MEPX
Chapter 3 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 3 of 10

Colours and their families

Borrowed on purpose.

Recurring palettes

Pan-African red, gold and green with black; pan-Arab red, white, black and green; pan-Slavic white, blue and red. Shared colours signal shared political history.

  • The French tricolour inspired many later revolutionary designs.
  • Ethiopia's colours were adopted widely after independence movements.

Symbolic claims

Official explanations often postdate the design. Red for the blood of martyrs and green for the land are common readings, sometimes attached long after adoption.