2,75 plus 1.75 - although why on earth not
show them the other way around with 1.75 to the start of the disk?)
Christopher Southworth, 28 February 2011
Interestingly, the text (at least, the numbers in the text) don't refer to
any extremity of the disc, but to the centre, as you might expect. They do still
refer to a 2:3 flag with a bit shaved off the fly, though.
The specific flag sizes listed later on the page are also all just less than
2:3, more or less similar to the 1200:1781 given in the construction sheet. The
sizes given are:
96x142cm (for a 4.8m flagpole)
108x160cm (5.4m)
120x178cm (6m)
132x196cm (6,6m)
144x214cm (7.2m)
156x232cm (7.8m)
168x250cm (8.4m)
180x268cm (9m)
Jonathan Dixon, 28 February 2011
The Norden website had a page about Greenlandic flag with color specification
in three color systems:
http://www.norden.org/en/the-nordic-region/the-nordic-flags/greenlands-flag
(Pantone 032c)
Other sources for colors:
The Olympic Flag Manuals
are not relevant in case of Greenland, because it is not member of IOC.
The Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00] gives
approximate color in Pantone and CMYK systems:
Red: Pantone 032c, CMYK
0-90-90-0
The Album des Pavillons 2023 already specifies the colors of
the flags in three color systems.
Red: Pantone 032c, CMYK 0-89-68-0, RGB
239-51-64
Vexilla Mundi gives colors in Pantone
system: PMS White, and PMS 185C (red).
Wikipedia doesn t give color
specification, but states that the colours of the flag are the same as those of
the flag of Denmark. (it would be Pantone 186C)
Flag Color Codes gives the following color values:
Red: Hex. # D00C33, RGB 208-12-51, CMYK 0-94-76-18, Pantone 186c, RAL 3028
White: Hex. # FFFFFF, RGB 255-255-255, CMYK 0-0-0-0, Pantone N/A, RAL N/A
Zoltan Horvath, 6 June 2024
The flag is called Erfalasorput (meaning 'our flag'), but is also called Aappalaaroq - 'the red'. This term also used to be applied to the Danish flag. In Thue Christiansen's words:
"The colours are the same as 'Dannebrog' (the Danish national flag) and thus we can also continue to call our flag Aappalaartoq, 'the red'."
This was probably the reason why the design won over the
proposed green and white Scandinavian cross design.
Jan Oskar Engene, 18 October 1995
The first serious proposal for a Greenland flag came in 1973
when five people suggested that green-white-blue flag might be
appropriate.
This inspired other people to put forward their own designs, and
in 1974 a Greenland paper published 11 proposals. All except one
was a Scandinavian cross design. However, in a vote organized by
the paper, Dannebrog was still the most favoured flag.
The Home Rule government organized a design contest in 1980. 555
proposals were sent in, 293 of them from Greenland. The
Government was unable to agree on a design, and later invited
artists to submit more designs. In the final decision, the red
and white flag with the circle won over the green and white flag
proposed by Achen (by 14 votes to 11).
Several people were dissatisfied with the decision not to adopt a
Scandinavian cross flag. However, the flag now seems to have been
accepted and appreciated.
Jan Oskar Engene, 10 March 1996
On 1 May 2010, Greenland issued a 7 DKK stamp to celebrate the Greenland flag
had been adopted 25 years earlier. The stamp was designed by Thue Christiansen,
the same artist who originally designed the flag itself. It probably doesn't
come as a surprise that it shows the flag:
http://www.telepost.gl/kl-gl/presse/pressemeddelelser/2010/sider/270410.aspx
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 27 February 2011
If you want to read a detailed account of the flag of
Greenland, this is the article to look for:
Inge Kleivan: 'The creation of Greenland's new national symbol:
the flag', in: Folk: Journal of the Danish Ethnographic
Society, Vol. 30, 1988, pp. 32-56 (published annually in
Copenhagen) [kLe88].
Jan Oskar Engene, 18 October 1995
There is a story about the origin of Greenland's name. The
first settler in Greenland, Erik the Red, is reported in old
Icelandic sagas to have named the new country Greenland to
attract other settlers there. Some historians, anyway, have
claimed that due to climatic changes, weather in Greenland in
the Middle Ages might have been much warmer than nowadays.
Ivan Sache, 3 September 2001
When Norwegian whalers settled on the east coast of Greenland
80-100 years ago, didn't they first call it New Sunnmore and
adopted a flag inspired by the Norwegian flag?
from the message board, 30 January 2000
"Eirik Raudes land," was the name given to Norwegian
occupied East Greenland (occupation was made formal by the
Norwegian government in 1931 shortly after the land was taken in
possession for Norway by private persons). No flag was adopted.
The case was brought to the International Court of Justice which
ruled in favour of Denmark. The Norwegian government accepted
this decision and the governor went home.
Jan Oskar Engene, 31 January 2000
From BBC News:
A government vowing to press for greater independence from
Denmark has been formed in Greenland, following elections last
week.
The two governing parties are the left-leaning Siumut party and
Inuit Atagatigiit (Inuit Brotherhood) who between them hold 18
out of 31 seats in the parliament.
Greenland has been semi-autonomous since 1979, but Denmark
remains in charge of foreign and defence policy for the 56,000
islanders.
The new government has adopted a 26-point programme, which
pledges to push for greater autonomy in foreign affairs, and to
hold a referendum on full independence in 2005.
Jan Zrzavy, 9 December 2002
