Flag of Croatia

Flag origins

Croatia’s red-white-blue horizontal tricolour bears distinctive central arms: a checkerboard of twenty-five red and white or silver squares, beginning with red at the upper left. Five smaller shields form a crown above it, representing, from left to right, the oldest Croatian arms, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia. Government materials explain these historical emblems. Their imagery includes a star and crescent, red bands, three leopards’ heads, a goat and a marten.

Flag story

The checkerboard is commonly called the Šahovnica and appears widely on sports clothing, including the national football team’s red-and-white checks. Its crown is not just ornament: it combines five arms of historical territories. Official descriptions identify the modern arms as the checkerboard together with those five historical shields.

Editorial notes and references

Edited by ABELHA WORKS. The English text translates the administrator-edited Japanese description. Legends should be distinguished from documented history. General reference links do not substantiate every statement in the text.

• Croatia — general information on Wikipedia
• Japan MOFA: countries and regions (Japanese)

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