Flag of New Zealand

What the flag means

• 🇬🇧Union Jack — historic ties to Britain
• ✨Southern Cross (4 red stars) — its place in the South Pacific

Design set by: ⁨Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act 1981, s 5 and Schedule 1⁩ · Adopted 1902

Highlights

• 🏔️ Nature straight out of a movie
• 🐑 Pristine land and sheep farms
• 🌋 Geothermal pools and hot springs
• 🥝 Kiwifruit and clean produce
• 🏉 The pride of the All Blacks

Quick facts

Region

Oceania · Australia and New Zealand

Population

5,324,700 people (2025)

Area

270,467 km²

Capital

Wellington

Languages

English, Māori

Currency

New Zealand dollar (NZD)

Organizations

United Nations, OECD

Symbols in History (1)

Coats of arms and emblems whose historic seat lies within this country’s present-day territory.

• 

  Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand

  Northern New Zealand — Confederation of United Tribes · Flag

  OriginTrading ships built in New Zealand carried no flag and held no register, and in 1830 a vessel built at Hokianga was detained in Sydney for exactly that reason. On 20 March 1834 rangatira (chiefs) of the north gathered at Waitangi at the invitation of the British Resident James Busby, looked over a set of designs drawn up with missionary help, and chose this one. It became the flag of the Confederation of United Tribes, which declared its independence in 1835, and it flew until the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

  DescriptionA broad red cross runs across the white field from edge to edge and cuts it into four. The upper quarter beside the staff is deep navy, and inside it a smaller red cross edged in white splits the blue into four panels, each holding a single white eight-pointed star. The red cross is the cross of St George, the mark every ship in the Pacific trade could read at a glance, while the blue canton and its four stars made the flag New Zealand's own. Māori call it Te Kara, 'the colours'; the drawing shown here is a modern redrawing of the 1834 design.

  Image source: Wikimedia Commons — Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand.svg · Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5 · No machine-readable author provided. Greentubing assumed (based on copyright claims).