The flag officially called Sinimustvalge, meaning “blue-black-white,” belongs to Estonia.
The name describes the flag’s three equal horizontal bands: blue on top, black in the middle, and white below. It originated with the Estonian Students’ Society at the University of Tartu; the first flag was consecrated at Otepää on June 4, 1884. The design soon became a powerful symbol of Estonian national identity.
Estonia’s provisional government formally adopted the tricolour as the state flag on November 21, 1918, after independence. Soviet authorities banned it during the occupation beginning in 1940, but Estonians preserved it in exile and revived it publicly during the independence movement. It returned to Tallinn’s Pikk Hermann tower on February 24, 1989, and was formally reinstated in 1990.
The flag is sometimes confused with other northern European tricolours, but neither Finland nor Iceland uses a simple blue-black-white horizontal design. Finland’s flag is a blue Nordic cross on white, while Iceland’s is a red Nordic cross outlined in white on blue.