Maroon

Maroon
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#800000
sRGBB (r, g, b)	(128, 0, 0)
HSV (h, s, v)	(0°, 100%, 50%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(26, 86, 12°)
Source	[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Maroon is a color mixture composed of brown and purple. Although conceptually a color mixture, it can be regarded as a dark (and possibly also desaturated) shade of red. Derived from French marron ("chestnut"), it didn't become a color-word in English until ca. 1791.

Etymology

A maroon, a term for a fugitive slave in the 17th and 18th centuries in the West Indies and Guiana, or for a descendant of such slaves. They were called marron by the French and cimarrón by the Spanish. Formerly much used in the West Indies and South America, the term later came to be used with particular reference to certain blacks living in West Jamaica. The maroons fled when the British began their conquest of the island from the Spanish in 1655 and maintained a hostile independence until 1739, when a treaty granting them lands of their own and virtual independence was concluded. (See Bibliography)

Uses

Maroon is the national color of the Republic of Latvia, and is featured in its National flag. Historical evidence places the Latvian flag among the oldest flags in the world, hence this shade of red is sometimes also referred to as Latvian Red.

Maroon is also the official color of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is also used by the state's sporting teams.

Maroon is the principal school color of Boston College, Texas A&M University, The University of Chicago and a form of maroon (Stamford School red) is used, unsurprisingly, by Stamford School. The daily newspaper at Chicago is called The Maroon as are its athletic teams, while Boston College teams, officially the Eagles, are affectionately known as the Maroon & Gold.

Sporting Teams

Maroon is used as the dominant colour by the following sporting teams.

Australian Football

• Brisbane Lions (with blue)

Cricket

• Queensland Bulls

Rugby League

• Queensland Maroons (aka "The Cane Toads")
• Brisbane Broncos (with gold and white)
• Burleigh Bears
• Huddersfield Giants
• Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

NCAA Athletics

• Virginia Tech (Maroon and Burnt Orange)
• Lafayette College (Maroon and White)
• Alabama A&M University (Maroon and White)

See also

• List of colors

Biblography

See studies by C. Robinson (1969) and R. Price (1976, 1979).