Flag of Namibia

The flag of Namibia consists of a red diagonal band edged in two white bands with a blue upper triangle charged with an 12-ray yellow sun and green lower triangle.

The flag was adopted on 21 March 1990 upon independence from South Africa. During apartheid rule, it used the South African orange-white-blue tricolor.

Design

The National Symbols Sub-Committee received 870 entries for the national flag. Six designs were short-listed; this was reduced to three, those of three Namibians – Theo Jankowski of

However, two other claims were made – South African Frederick Brownell claimed that he had designed the flag in his role as South African State Herald.^[3] The other claimant was Briton Roy Allen, who claimed that the flag design was the result of a competition run by Hannes Smith of the Windhoek Observer, and that he had won.^[4]

It is one of the few national flags incorporating a diagonal line, with other examples including the DR Congo, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, and Brunei.

Colours

The colours of the Namibian flag are described in the Government Gazette.^[5] This document also details construction of the Presidential flag. The tone or specific shade for white has not been specified.

Construction Sheet

Symbolism

The chairman explained the symbolism of the flag's colours as follows:^[3]

• Red – represents Namibia's most important resource, its people. It refers to their heroism and their determination to build a future of equal opportunity for all.
• White – represents peace, unity, tranquility, and harmony.
• Green – symbolises vegetation and agricultural resources.
• Blue – represents the clear Namibian sky and the Atlantic Ocean, the country's precious water resources and rain.
• Golden-yellow sun – life and energy. The golden-yellow colour represents wealth of the country.
• The twelve rays of the sun – represents the twelve ethnicities of Namibia, which make up most of the Namibian population, which are divided into four main groups of three.

Description

The flag has a white-edged red diagonal band radiating diagonally from the lower hoist-side corner. The upper triangle is blue with a gold sun with 12 triangular rays and the lower triangle is green.

Blazon: Per bend sinister Azure and Vert, a bend sinister Gules fimbriated Argent and in dexter chief a Sun with twelve straight rays Or charged with an annulet Azure.

Other flags

• 
  Presidential Standard
• 
  Police Flag
• 
  NDF Flag
• 
  Army Flag
• 
  Navy Flag
• 
  Air Force Flag

Historical flags

• 
  Flag of the German Empire
• 
  Flag of the

  German South-West Africa

  from 24 April 1884 to 9 July 1915.
• 
  Proposed flag of German South-West Africa.
• 
  Flag of South West Africa between 1915 and 28 June 1919.
• 
  Merchant flag of South West Africa from 1915 to 1928.
• 
  Flag of

  Trusteeships by South Africa

  .
• 
  Flag of South West Africa from 1982 until 1990 under Mandates and Trusteeships by South Africa.
• 
  Flag of SWAPO used at the United Nations between 1976 and 21 March 1990.

Flags of bantustans in South West Africa

Some of the bantustans established by South Africa during its period of administering South West Africa had adopted their own distinctive flags whilst others used the flag of South Africa.

• 
  Bushmanland
• 
  Damaraland
• 
  East Caprivi
• 
  Hereroland
• 
  Kaokoland
• 
  Kavangoland
• 
  Namaland
• 
  Ovamboland
• 
  Rehoboth (Basterland)
• 
  Tswanaland

References

External links

• Namibia at Flags of the World
• World Statesmen – Namibia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flags of Namibia.