The flag of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is similar to the flags of other British dependencies and colonies as it has the Union Flag in the upper hoist-side corner. The palm tree and crown are symbols of the Indian Ocean Territory. The origin or meaning of the wavy lines is unknown, and their existence is a break from the traditional practice of flags of British colonies or former colonies. It is understood that the flag, which was granted by Queen Elizabeth II on the 25th anniversary of the BIOT in 1990 is that of the Commissioner and has only semi-official status.
The BIOT flag is similar to the flag of British Columbia.
Given that it is impossible for civilians to visit the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is not clear whether the flag is actually used. However, a video was released by the Naval Support Facility on Diego Garcia. It shows a scene where the flag is being flown. The only settlements on the Islands are the Anglo-American naval and air facilities.
The flag does indeed fly at Diego Garcia, along with the American Flag. Both are lowered at the end of the duty day.
It appears that the flag is also used by the Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The Commissioner is based at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
Read more about Flag Of The British Indian Ocean Territory: Other Images
Famous quotes containing the words flag, british, indian, ocean and/or territory:
“Hath not the morning dawned with added light?
And shall not evening call another star
Out of the infinite regions of the night,
To mark this day in Heaven? At last, we are
A nation among nations; and the world
Shall soon behold in many a distant port
Another flag unfurled!”
—Henry Timrod (1828–1867)
“A girl? Hey, that’s better in a way. A boy needs more from a father.”
—Margaret Forster, British screenwriter, Peter Nichols, and Silvio Narizzano. Jos (Alan Bates)
“Thus ornament is but the guiled shore
To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wisest.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“They commonly celebrate those beaches only which have a hotel on them, not those which have a humane house alone. But I wished to see that seashore where man’s works are wrecks; to put up at the true Atlantic House, where the ocean is land-lord as well as sea-lord, and comes ashore without a wharf for the landing; where the crumbling land is the only invalid, or at best is but dry land, and that is all you can say of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the excessively shy force themselves to be forward, they are frequently surprisingly unsubtle and overdirect and even rude: they have entered an extreme region beyond their normal personality, an area of social crime where gradations don’t count; unavailable to them are the instincts and taboos that booming extroverts, who know the territory of self-advancement far better, can rely on.”
—Nicholson Baker (b. 1957)