The Secret History Behind Greenland's Flag

Greenland's flag is called Erfalasorput — "our flag" in Greenlandic.

Split down the middle, red and white, with an off-center circle crossing the divide: the design is meant to echo the midnight sun setting into the sea, and the endless ice that covers most of the island beneath it. It was actually designed back in 1985, decades before it took on its current significance.

That significance arrived on June 21, 2009, the day Greenland gained self-government from Denmark — the date now marked every year as Greenland's flag day, and the date printed on every Greenland design in our catalog.

A flag built from light, snow, and sea — waiting over twenty years for the moment it would come to represent.

Shop the Greenland collection → — or explore the story behind any other country's flag on our free Flag Story Cards page.