Up to 2010, the only official flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

 of New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, an overseas territory of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, was the French tricolor

Flag of France

The national flag of France is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured royal blue , white, and red...

. However, with the official adoption of the Kanak flag alongside the French tricolor in July 2010, New Caledonia has become one of the few countries or territories in world with two official national flags.

In 2008 the government of New Caledonia debated the introduction of a regional official flag and anthem, as required by the Accord de Nouméa

Nouméa Accord

The Nouméa Accord of 1998 promises to grant political power to New Caledonia and its original population, the Kanaks, until the territory decides whether to remain within the French Republic or become an independent state in a referendum to be held between 2014 and 2019...

. A flag in fairly widespread unofficial use was the flag of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front

Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front

The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front is a militant socialist pro-independence alliance of political parties in New Caledonia. It was founded in 1984 at a congress of various political parties, mainly indigenous but also of disgruntled and progressive New Caledonians of European...

 (FLNKS), a political party favoring independence for New Caledonia, but the French tricolor would remain the only official flag for the next two years.

On 17 July 2010, French Prime minister François Fillon

François Fillon

François Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...

 took part in a ceremony in Nouméa where the FLNKS flag was hoisted alongside the French tricolor, giving both flags official status. Shortly before the visit the New Caledonia Congress voted overwhemingly to adopt the Kanak flag alongside the French tricolor.

The adoption of the Kanak flag proved controversial. Some New Caledonians argued for a completely new flag for New Caledonia, which would incorporate designs from both the French tricolor and the Kanak flags. Such new flag would aim to promote a "common destiny" for ethnic Kanaks and ethnic French residents in New Caledonia.

FLNKS political flag

The FLNKS flag, first adopted by the party in 1980, is composed of three fess

Fess

In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...

es of blue

Blue

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...

 (Pantone

Pantone

Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System , a proprietary color space...

 286c), red

Red

Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...

 (Pantone 032c) and green

Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...

 (Pantone 347c) charged with a yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

 (Pantone 102c) disc of a diameter two-thirds the height of the flag centered at a position of one-third the width of the flag, measured from the hoist side. The disc is fibrated black

Black

Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...

 and defaced with a vertical symbol, also black.

The blue symbolizes both the sky and more importantly the ocean surrounding New Caledonia. The red symbolizes the blood shed by the Kanaks in their struggle for independence

Independence

Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....

, socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

, and unity. The green symbolizes the land itself and by extension the ancestors buried within it. The yellow disc is a representation of the sun and the symbol upon it consists of a flèche faitière

Flèche faîtière

A flèche faîtière is a carved rooftop spear or spire or finial that adorns Kanak houses, particularly the Great Houses of the Kanak Chiefs, in New Caledonia. The ceremonial carving is the home of ancestral spirits and is characterized by three major components. The ancestor is symbolized by a...

, a kind of arrow which adorns the roofs of Kanak houses thrust through tutut shells.

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