Flag of California (the Bear Flag)

What the California state flag looks like

The state flag of California is a white rectangle in the 2:3 ratio with four elements:

• a grizzly bear in brown, walking to the left, in the center of the flag;
• a patch of green grass under the bear's feet;
• a single red five-pointed star in the upper left corner;
• a red stripe along the bottom edge, with the words CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC in dark brown lettering above it, below the bear.

Because the animal is the most striking part of the design, the flag is nearly always called the Bear Flag, and searches for it often use "bear flag" rather than "California flag."

California flag meaning and symbolism

The elements of the California flag were chosen by the people who raised the first Bear Flag in 1846, and their meanings are widely repeated:

• The grizzly bear was designed to be a symbol of strength and unyielding resistance. The California grizzly is now extinct in the state, but the species remains the official state animal.
• The star recalls the California Lone Star Flag of 1836, raised during an earlier independence movement from Mexico, and signals that California was a free and independent republic.
• The red stripe is the lower sixth of the flag and the white field the upper five-sixths, as set out in the 1911 statute. No official meaning is given for the colors.
• The words "California Republic" show the name the rebels gave their new state.

It is often asked why the California flag says "California Republic." The answer is that the flag comes from the Bear Flag Revolt, when settlers declared a separate republic. The text stayed on the flag even though that republic lasted less than a month.

History of the California flag

In June 1846, a group of American settlers rebelled against Mexican rule in California while the U.S.-Mexican War was beginning. They seized the town of Sonoma and proclaimed the California Republic. A flag was quickly made, and the version raised at Sonoma is credited to William L. Todd. It was made of plain cloth with a bear and a star painted on it, and it had a stripe of red flannel.

The republic lasted only about 25 days. On July 7, 1846, Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag at Monterey, and two days later a U.S. Navy officer hauled down the Bear Flag at Sonoma and raised the Stars and Stripes. The original Bear Flag was kept in San Francisco and was lost in the fire that followed the earthquake of 1906.

The legislature adopted a version of the Bear Flag as the official state flag in 1911. Until 1953 the image of the bear varied depending on the flag manufacturer. That year a bill signed by Governor Earl Warren standardized the design, using an illustration by Donald Kelley based on an 1855 watercolor by Charles Christian Nahl.

Interesting facts

• California's state motto, Eureka, is Greek for "I have found it" and refers to the Gold Rush. It is on the state seal, not the flag.
• California is the most populous U.S. state, home to nearly 40 million people.
• The bear also appears on the Great Seal of California, which is separate from the flag.

For other designs, browse all U.S. state flags, including Arizona and Colorado, or see the flag of the United States.