Flag of Antarctica
Officially Antarctic Treaty System
What the flag looks like
A dark blue field with a white map of Antarctica in the center, set in a white grid of lines of latitude and longitude.
What it means
The map and its grid show the continent that the treaty sets aside for peace and science.
How to remember it
Antarctica's
treaty flag is a white map of the continent caught in a web of latitude and longitude lines on dark blue.
Fun facts
- The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on 1 December 1959 by twelve countries and came into force in 1961.
- Antarctica has no single official flag; this emblem of the treaty system is the one most often flown for it.
Antarctica at a glance
- Treaty signed
- 1959
- Parties
- 58 states
- Secretariat
- Buenos Aires
- Headquarters
- Buenos Aires
- Region
- Founded 1959
- Area
- 14,200,000 km²
- Flag adopted
- 2002
Flags often confused with Antarctica
- United Nations: Antarctica's treaty flag and the UN both show a white polar map on blue. The UN is light blue with the whole world framed by olive branches; Antarctica's flag is dark blue with only the frozen continent under a grid of lines.
- NATO: Antarctica's treaty flag and NATO are both dark blue with white lines running across them. Antarctica's has a white map of the continent in a grid of latitude and longitude lines; NATO's has a compass rose in a ring with four lines running to the edges.