On 18 May, 1803, the Haitian flag was approved. The flag has two colours - the top half is blue and the bottom half is red. 

These colours were used on the flag because Haiti had been French territory since 1697, but in 1803 the Haitians fought back and achieved their independence. They took the white stripe off of the French flag, changed the direction of stripes from vertical to horizontal and put the Haitian coat of arms on a white square in the centre.

The Haitian coat of arms includes six red and blue flags, a palm tree, two cannons and text that reads "L'Union Fait La Force" (Unity Makes Strength) which is the national Haitian motto.

In 1936, crowns were added to Liechtenstein's flag because both Liechtenstein and Haiti used the same flag in the Berlin Olympics during 1936.

To the Haitian people, the flag symbolises pride and offences to the flag are seen as offences to the country. On 18th of May, the people of Haiti pay tribute to the flag.

This date was chosen because it was on 18th May 1803 that the Haitian flag was decided upon in Arcahaie. But this flag only consisted of a horizontal blue stripe and a horizontal red stripe.

On 1st January 1804, the direction of the stripes on the flag was changed to two vertical stripes. In 1805 however, the blue stripe on the flag was changed to the colour black and the stripes were changed back to a vertical direction . This was soon after Jean-Jacques Dessalines became emperor. In 1806, when Jean-Jacques Dessalines died, Haiti split into two republics. This split endured for fourteen years.

In the northern part of the country, Henri Christophe carried on using the same flag as Dessalines. However, in the South and west of Haiti, Alexandre Petion changed the design of the flag back to the original blue and red horizontal stripes and added in the Haitian coat of arms on a white square.