Ireland flag is the national flag of Ireland, a nation in northwestern Europe. The flag is a vertical tricolor (three-colored flag) of three equal stripes. The stripe nearest the hoist (flagpole side) is green. The middle stripe is white. The outer stripe is orange. Unofficially, the green stripe represents Irish Roman Catholics, and the orange stripe represents Irish Protestants. The white stripe symbolizes peace and unity among all the Irish people.
During the 1800’s, the entire island of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. However, large numbers of Irish people desired independence. In 1848, democratic revolutions in France and some other European nations provided inspiration for many. That year, some Irish reformers began using a flag with vertical stripes of orange, white, and green. They modeled the flag on the blue, white, and red tricolor of France. The Irish tricolor gained popularity after it was flown during the Easter Rising, a 1916 revolt against British rule.
In 1920, the British government divided Ireland into two parts. Northern Ireland, with a large Protestant population, remained part of the United Kingdom. Under a treaty signed in 1921 and ratified in 1922, the rest of Ireland became the Irish Free State, a dominion (self-governing country) in the British Commonwealth. The new dominion used the green, white, and orange tricolor as its flag. In 1949, the Irish Free State cut its last ties with the United Kingdom and became the Republic of Ireland. The Irish tricolor remained the national flag.
