Flag of Antarctica
A plain blue field with a white map of the Antarctic continent in the centre.
What the flag means
Graham Bartram chose a plain white map on blue to show neutrality. He took inspiration from the emblem of the Antarctic Treaty System.
History
Antarctica has no official flag. It is governed as a condominium, so no single body can adopt one. Bartram designed this flag in 1996 for a 3D Atlas program published by Electronic Arts. At Ted Kaye's request it was flown at Brazil's Comandante Ferraz base and at the museum at Port Lockroy. Other proposals include Whitney Smith's orange flag of 1978 and Evan Townsend's True South of 2018, which some national Antarctic programmes use.
Since 2015 most platforms have used this design for the Antarctica flag emoji. In 2024 Bartram made a version with coloured dots to draw attention to microplastics.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Flag of Antarctica
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Read how we research flags in our editorial policy, or report a mistake.
