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Northern Mariana Islands

Last modified: 2024-11-09 by ian macdonald
Keywords: northern mariana islands | oceania | cup | star | wreath | commonwealth ports authority |
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image by Jaume Ollé

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Change of the flag

It seems that the flag was changed some time in 1994 or early 1995. Gerard van der Vaart told me that Mr. Smith shows a color copy he obtained from the American factory which produces the flag for the Northern Marianas administration. In practice the flag is made by this factory in proportions 2:3 and 3:5. It seems that there was an intermediate version of the flag with a bit different wreath.
Željko Heimer, 8 March 1996

Dorling Kindersley Pocket Book says:

"The original flag was adopted in 1972, but has undergone several modifications, including the addition of the flower wreath."
Smith (1980) says "Officially adopted 31 March 1972" and shows the first design (without wreath).
Ivan Sache, 4 April 1999

The district adopted the flag on 31 March 1972; the territory adopted the flag on 4 July 1976 (same flag), and modified the design in 1981.
Jaume Ollé, 5 April 1999

Governor's Flag

The official flag of the Governor's Office is the CNMI (Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands) flag.
Jennifer E. Castro
Communications Manager, PIO
Office of the Governor
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
13 December 2003

Detail of the Seal

by Jaume Ollé

[Click on seal for larger image.]

The seal (which also appears on the flag) consists of three symbols: a white star representing the USA, a grey latte stone representing the Chamorro people and a multi-coloured floral wreath representing the Carolinians.
Christopher Southworth, 7 October 2024

Commonwealth Ports Authority

image by Jaume Olle, 13 September 2008

A photo shown on Flickr taken by “50storms” (Michiko Igarashi) on 11 Jun 2006 is captioned “In front of the Rota Airport. Top: flag of the USA Left: flag of Rota (I guess) Right: flag of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands”. The yellow flag bears a black-and-white seal in the centre.
Jan Mertens, 2 April 2008

I would say it is the flag of the Commonwealth Ports Authority, which runs Saipan Intl. Airport, Port of Saipan, Tinian Intl. Airport, Port of Tinian, Rota Intl. Airport, and Rota West Harbor. See its seal, obviously very similar to the one on the yellow flag of the picture, at http://www.cpa.gov.mp/ and especially, for a black and white picture of the seal, at http://www.cpa.gov.mp/rotarpt.asp.
Olivier Touzeau, 2 April 2008

The logo shows an airplane (modern small jet) and a ship (modern cargo) above and extending the same element as on the national flag (a cup?), depicted as on its previous version.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 May 2008

I visited Northern Mariana Commonwealth Ports Authority in Saipan Airport on Sep 12 2008. The supervisor says the official color is orange and the logo color is blue in white disc and the flag proportion is 1: 2. Due to tropical heavy rains and strong sunshine the flag easily loses orange color and it can look pale yellow.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 13 September 2008