National flag - Flag of the United Arab Emirates

The flag of the United Arab Emirates (علم دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة) contains the Pan-Arab colors red, green, white, and black. It was designed in 1971 by a 19-year-old Emirati, Abdullah Mohammed Al Maainah, and adopted on December 2, 1971. The main theme of the flag's four colors is the unity of Arab nations. In 2008, there was a minor change to the Emblem.

Merchant ships may fly the alternative civil ensign, a red flag with the national flag in the canton.

All Emirates use the federal flag interchangeably as the flag of the emirate.

Each of the seven emirates within the United Arab Emirates originally had a common red plain flag as each emirate's banner, the red banner represents the descension and allegiance to the prophet Muhammad. In 1820, six out of the seven emirates signed the General treaty agreement with the British Empire which compelled them to be under the British Protectorate rule and protection in the region. A white segment was enforced to be added to the hoist of each emirate's flag.

Fujairah was the only emirate which did not sign the general treaty in 1820 with the British protectorate and therefore continued to use its plain red flag.

The flag of Abu Dhabi is a red flag with a white rectangle at the top-left corner.

The flags of Ajman and Dubai are identical. They are both plain red with a white bar at the hoist, i.e. closest to the flag staff.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE; دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة '), sometimes simply called the Emirates (الإمارات '), is a country in Western Asia at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing maritime borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north. The sovereign constitutional monarchy is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi (which serves as the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain. Their boundaries are complex, with numerous enclaves within the various emirates. Each emirate is governed by a ruler; together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the rulers serves as the President of the United Arab Emirates. In 2013, the UAE's population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates.

Human occupation of the present UAE has been traced back to the emergence of anatomically modern humans from Africa some 125,000 BCE through finds at the Faya-1 site in Mleiha, Sharjah. Burial sites dating back to the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age include the oldest known such inland site at Jebel Buhais. Known as Magan to the Sumerians, the area was home to a prosperous Bronze Age trading culture during the Umm Al Nar period, which traded between the Indus Valley, Bahrain and Mesopotamia as well as Iran, Bactria and the Levant. The ensuing Wadi Suq period and three Iron Ages saw the emergence of nomadism as well as the development of water management and irrigation systems supporting human settlement in both the coast and interior. The Islamic age of the UAE dates back to the expulsion of the Sasanians and the subsequent Battle of Dibba. The UAE's long history of trade led to the emergence of Julfar, in the present day emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, as a major regional trading and maritime hub in the area. The maritime dominance of the Persian Gulf by Emirati traders led to conflicts with European powers, including the Portuguese and British.