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Marshall Islands

Republic of the Marshall Islands

10:19, by Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

Legislation and Construction of the Flag
Meaning of the flag
Colours of the flag
Seal

Neighbouring nations:

Oceania (clickable map)

Legislation and Construction of the Flag

The flag was established by Bill No. 4 (P.L. 1979-1) of the Nirijela or Parliament, dated 12 June 1979, approved by the High Commissioner (Adrian P. Winkel) on 22 June 1979. Article One reads:

(1) DESIGN. The official Flag of the Marshall Islands shall be blue with two contiguous trapezoidal bars extending from the lower left of the Flag, diagonally across to the upper right of the Flag. The top bar shall be orange, and the bottom bar shall be white. The union of the Flag, in the upper left of the flag, shall be a white star of 24 points; the two points which are parallel to the hoist and the two points which are parallel to the fly shall be longer than the remaining 20 points. The points are 15 degrees apart. The union is located equidistant from the left edge, the top edge and the orange bar.

Unfortunately however, the "official proportions" listed in Article Three do not give a distance between the upper and lower corners of the flag and the stripes, and give the width of the 'rays' at the fly as far wider than was obviously intended (from a rather poor illustration of the flag which accompanied the text but which was not included within the law itself). None the less, it reads as follows:

(3) PROPORTIONS. The following are the official proportions for all flags bearing the design of the official flag of the Marshall Islands:
Hoist of flag 1
Fly of flag 1.9
Outer union diameter, point to point .620
Inner union diameter, point to point .444
Diameter of inner circle of union .196
Width of white bar at left edge .16
Width of orange bar at left edge .16
Width of white bar at right edge .392
Width of orange bar at right edge .392

Christopher Southworth, 12 March 2004

A blue flag with two rising stripes orange above white widening towards the fly and with a 24-rayed white sun, with four main rays larger then others. The ratio is obviously based on the US flag ratio. Album des Pavillons 2000 provides relative ratios along the fly edge from top to bottom as (3+20+20+57):190. [That is wrong, according to the figures above.]
Variations of this flag (erroneous) occasionally show the stripes emerging from the bottom hoist corner.
Željko Heimer, 13 June 2002

10:19, by Željko Heimer, 3 Maqy 2004

As Chris already pointed out, this description is missing two important measures, and that is the size of the blue edge along hoist below the white stripe, and size of the blue edge along fly above orange stripe. There is no info on these sizes, but I believe that it is reasonable to assume that the two are the same. Also, I make them equal to the white and orange width at hoist, i.e. .16.
The dimensions given as .392 (Width of white/orange bar at right edge) just can't be right - if such they would cover almost 80% of the fly edge, which is surely not as it was shown in any image of this flag we ever seen. Most probably these figures were doubled (i.e. someone read the size for both stripes, and the attached it to the one - not that unthinkable error), so the correct figure should be .196. It should be noticed that such figure is already used for an other element in the flag (Diameter of inner circle of union), so the choice of that size is making much more sense.
The union is stated (in the Decree) to be equidistant from the top edge, hoist edge and the top edge of the orange stripe. This is most conveniently shown as a circle concentric with the union tangent to the three. (Using the units as above, that circle measures approximately .73.)
Željko Heimer, 3 May 2004

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be. For Marshall Islands: PMS 287 blue, 152 yellow. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 11 October 2012

Meaning of the Flag

The deep blue background represents the Pacific Ocean. The white and orange bands represent the Ratak (Sunrise) and Ralik (Sunset) chains, respectively. The customary symbolism of orange as the color of bravery and white as the color of peace are also recognized.
The star represents the cross of Christianity, with each of the 24 points signifying a municipal district of the Republic of Marshall Islands. The four main points represent the major centers of Majuro, Ebeye, Jaluit and Wotje.
Lance Laack, 17 November 1995

DK Pocket Book has some differences in interpretation of the flag when compared with Lance Laack: - the star is said to represent also the geographical location of the archipelago, a few degrees above the Equator - the four longer points of the star stand for the major centers of Majuro, Ebeye, Jaluit and Wotje according to Lance, and for Majuro, Wotji, Jaluit and Kwajalein according to DK Pocket Book. According to Encyclopaedia Universalis, Marshall islands have 27 electoral districts, including 0 (for three of them, so that we come back to the 24 points of the star!) to 19,664 inhabitants for Majuro, the capital (followed by Kwajalein, 9,311 inh., Ailinglaplap, 1,715 inh., Jaluit, 1,709 inh. and Arno, 1,656 inh. Wotji has only 646 inh. - the stripes extend and widen upward as a sign of increase in growth and vitality.

DK Pocket Book adds that flag was adopted when Marshall islands became a self-governing territory on 1 May 1979. The flag was designed by Emlain Kabua, the President's wife, and was chosen among 50 designs.
Ivan Sache, 29 May 2000

Colours of the flag

Orange or Red? Orange!

The World Encyclopedia of Flags states in the text 'orange', in the image it's red... Eve Devereux (1998) in 'Identifying Flags' has 'orange-red' in the text and orange on the image And Mucha (1985) has orange in the image and text.
Jarig Bakker, 29 May 2000

Orange confirmed by Album des Pavillons, Dorling-Kindersely Pocket Book, Flagg og Vapen (with caption: Marshalløyene - Selvstyrt, assosiert med USA)...
Ivan Sache, 29 May 2000

[The Bill establishing the flag clearly designates the colour as orange! Ed.]
Album 2000 also gives he colour approximation:
blue Pantone 287c CMYK 100-70-0-5
orange Pantone 152c CMYK 0-50-100-0

The Official Flag of the Marshall Islands Act 1979 defines the flag, but doesn’t give color specification:
http://www.paclii.org/

About the colors, it regulates the following:
"The colors used in the design of the official flag of the Republic of the Marshall Islands shall be of a hue authorized by Executive Order of the Cabinet, based upon the color identification system of the United States Bureau of Standards."

I haven’t found any Executive Order of the Cabinet on flag.
Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

Other sources for colors:

The Flag Manual - Beijing 2008 gives Pantone color: PMS 281 (blue), and PMS 178 (red).

The Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00] gives approximate colors in Pantone and CMYK systems:
Blue: Pantone 287c, CMYK 100-70-0-5
Orange: Pantone 152c, CMYK 0-50-100-0

Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12] gives Pantone colors: PMS 287 (blue), and PMS 152 (gold).

The Album des Pavillons 2023 already specifies the colors of the flags in three color systems:
Blue: Pantone 287c, CMYK 100-83-7-0, RGB 0-53-152
Orange: Pantone 152c, CMYK 4-66-100-0, RGB 231-111-0

Vexilla Mundi gives colors in Pantone system: PMS 287C (blue), PMS White, and PMS 152C (orange).

Wikipedia refers to Official Flag of the Marshall Islands Act, provides a construction sheet and gives color values as follows:
Dark Powder Blue: RGB 0-56-147, CMYK 1-0-0-42.3, Hex #003893
Fulvous: RGB 221-117-0, CMYK 0-47-100-13.3, Hex #DD7500
White: RGB 255-255-255, CMYK 0-0-0-0, Hex #FFFFFF

Flag Color Codes gives the following color values:
Blue: Hex #003087, RGB 0-48-135, CMYK 100-81-0-23, Pantone 287, RAL 5010
White: Hex #FFFFFF, RGB 255-255-255, CMYK 0-0-0-0
Gold: Hex #E57200, RGB 229-114-0, CMYK 0-61-100-0, Pantone 152, RAL 2000

Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

Seal

image located by Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

The official description of the seal:

"The outstanding feature of the Seal is the stylized Angel of Peace centered with outstretched wings. Around the Angel, from the top and moving clockwise: 24 point star representing the 24 municipalities of the Republic; the four longer rays represent the 4 subcenters of Majuro (the capital), Jaluit, Wotje, and Kwajalein Atolls. On either side of the star are the rays which are on the flag. Each ray is of two colors, one, orange representing bravery, and the other, white representing peace. The two-colored rays also represent the two chains of atolls, the Ratak (sunrise) and the Ralik (sunset). Next is a stylized fishing net, fish being the main staple of the diet of the Marshallese people. A stylized sailing canoe, outrigger type, sails on the ocean (covering the bottom 1/3 of the seal). Under the stick chart is the word “SEAL”. An island with stylized palm trees (coconut) is next. All of the Marshall Islands are low lying atolls. Above the right wing of the Angel is a “pounder”, made out of a giant clam shell, and treasured by every family that owns one. This pounder is used to pound pandanus leaves, which are used for making mats, sails, and, traditionally, clothing. Around the outer edge are the words “Republic of the Marshall Islands” and at the bottom, "Jepilpilin ke ejukaan". The rim of the seal is a link chain representing that the islands are all linked together, half of the chain representing the Ralik group and the other half the Ratak."

Source: Republic Of The Marshall Islands Seal Act Of 1992

https://rmiparliament.org/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/1992/1992-0030/RepublicoftheMarshallIslandsSealActof1992_1.pdf

Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

image located by Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

The Government website illustrates a slightly different version, a disc background is light blue.
https://rmigov.com/
Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

Previous version

image located by Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024

The previous version used between 1979 and 1986, had the same elements, but they were placed in a dark blue disk.
Zoltan Horvath, 7 July 2024