A map of the world

The flag of the United Nations was adopted on October 20, 1947. The flag has the official emblem of the United Nations in white on a blue background. The emblem is composed of an azimuthal equidistant projection of a world map (less Antarctica) centred on the North Pole, enclosed in olive branches. The olive branches are a symbol for peace, and the world map represents all the people of the world.

A similar looking flag was first presented in a slightly different form from the present one at the Organisation Conference in San Francisco in April 1945, with the only difference the drawing of the Earth. The flag was distributed among delegates and the press. In 1946, a UNO committee got the task of making a definite design, which was presented December 2, 1946, and adopted by the plenary session of the UNO on December 7, 1946. The earlier version had the globe 90 degrees turned eastward compared with the present flag. According to press statements, the change was made to move North Ame ...more

The emblem of the United Nations is a map of the world, placed on 5 concentric circles. The centre of the map is the North Pole, so the view of the emblem is as if we were looking down on the earth and it had been laid flat with the North Pole as its centre.
The background is blue, all countries are in gold and the water areas are in white.
This map of the world is then encased in the branches of an olive tree (to symbolise peace). The olive branches are also in gold.
The design has been largely unchanged snce it was agreed and accepted on December 7th 1946.
The emblem is sometimes confused with the flag of the United Nations. This also has the map of the world, with the centre of the North Pole, but the flag is blue and the countries/olive branches are white in colour.

The current United Nations emblem was approved on 7 December 1946. The design is "a map of the world representing an azimuthal equidistant projection centred on the North Pole, inscribed in a wreath consisting of crossed conventionalized branches of the olive tree, in gold on a field of smoke-blue with all water areas in white. The projection of the map extends to 60 degrees south latitude, and includes five concentric circles".

The flag has the official emblem of the United Nations in white on a blue background. The emblem is composed of an azimuthal equidistant projection of a world map (less Antarctica) centred on the North Pole, enclosed in olive branches. The olive branches are a symbol for peace, and the world map represents all the people of the world.