When was the haitian flag created

Therefore, the red and blue symbolize the Vodun god of war, Ogou. This event is said to have taken place on May 18, , the date now celebrated as Haitian Flag Day. Haitian Flag Day was first celebrated among Haitian communities around the world in the late s, but was celebrated in Haiti in relative secrecy during the U. Occupation from to This first flag only stuck around two years. The year after, Petion introduced the flag we see today.

Various rulers came on the scene over the course of Haitian history and made their own changes to the flag. In the s to the s, the flag re-adopted its black and red colors. In addition to the colors and coat of arms on the flag changing throughout history, the motto on the flag changed several times as well. The latter motto was adopted from the French Revolution and was likely on the original French flag created by Dessalines.

Want to learn more about Haiti and its history? Previous Next. The history of the Haitian flag. In The United States for example, teenagers whether in High School give homage to the red and blue by carrying it around with them or on their persona for at least a week. In the early days of revolt in St. Domingue, the slaves did not have a flag. However, they did notice that their former masters were using the French Flag.

From to about , the revolt became more widespread and gave rise to a number of large groups still fighting independently. In those times, each main leader would use any piece of cloth as a flag. Slowly the slave movement found some synergy and came to follow the leadership one main person: Toussaint Louverture.

Realizing that you cannot fight three enemies at the same time, Toussaint and the army of revolted slaves fought successively for the Spanish against the French , for the French against Spain and England and ultimately against France. As such, he carried the color of whichever European power he was fighting for. He later realized that it was silly to use the same flag as the enemies.

He then invented his own flag, which was a white piece of cloth with a Negro head to represent the blacks. A little explanation is needed here: The French flag, as we know it now is a product of the French Revolution. On the white portion of the flag was the emblem of the French Republic. The Revolution of St.

Domingue was in some ways motivated by the French Revolution and for years, the masses main objectives were for freedom and better treatment. To them, the French Flag represented the ideals of Liberty and Fraternity. They hoped that those same principles would be applied to them, non-whites According to Thomas Madiou , a renowned historian of the 19 th Century; they also saw in that flag a symbol of blacks, whites and mulattoes living in harmony. Therefore, carrying the French was not stupidity, but rather an expression of their ideals.

As time went on though, a break with France seemed inevitable and to symbolize their resolve of never fighting for the metropolis again, they had removed the French arms from the blue white and red flag they were using. As early as February however , Petion, leader of the mulattoes and Dessalines had decided to create a unique flag to represent their troops.

Thus, starting with the French Flag made up of three blue, white and red bands placed vertically respectively; Dessalines removed the white and created the first unofficial flag with blue and red bands placed vertically.

By so doing, he also wanted to impart on the French the message that they had lost that colony forever. To them the blue symbolized the mulattos and the blacks while the red symbolized their blood. By as we saw, the leaders of the free slaves and the men of color had decided to fight for the creation of an independent nation. On May 18, , in the city of Arcahaie, not far from Port-au-Prince, they agreed on an official flag , with blue and red bands placed vertically.

Blue and red placed vertically respectively. On Independence Day however, January 1 st , the flag was modified again. The Blue and Red bands were placed horizontally this time, with the blue band on top of the red band. This was the first flag of the independent republic. In , shortly after Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed himself emperor, the Haitian flag color was changed to black and red bands placed vertically respectively.

Henri Christophe , in the northern part kept the flag that Dessalines used.