Flag of Barbados

What the flag of Barbados looks like

The national flag of Barbados is a vertical triband of equal bands: ultramarine blue at the hoist, gold in the middle and ultramarine blue at the fly. The proportions are 2:3. In the center of the gold band is a black trident head, drawn without its shaft. Only the three-pointed head is shown, which gives the symbol its common name, the "broken trident".

The trident takes up only a small part of the gold band, so from a distance the flag looks like blue and gold stripes with a dark mark in the middle. Black is used only for the trident, so it covers a small share of the flag. Barbados is an island nation in the eastern Caribbean, and its capital is Bridgetown.

The same design is shown in the Barbados flag emoji, and flag images are available on the Barbados flag download page.

Barbados flag meaning and symbolism

The usual explanation of the colors is simple and tied to the island:

• Ultramarine blue stands for the ocean and the sky.
• Gold stands for the sand of the island's beaches.

The trident has more than one reading. It was taken from the colonial badge of Barbados, which showed Britannia holding a trident, so removing the shaft is read as a sign of Barbados breaking free from British rule at independence. The three points are also said to stand for the three principles of democracy: government of the people, by the people and for the people.

The lack of a shaft is therefore the main idea of the whole design, and it explains why people search for the "broken trident meaning". Some sources read both blue stripes as the ocean, but the link between the missing shaft and independence is the one most commonly given.

History of the Barbados flag

Barbados was a British colony from the 1620s until 30 November 1966, when it became independent. Before independence, the island used the British blue ensign with the colonial seal from 1885, the same format as many other British territories. From 1958 to 1962 it was part of the West Indies Federation, which had its own flag.

The independence flag was chosen through a national competition in 1966. The contest drew over a thousand entries, and the winning design was by Grantley W. Prescod, an art teacher. His entry used the blue and gold of the island with the trident from the colonial badge, but without the shaft. The flag came into effect at midnight on 30 November 1966, the day of independence, and was first raised by Lieutenant Hartley Dottin of the Barbados Regiment.

Barbados later changed its constitutional status, becoming a republic on 30 November 2021 and removing the British monarch as head of state. The flag was not changed. It has kept the same design since 1966, and it is flown on Independence Day each year, which is a public holiday.

Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda: do not confuse the flags

Searches for "antigua and barbados flag" are common, but the two countries have different flags. Antigua and Barbuda uses a red field with a black, blue and white triangle and a rising yellow sun. The Barbados flag has no red and no sun. The name "Barbados" is thought to come from the Portuguese os barbados, "the bearded ones", possibly a reference to the island's bearded fig trees. Antigua and Barbuda is a separate state farther to the north.