Greenland

Greenland’s flag is known as Erfalasorput (“our flag”) and Aappalaartoq (“the red”). It was designed by Thue Christiansen and officially adopted on 21 June 1985 after a design competition launched following the introduction of home rule in 1979. The white and red colors recall Greenland’s historic ties to Denmark. The white upper stripe symbolizes the island’s ice sheet, the red lower stripe the surrounding ocean at sunset, the white semicircle an iceberg, and the red semicircle a fjord. Greenland is the only Nordic country whose national flag does not use the Nordic cross.