Triband (flag)

The triband is one of the most common designs of flag, and is the design of some 30% of all current national flags. As the name suggests, the main feature of the design of a triband is three parallel bands of colour. Many non-vexillologists use the term tricolour to describe these flags, but technically a tricolour is simply a type of triband. Tricolours by definition have three colours, whereas this is not the case with all tribands, which often feature two bands of the same colour separated by a band of a different colour.

In its simplest form, the triband consists of three equally sized horizontal or vertical stripes and nothing else. Examples of "horizontal tribands" include the national flags of Austria and Germany, and examples of "vertical tribands" include the national flags of Nigeria and France. In each of these pairs, the second named flag is also a tricolour.

Diagonal tribands are less common, and often do not have stripes of equal areas or widths. An example is the flag of the Republic of the Congo. Such flags are often not considered tribands by vexillologists, but rather are described as having a single diagonal stripe (heraldically, a "bend") on a one- or two-coloured background (or "field").

More complex tribands include flags charged or defaced with an emblem (such as the national flag of Croatia) or flags with bands of unequal size (such as the national flag of Colombia). The most famous complex triband is arguably the national flag of Canada, which is charged with a maple leaf and has bands of uneven size. The ratio of the bands on this latter flag (1:2:1) has led to the term Canadian pale to refer to any central vertical band on a triband which is twice the size of the bands on either side.

List of tribands

Below is a list of tribands organised by continent. Some of them are charged, i.e. they have some additional symbol apart from the three simple coloured fields.

Africa

Tricolours

* The flag of Cameroon (charged)
* The flag of Chad
* The flag of Côte d'Ivoire
* The flag of Egypt (charged)
* The flag of Ethiopia (charged)
* The flag of Gabon
* The flag of Ghana (charged)
* The flag of The Gambia
* The flag of Guinea
* The flag of Lesotho (charged)
* The flag of Malawi (charged)
* The flag of Mali
* The flag of Niger (charged)
* The flag of Senegal (charged)
* The flag of Sierra Leone

Other tribands

* The flag of Nigeria

North and South America

Tricolours

* The flag of Bolivia (charged)
* The flag of Colombia
* The flag of Ecuador (charged)
* The flag of Mexico (charged)
* The flag of Paraguay (charged)
* The flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (charged)
* The flag of Venezuela (charged)

Other tribands

* The flag of Argentina (charged)
* The flag of Barbados (charged)
* The flag of Belize (charged) (bars are more unequal than most)
* The flag of Canada (charged)
* The flag of El Salvador (charged)
* The flag of Guatemala (charged)
* The flag of Honduras (charged)
* The flag of Nicaragua (charged)
* The flag of Peru

Asia

Tricolours

* The flag of Afghanistan (charged)
* The flag of India (charged)
* The flag of Iran (charged)
* The flag of Iraq (charged)
* The flag of Tajikistan (charged)
* The flag of Syria (charged)
* The flag of Yemen

Other tribands

* The flag of Cambodia (charged)
* The flag of Laos (charged)
* The flag of Lebanon (charged)
* The flag of Mongolia (charged)
* The flag of Israel (charged)

Europe

Tricolours

* The flag of Andorra (charged)
* The flag of Armenia
* The flag of Azerbaijan (charged)
* The flag of Belgium
* The flag of Bulgaria
* The flag of Croatia (charged)
* The flag of Estonia
* The flag of France
* The flag of Germany
* The flag of Hungary
* The flag of Ireland
* The flag of Italy
* The flag of Lithuania
* The flag of Luxembourg
* The flag of Moldova (charged)
* The flag of the Netherlands (oldest tricolour)
* The flag of Romania
* The flag of Russia
* The flag of Serbia (charged)
* The flag of Slovakia (charged)
* The flag of Slovenia (charged)

Other tribands

* The flag of Austria
* The flag of Latvia
* The flag of Spain (charged)

Oceania

* The flag of French Polynesia (charged)
* The flag of Norfolk Island (charged)

Former nations and former national flags

Tricolours

* The flag of Araucania and Patagonia
* The flag of Belarus in 1918 and 1991-1995.
* The flag of Biafra (charged)
* An early flag of Chile, disused since 1817
* The flag of Germany 1871-1918 (black, white, red)
* The flag of Gran Colombia (charged)
* The 1959-1963 flag of Iraq (charged)
* The former flag of Rwanda (charged)
* The flag of Yugoslavia
* The former flag of Spain, during the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936) (red, yellow, purple)
* The flag of Upper Volta

Other tribands

* The flag of Rhodesia

Non-national

tricolours

* The state flag of Colorado (charged)
* The state flag of Iowa (charged)
* The state flag of Missouri (charged)
* The flag of New York City (charged)
* The "Marcus Garvey's UNIA" flag
* The official flag of Queen's University at Kingston (red, gold and blue)
* The unofficial flag of Mars, advocated by the Mars Society and flown (insofar as it is possible) in space.
* The Flag of Labrador (charged)
* The flag of Newfoundland
* The flag of North Holland
* The flag of Gelderland
* The flag of Andalusia (charged)
* The Acadian flag (charged)

See also

*Gallery of triband flags