Flying a Senegalese flag was forbidden during colonization, as the French worried it would incite extreme nationalism. The Republic du Senegal achieved independence from France in 1959, and the following year adopted its flag. The French Tricolour (three colors like the French flag: red, blue, and white), was the inspiration for positioning the stripes and three solid colors of Senegal’s flag. However, that’s where the similarity ends. The green stripe is said to symbolize Islam, progress, and hope — an all-inclusive color for the Senegal’s many religions. Yellow embodies progress and wealth, and red represents blood and sacrifice. The colors fit into the Pan-African scheme.
Pa Louis Thomas, an accountant, designed this country’s ensign and flag. A colony of England until it was granted self-governance in 1963, The Gambia was allowed a distinctive colonial flag, which retained the ensign of the British Empire, but added its own seal of arms. When it gained full independence in 1965, the flag above was hoisted without a seal. Red evokes the savanna grasslands and the sun, blue the mighty Gambia River, and green, the lushness and agricultural sustainability. The white stripes which seem to visually bind the three colors embody unity and peace.
The colors of Guinea’s flag were influenced by Pan-Africanism shades and really really liking Ghana’s flag (which is red, yellow and green). In 1958, Guinea broke away from the former French West Africa colonial territories. It was the only former colony opting out of the new French Community protectorate structure. Independence was declared on Oct. 2, 1958. According to Sékou Touré, the first president of the newly established nation, red represents sacrifice and labor, yellow, the sun, mineral wealth (especially gold), and green, solidarity and agricultural wealth.
This former crown colony won independence from the British Empire on April 27, 1961, and raised its national flag that same day. Like The Gambia, Sierra Leone had used the British ensign for its blue flag, and the same badge as The Gambia, Gold Coast, and Lagos, until the colony obtained its own coat-of-arms in 1914. The colors above, simple but symbolic, are for unity and justice (white), mountains and agriculture (green), and the harbor of Freetown, the country’s capital (blue).
An admirer of the Ghanaian flag, the former Portuguese colony adopted this flag through the leading political party after the September 1973 declaration of independence. The black star is said to represent PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) leadership — African self-determination to live in freedom and peace. The pan-African colors of yellow, green, and red follow suit with the other former colonies advancing African unity such as Ghana and Mali. Yellow is the fruit of labor, red is bloodshed for the sake of liberation, and green is for the lushness of the forests. In 1974, Portugal recognized the independence of Guinea-Bissau after its own in-country revolution and total withdrawal from African colonies.
Remind you of another flag? The abolitionist group American Colonization Society bought land in West Africa to provide a new country for former slaves stolen from the African continent. The original flag during the Liberia’s development had the same red-and-white-stripe count as the U.S. flag, and a large white cross where the star is now. Liberia became an independent nation in 1847, though it never was under colonial rule. The flag design was created by a committee of female citizens. The single white star embodies the freedom given to the slaves, the 11 stripes were a head count of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and the blue square represents the African mainland.
The colors of the equal vertical bands of this flag — another former French colony — harness the Pan-African colors, but with different hues. The flag of Niger, which the Ivory Coast had an alliance with, has the most similar colors of African countries. Choosing to be completely autonomous of the Fifth French Republic, on Dec. 4, 1958, it declared itself a republic under the leadership of President Felix Houphouët-Boigny. Boigny wanted close relations with France and its culture, therefore he rejected the scheme of the pan-African flag. Orange stands for the savanna of the north country, although some claim it is for growth. White is happiness, and fresh water flowing, and green is the southern forests, and hope for the future. Which other country does this flag remind you of? (Hint: potatoes, leprechauns, Guinness…)
When this chain Atlantic islands off the coast of Senegal achieved independence from Portugal (along with Guinea-Bissau) in 1975, the two countries raised identical Pan-African flags, although Cape Verde’s featured a ring of corn and a seashell around a black star. The plan was to fuse the two newfound nations together, although that was soon ditched. As with Guinea-Bissau, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) governed Cape Verde until 1980. In 1991, the ruling party was defeated by the Movement for Democracy, and the next year a new flag (above) was introduced. The red (symbolizing economy), white (symbolizing peace), and blue (symbolizing the ocean) represent the ties of Cape Verde to Portugal and the U.S. The 10 gold star are the islands.
The Togo flag is an interesting blend of the Pan-African colors of many West African nations, combined with the layout of Liberia’s flag (therefore reminiscent of the American flag). Togo’s flag was designed by Paul Ahyi, a Togolese French-educated artist renowned as one of the great African sculptors and painters of his time. Before reaching full autonomy, Togo had two stars where you now see one. It was dropped in 1960 to embody unity. The flag was raised after the country gained independence from France on April 27, 1960. Five stripes represent five administrative regions. Green and white represent agriculture and hope; yellow, natural resources; and red, love, charity, and fidelity.
Dahomey — the African kingdom in present-day Benin –lasted from about 1600 until the 1900s. Benin’s national flag was lifted after liberation from France in 1959; it carried the pan-African colors, representing geographical wonders of the land and the blood spilled for independence. It was the same colors as Ethiopia’s flag — homage to the oldest independent country in Africa. Except Dahomey became a Marxist state in 1974 after a coup, and the name changed to The People’s Republic of Benin. The flag changed to a green field with a red star in the hoist corner. It wasn’t until the regime fell in 1990 that the pan-African flag returned.
After centuries of British colonial rule and slave trade in the country now named Nigeria, it was made a British protectorate in 1914, and the Seal of Solomon was raised — a green star on a red disk, representing the official colony of Nigeria. In 1959, as the colony teetered on the edge of full independence, a national flag contest was announced to find the best flag design for the new nation. Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, a student living in London, beat out more than 3,000 other contestants. The flag above is his original vision, although the national planning committee removed the symbol of a red sun from the white stripe. On the day of autonomy, Oct. 1, 1960, the new flag was raised. Green represents forests and natural wealth; and white, peace.
The Convention People’s Party, established by Kwame Nkrumah, aimed at uniting the Gold Coast people of British colonies, and the horizontal red, yellow and green colors above became the emblem of self-reliance. When independence was gained on March 6, 1957, the flag of Ghana was adopted, adding a black star in the middle symbolic of Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line, the shipping company that transported goods and African Americans through the African continent in 1919. Designed by Theodosia Okoh, the flag was hoisted up with two black stars, but a third was added when Ghana joined the Union of African States in 1959. After some instability and the overthrow of Nkrumah, the original one-star flag was re-adopted on Feb. 28, 1966, and it’s what you see today.
