African Flags 1

African Flags 3

Congo (Brazzaville)

The flag was introduced in 1992 when it replaced the Soviet-inspired flag from 1970. The color green-yellow-red is the traditional Pan-African.

Kenya

The flag was established in 1963. The design is based on a 1952 flag introduced for the independence movement. In the color symbol, black stands for the people, red for its blood, green for the country. The emblem of shield and spear wants to recall the ancestral struggle for the land. The white stripes symbolize peace and unity.

Kenya Flag and Map

Algeria

The flag is believed to have been first shown in 1928 in opposition to the French regime. It became the symbol of the National Liberation Front (FLN) in 1954 and was established in 1962. The moonlight and star have since the sign of Islam in the 12th century; green is the color of Muhammad; white symbolizes “pure intent”.

Algeria Flag and Map

Cape Verde

The flag was officially established in 1992. In the color symbolism, blue stands for the surrounding sky and sea, white for peace and consensus, red for the population’s commitment to prosperity and development. The ten yellow five-star stars correspond to the nation’s ten islands.

Cape Verde Flag and Map

Cameroon

The flag was established in 1975 after being in use since 1957. The color combination is the so-called Pan African originating in Ethiopia. Green symbolizes here vegetation and hope, red community and cohesion, the yellow sun. The star stands for freedom.

Cameroon Flag and Map

Guinea Bissau

The flag was introduced in 1973. The colors are traditionally pan-African. The black five-pointed star symbolizes free Africa. The red field is reminiscent of the victims of the freedom struggle, the yellow about the country’s savannah, the green about its forests.

Guinea Bissau Flag and Map

African Flags 2

Guinea

The flag was officially established in 1958 in the so-called Pan-African colors red-yellow-green. Here the red field symbolizes the blood sacrifice of the freedom struggle, the yellow national wealth bauxite, the vegetation of the green country. Pattern making has been France’s tricolor.

Ghana

The flag was officially established in 1966 but began to be used as early as 1957. The colors are the so-called Pan-African originating in Ethiopia. Red stands here for the victims of the freedom struggle, yellow for the natural riches and for the former name Gold Coast, green for the forests and fields. The black star symbolizes Africa’s freedom.

Equatorial Guinea

The flag was officially established in 1968. In the color symbolism, green represents the country’s natural wealth, white for peace, red for the struggle that led to national independence. The inset blue triangle symbolizes the sea that unites the different parts of the country. The state coat of arms in the white flag of the flag has a silk cotton tree in the shield. Under the shield stands the country’s election language, in translation: unity, peace, justice.

Gambia

The flag was officially set at independence in 1965. In the color symbol, red represents the sun, blue for the Gambia River, green for the country’s agricultural industry and the two narrow white middle edges for peace and moral purity.

Gabon

The flag was officially set in 1960. The color scheme represents green for the country’s forests, yellow for the sun and blue for the Atlantic. In an earlier version of the flag, the yellow center field was narrower and in the upper inner corner of the canvas were the former motherland France’s tricolors.

Ethiopia

The flag was established in its current design in 1996. However, as early as 1897, a tricolor in the so-called Pan-African colors green-yellow-red, was introduced, a combination that became a pattern for a number of African states; The colors are considered to represent faith, hope and love. In the center of the flag was the 1996 state weapon: a pentagram in yellow on a circular blue bottom.

Eritrea

The flag, introduced in 1993, is broadly similar to the EPLF flag. The green triangle symbolizes prosperity and development, the red people’s sacrifice for freedom, the blue sea and the fishing industry. The emblem (which is not the state coat of arms) represents a wreath of olive leaves, a symbol of peace.

Ivory Coast

The flag was adopted in 1959 with the French tricolor as a model. Orange signifies partly progress, partly savannah landscape in the north, green partly hope, partly the forests in the south, white national unity. The flag is similar to Ireland but has the colors in a different order.

Niger

The flag was officially established in 1959. The color symbol represents the orange field for the Sahara and the green for the fertile southern part of the country. White indicates the purity of the people, the sun’s independence. The color scheme is the same as in the Ivory Coast flag.

Namibia

The flag was officially established in 1992. In the color symbolism, blue represents the sky, the sea and the life-giving rain, red for the population, white for peace and unity, green for the country’s forests and agriculture. The stylized sun symbolizes life and energy.

Somalia

The flag became official in 1960 but began to be used as early as 1954. The light blue color of the canvas is inspired by the UN flag. The star symbolizes the freedom of Africa, its five capitals the regions in which Somalis have been and are resident: former British and former Italian Somaliland, Djibouti, southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

Sudan

The flag was officially established in 1970. The color scheme is the traditionally pan-Arab: green-red-black-white. In addition to symbolizing Islam, green in this case stands for the country’s prosperity, red for freedom struggle and progress, black for the national name in Arabic and white for peace.

Swaziland

The flag was officially established in 1967. The color symbol indicates red-time battles, blue peace and yellow mineral resources. The object in the red center field is a black-and-white shield of ox-skin and arrows and a spear, adorned with the blue feather balls of the turaco bird.

South Africa

The flag was introduced at the State Reform in 1994.  According to Countryaah, South Africa is the only African country that is a member of G20. The flag of South Africa is a combination of two flags, formerly the former Boer Republic of Transvaals, a red-white-blue horizontal tricolor with a green crossfield along the bar (it was in small format embedded in the white center field of the former flag), partly the freedom movement ANC’s flag from 1912 in the horizontal color scheme black-green-yellow. Green, here interpreted as the color of freedom, is common and goes again in the middle field, designed as a landscape Y, symbolizing that the apartheid system has ceased and that two separate paths have now merged into one. The bottom composition red-white-blue corresponds to BC. The flag of the Netherlands and thus reminds that it was immigrants from the Netherlands who began to colonize the country in the 1650’s.

Egypt

The flag was officially established in 1972 in conjunction with a change that implicated the state weapon in the white midfield, replacing two green five-pointed stars. The color symbolism is interpreted red as the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, white as the country’s hopeful future and black as its dark past. The state arms were changed in 1984 and are now made up of the so-called Saladin eagle, which is a national symbol.

The red-white-black colors of the Egyptian flag are found, usually in the same order, on the flags of several Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Djibouti

The flag was officially established in 1977 but began to be used as early as 1967. In the color symbolism, blue and green represent the two main groups of the people (issa and afar) and white for peace; the triangle shape indicates equality. The red star symbolizes national independence. Blue also represents heaven and sea, green for earth.

Comoros

The flag was established in 2002. The four bands and the four stars represent the archipelago’s four main islands of Mwali, Ngazidja, Nzwani and Mayotte (linked to France). The green color of the triangle is the sacred color of Islam.

Central African Republic

The flag was adopted in 1958. It is a combination of France’s tricolor (= the past) and the so-called Pan-African colors yellow-green-red (= the present and the future). The transverse red symbolizes the bond between white and black people. The star stands for national freedom.

Burundi

The flag was adopted in 1962 and got a slightly changed design in 1967. The three stars symbolize the country’s three peoples but also the nation’s election language: “Unity, work, progress”. The red fields represent the suffering of the freedom struggle, the green for the future, the white cross for peace.

Burkina Faso

The flag is red, green and yellow, the so-called Pan-African colors; red for the revolution, green for the riches of agriculture. The yellow star symbolizes the revolutionary character of the government. The flag replaced an older black-and-white since Burkina Faso received a new regime after a coup in 1987.

Botswana

The flag was introduced in 1966. The color scheme is to symbolize the community of the black and white population and a position against racial segregation, while the light blue represents the life-giving rain, the prerequisite for the country’s existence.

Benin

The flag was introduced in 1960, when the country gained full independence. The combination green-yellow-red are the traditional so-called Pan-African colors, found in several of the African states’ flags. During the Marxist regime in 1975–90, the country had a full green flag with a Soviet red star in the upper inner corner.

Angola

The flag was established in 1975. The colors have been taken over from the MPLA flag. Red stands for the fight against colonial oppression, black for solidarity with the people of Africa. The emblem with a half gear and a machete knife symbolizes the unity of industrial and agricultural workers.

African Flags 1