Flag of the Cook Islands
national flag of the Cook Islands
The national flag of the Cook Islands, officially known as the Cook Islands Ensign, is based on the traditional design for former British colonies in the Pacific region. It is a blue ensign containing the Union Jack in the upper left, and on the right, fifteen stars in a ring. The Union Jack is symbolic of the nation's historic ties to the United Kingdom and to the Commonwealth of Nations. The stars stand for the fifteen islands that make up the Cook Islands (Tongareva, Rakahanga, Manihiki, Pukapuka, Nassau, Suwarrow, Palmerston, Aitutaki, Manuae, Takutea, Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke, Rarotonga and Mangaia). The blue represents the ocean and the peaceful nature of the inhabitants.
History
A Federal Flag Bill was proposed in the Cook Islands Parliament in 1892, but was not assented to. The proposed flag had consisted of three horizontal stripes (red, white, red), with a Union Flag in the top left corner, overlaid by a black coconut palm tree on a white circle. When the islands were annexed by New Zealand in 1901, the New Zealand flag was used instead.
In 1973 a contest was held to design a new flag, with 120 entries. The winner was chosen at a meeting of the cabinet, judging panel and the flag design committee, a green ensign with 15 gold stars in a circle.
“Flag of the Cook Islands” enters the record as national flag of the Cook Islands. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Flag, Cook and Islands can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q193693. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1892, 1901 and 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “Flag of the Cook Islands” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.