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A tricolour is a flag or banner having three colours, usually in approximately equal size (horizontally or vertically) and lacking additional symbols. One of the first tricolours and the oldest tricolour still in use today is the flag of the Netherlands; one of the first vertical tricolours is the Tricolour of France.

Variety of triband

The tricolour is a specific type of triband. In a triband, the design is of three vertical, horizontal, or diagonal stripes, often formed - from an heraldic point of view - by the placement of a horizontal or vertical stripe (a bar or a fess, respectively), over a background. The triband may thus have two stripes of the same colour split by a stripe of a second colour (examples of this include the flags of Canada and Spain).

In a tricolour, the two outer stripes are of different colours, hence the name ("tri-colour" = three colours). Tricolours can thus be seen as a subset of tribands.

List of tricolours and tribands

Below is a list with other tricolours organized by continent.

Africa

Tricolours from Africa

Other tribands from Africa

North and South America

Tricolours from North America and South America

Other tribands from North America and South America

Asia

Tricolours from Asia

Other tribands from Asia

Europe

Tricolours from Europe

Other tribands from Europe

Oceania

(No tricolours.)
Other tribands from Oceania

Non-national

Non-national tricolours

Other non-national tribands

Former nations and former national flags

Tricolours of former nations and former national flags

Other tribands of former nations and former national flags

Confusion and profusion of meanings

As can be seen in the list above, many tricolours and tribands have additional emblems in colours that are not necessarily those of the stripes. They are still, however, usually regarded by vexillologists as tricolours.

Some vexillologists go further still, and describe flags containing three fimbriated stripes as fimbriated tricolours. In this design, three broad stripes might be separated by two very thin stripes immediately above and below the central stripe. Flags of this type include the flags of Uzbekistan, Kenya, North Korea and Gambia.

Vexillologists also occasionally describe flags of which the main element is three stripes as being "based on a tricolour (or triband) design". Flags such as the flag of the Bahamas and the flag of Palestine fall into this category.

Finally, some vexillologists take the meaning of the term at its barest, and simply use it to describe any flag containing just three colours, irrespective of the design. Thus, the flags of the United States and the United Kingdom might be described as tricolours.

See also

Lists of flags | Flags | colour schemes

Tricolore | Trikolore | Trikoloor | Tricolor | Trikoloro | Drapeau tricolore | 삼색기 | Tricolore | טריקולור | 三色旗 | Driekleur | Trikolor | Триколор

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Tricolour".

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