The flag of Vanuatu, adopted in 1980, was designed at the moment the country stopped being the New Hebrides. Almost everything on it, including the colors, comes from the politics and the material culture of that year.
Independence and a national competition
Before independence the islands were the New Hebrides, administered jointly by France and the United Kingdom. Vanuatu adopted its flag on February 18, 1980, five months before that arrangement ended, and raised it as a national flag on independence day, July 30, 1980.
The design came out of a national competition, with local artists and cultural figures involved in the process. The Vanua'aku Party, the dominant force in the independence movement, shaped the final result. Nothing about it has been altered since.
Design and symbolism
A black horizontal Y divides the flag into two triangular fields, red above and green below, with a golden emblem inside the black arm of the Y at the hoist.
Green is for the fertile islands. Red is for the blood of boars and of men, which ties the flag to customary practice as much as to the independence struggle. Black is for the Melanesian people. The Y itself is outlined in yellow, for Christianity and peace.
The emblem inside the black triangle is a boar's tusk curled into a near-circle, enclosing two crossed namele leaves. A curved boar's tusk is a serious mark of wealth and status in local custom, not a generic prosperity symbol. The namele leaves stand for peace and point to the islands' reliance on what grows there.
Use and variants
The flag appears at national celebrations, government functions and official events, with rules covering hoisting and half-mast flying during periods of mourning. Vanuatu also uses naval ensigns and other official flags that keep the core design and adapt it to particular purposes.
Similar flags
Vanuatu's flag shares regional themes with other Pacific island flags, particularly the emphasis on land and sea and on customary symbols. The Y shape and the tusk-and-namele emblem are its own, though, and were not modeled on any other national flag.
References
[1] Vanuatu Government Official Website
[2] Vexillological Association Publications
[3] Historical Records and Archives from Vanuatu National Library
[4] Books on Melanesian Culture and Symbols