The Hawaiian state flag has eight horizontal stripes of white, red, and blue, with the British Union Jack in the upper-left corner.

Quick Scoop: Visual Description

  • The flag’s background is made of eight horizontal stripes.
  • From top to bottom, the colors are: white, red, blue, white, red, blue, white, red.
  • In the top-left corner (the canton), you see the Union Jack of the United Kingdom, similar to what appears on some British flags.
  • The overall shape is a standard rectangle with the length about twice the height.

What The Elements Mean

  • The eight stripes symbolize the eight major Hawaiian Islands.
  • The red, white, and blue echo both the British Union Jack and the U.S. flag, reflecting Hawaiʻi’s historic ties to both Britain and the United States.
  • The Union Jack in the corner honors the historic relationship between the Hawaiian Kingdom and the British Empire under King Kamehameha I.

Mini Story: How It Ended Up Looking This Way

In the early 1800s, Hawaiʻi navigated between British and American influence, and its rulers wanted a flag that showed respect to both powers while still being distinctly Hawaiian. Over time, earlier versions varied in stripe counts, but in 1845 the design was standardized to the eight-stripe version flown today, with a white stripe at the top.

You can picture it quickly as: “Union Jack in the top-left, eight red/white/blue stripes across the rest.”

TL;DR: The Hawaiian flag is a rectangle with the British Union Jack in the upper-left and eight horizontal stripes (white, red, blue, white, red, blue, white, red) representing the eight main islands.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.