National flag - Flag of Trinidad and Tobago

The flag of Trinidad and Tobago was adopted upon independence from the United Kingdom on 31 August 1962. Designed by Carlisle Chang (1921–2001), the flag of Trinidad and Tobago was chosen by the independence committee of 1962. Red, black and white symbolise fire (the sun, representing courage), earth (representing dedication) and water (representing purity and equality).

The flag of Trinidad and Tobago is a red field with a white-edged black diagonal band from the upper hoist-side to the lower fly-side. In blazon, Gules, a bend Sable fimbriated Argent.

The width of the white stripes is 1⁄30 of the flag length and the width of the black stripe is 2⁄15. The total width of the three stripes together is therefore 1⁄5 of the length.

The civil ensign is the national flag in a 1:2 ratio. The naval ensign (used by Coast Guard vessels) is a British white ensign with the national flag in the canton.

Prior to independence from the United Kingdom in August 1962, Trinidad and Tobago used a British blue ensign defaced with a badge depicting a ship arriving in front of a mountain.

Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is a twin island country that is the southernmost nation of the West Indies in the Caribbean. It is situated 130 km south of Grenada off the northern edge of the South American mainland, 11 km off the coast of northeastern Venezuela. It shares maritime boundaries with Barbados to the northeast, Grenada to the northwest, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.

The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 until Spanish governor Don José María Chacón surrendered the island to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers more times than any other island in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago were ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens as separate states and unified in 1889. Trinidad and Tobago obtained independence in 1962 and became a republic in 1976.