MEPX
Chapter 7 of 10All chapters
  1. 1The vocabulary
  2. 2Design principles
  3. 3Colours and their families
  4. 4Symbols
  5. 5Flags of Europe
  6. 6Flags of Asia
  7. 7Flags of Africa
  8. 8Flags of the Americas
  9. 9Flags of Oceania
  10. 10Beyond national flags

Chapter 7 of 10

Flags of Africa

Independence in colour.

Pan-African colours

Ghana adopted red, gold and green with a black star in 1957, and many states followed. The palette marks a shared moment of independence.

  • Kenya's flag carries a Maasai shield and spears.
  • South Africa's 1994 flag uses converging bands to signal unity.

Other traditions

North African flags often draw on Arab and Ottoman heritage, while Ethiopia's colours influenced the continent without the country ever being colonised for long.