Flag of the Cayman Islands

What the flag of the Cayman Islands looks like

The flag has a dark blue field and a width-to-height ratio of 2:1. The Union Jack takes up the canton, the upper corner next to the pole. On the fly side is the Cayman coat of arms, set in a white disc. The flag was redesigned in 1999, replacing the disc with a white outline around the arms, but the white disc version is still widely used and is the one most produced.

The shield in the coat of arms has a red upper part with a golden lion, and wavy blue and white lines below with three green stars. Above the shield is a green turtle on a rope, with a pineapple on top of the rope. Underneath is a scroll with the motto "He hath founded it upon the seas".

This layout is the same as the flags of several other British Overseas Territories, such as the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. They all have a blue ensign with the territory's own badge or arms.

Cayman Islands flag meaning and symbolism

The Union Jack shows the territory's status as a British Overseas Territory. The rest of the meaning is found in the coat of arms.

• The three stars represent the three islands: Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.
• The wavy lines represent the sea around them.
• The lion is a symbol of the Kingdom of England, the islands' mother country.
• The turtle alludes to the original Spanish name for the islands, Las Tortugas, and to their seafaring tradition.
• The pineapple signifies the connection with Jamaica, whose coat of arms features five pineapples; the Cayman Islands were a dependency of Jamaica from 1863.

The motto is taken from Psalm 24:2 in the Book of Psalms and recognizes the islands' Christian heritage.

History of the Cayman Islands flag

The islands were sighted by Columbus on 10 May 1503 and first named Las Tortugas by the Spanish, for the turtles in the surrounding waters. They were later called Caimanas or Caymanes, after the alligators (caimanes) said to live there. Spain gave up the islands to England under the Treaty of Madrid in 1670, and no permanent inhabitants lived there until well after that. In 1863 the islands became a dependency of the Colony of Jamaica, and the flag of Jamaica's colony was used until 1959.

The coat of arms was granted on 14 May 1958 and placed on a Blue Ensign with a white disc, which was adopted as the territory's flag in 1959, the year the islands were given self-government. The islands remained British after the West Indies Federation was dissolved in 1962 and are now a British Overseas Territory. The use of a Red Ensign was authorized in 1988, and in 1999 the flag was redesigned with a larger coat of arms and a white outline instead of the disc. The Union Jack remains the state flag of the Cayman Islands.