Flags of Africa Quiz

The Pan-African Colours

The most useful thing to know about African flags is the pan-African palette: red, gold and green. It comes from Ethiopia, which kept its independence through the colonial era apart from a short Italian occupation. When Ghana became independent in 1957 it was the first new African country to take these colours, and many others followed in the 1960s as a symbol of freedom and unity.

Flags made mostly of red, gold and green: Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, the Republic of the Congo and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Flags that mix them with other colours: Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Eritrea, the Central African Republic, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros.

A second family uses red, black and green, the colours of the Pan-African flag created in 1920, which appear on the flags of Kenya, Malawi and South Sudan.

African Flags With Stars

About half of Africa's flags have a star, so a star alone rarely gives a flag away. Look at its colour and where it sits:

One star in the middle: Ghana (black), Senegal (green), Cameroon (gold, on the red stripe), Burkina Faso (gold), Morocco (a green outline on red), Somalia (white on light blue) and Ethiopia (yellow, on a blue disc).

One star near the hoist or in a corner: Togo, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Djibouti and Zimbabwe.

A star with a crescent: Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. Comoros has four stars beside its crescent, one for each island.

More than one star: Cape Verde has ten, one for each of its main islands, the most on any African flag. Burundi has three six-pointed stars, and São Tomé and Príncipe two black stars for its two islands. Angola and Mozambique carry a star inside their emblems.

The Newest African Flag: South Sudan

South Sudan has Africa's newest national flag. It became the flag of a country on 9 July 2011, the day South Sudan became independent from Sudan, which also made it the newest country in the world. Black stands for the people, red for the blood shed for freedom, green for the land and white for peace. The blue triangle is the waters of the Nile, and the gold star stands for the unity of the states.

It is easy to mix up with Kenya: both have black, red and green stripes edged in white. Kenya has a shield and spears in the middle, while South Sudan has a blue triangle and a star at the hoist.

Older countries have changed their flags since. Mauritania added a red stripe along the top and bottom in 2017, for those who died fighting for independence.

African Flags by Region

North Africa: Egypt, Libya and Sudan use the pan-Arab colours (red, white, black and green), while Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco lean on the crescent and star. Morocco is red with a green five-pointed star, and Tunisia is red with a white disc holding a red crescent and star.

West Africa: the home of the vertical tricolour. Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire all use three vertical stripes, and Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso add a star.

East Africa: shields, birds and bold stripes. Kenya has a Maasai shield and spears, Uganda a grey crowned crane, Tanzania a diagonal band and Rwanda a golden sun.

Central Africa: Chad's blue, yellow and red tricolour is almost identical to Romania's, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a red diagonal band and a yellow star on sky blue.

Southern Africa: the most varied designs on the continent, including South Africa's six-colour Y shape, Mozambique's rifle and hoe and Eswatini's warrior shield.

How to Tell Similar African Flags Apart

Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Cameroon all use vertical stripes in the pan-African colours. Mali is plain green, gold and red. Senegal is the same with a green star in the middle. Guinea reverses the order to red, gold and green. Cameroon is green, red and gold with a gold star on the red stripe.

Ghana and Ethiopia both use horizontal stripes in the same three colours. Ghana is red, gold and green with a black star, while Ethiopia is green, yellow and red with a blue disc and a yellow star.

A quick check settles most African flags: are the stripes vertical or horizontal, and is there a star, an emblem or nothing at all?

Flags That Break the Pattern

Not every African flag uses the pan-African palette, and the exceptions are often the easiest to remember:

South Africa: six colours and a green Y shape, one of the most distinctive flags in the world.

Kenya: black, red and green with white borders, and a Maasai shield and spears in the centre.

Mozambique: the only national flag with a modern rifle, crossed with a hoe over an open book.

Libya: from 1977 to 2011 its flag was plain green, the only single-colour national flag of its time. Today it is red, black and green with a white crescent and star.