Andorra Flag
Andorra Flag
Declared a
free state by the Holy Roman. Emperor Charlemagne during the 9th century,
in 1278 the principality of Andorra came under the joint sovereignty of a
spiritual 'prince', the Spanish bishop of Urgel, and a temporal (earthly)
'prince', originally the count of Foix, whose title passed to the French
head of state in 1589. In 1993, the principality's once-fragile democracy
adopted a constitution that gave the country virtual independence,
admission to the United Nations and the safeguarding of its external
security by France and Spain.
To the existing Andorra flag of yellow and red, adopted in 1866, Andorra
now added a blue field. France and Spain were thus represented by two
colors each: red and blue for France and red and yellow for Spain. In the
middle of the central yellow stripe is the Andorran coat of arms. The
emblems on the quartered shield represent Andorra's traditional
protectors; a bishop's mitre and crosier signifying the bishop of Urgel
and three vertical red stripes symbolizing the counts of Foix. Catalonia
is represented by four red stripes on a yellow ground, and Bearn, a
province of southwest France, by a pair of cows. These refer to the arms
of the Counts of Bearn who were involved in the historical French rule of
the region along with the Counts of Foix. Beneath the shield is the motto
Virtus Unita Fortior ('United Strength is Greater').
