|
The Croatian flag consists of three equal size, horizontal
stripes in the pan-Slavic colours red, white and blue. In
the middle is the Coat of Arms of Croatia.
The red-white-blue tricolour has been used as the Croatian
flag since 1848, symbolizing the Pan-Slavic colours. While
Croatia was part of Yugoslavia its tricolour was the same,
but it had a five-pointed red star with a yellow border in
place of the coat of arms. The flag acquired its current form
upon independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
The Croatian coat of arms consists of one main shield and
five smaller shields which form a crown over the main shield.
The main coat of arms is a checkerboard (chequy) that consists
of 13 red and 12 silver (white) fields. It's commonly known
as šahovnica ("chessboard", from šah,
"chess" in Croatian). The smaller shields represent
parts of Croatia.
|
