Flag of Eritrea

What the flag of Eritrea looks like

The flag has a width-to-height ratio of 1:2. A large red isosceles triangle starts at the hoist and points toward the fly, reaching the opposite edge. This leaves two smaller right-angled triangles, a green one on the upper side and a blue one on the lower side. The three triangles together fill the whole rectangle.

In the red triangle, near the hoist, is a gold emblem: an olive branch surrounded by a wreath made of two sprigs of olive. The yellow emblem is small compared with the flag, but it is the main feature that distinguishes it from other red, green and blue designs. A reduced version of the design appears in the Eritrea flag emoji.

Eritrea flag meaning and symbolism

The commonly cited meanings are that red represents the blood shed during the long struggle for independence, green the country's agriculture and farmland, and blue the Red Sea along its coast. The red triangle is also said to refer to the shape of the country.

The olive branch within a wreath is a symbol of peace. It echoes the design of the first flag of Eritrea, used in the 1950s, which had a similar olive wreath around a branch. Some sources say the wreath has 14 leaves, one for each of the 14 sub-districts of the former provinces, but this detail is not always given in official descriptions.

History of the Eritrean flag

Eritrea was an Italian colony from the late 19th century until 1941 and was then under British administration. In 1952, following a United Nations resolution, it became an autonomous region federated with Ethiopia. Its flag was the light blue UN flag with an olive wreath, and the olive branch idea was taken from it.

In 1962 Ethiopia annexed the territory and dissolved the federation, and this led to a war of independence that lasted about thirty years. The two main liberation movements, the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and later the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), used their own flags. The EPLF flag, with red, green and blue triangles, is the ancestor of the present flag. The war ended in 1991, and in a referendum held in April 1993 voters overwhelmingly chose independence, which was formally declared on 24 May 1993.

Independent Eritrea first flew a flag derived from the EPLF design. The present flag, with the gold olive wreath, was officially adopted on 5 December 1995. Since then the flag has not been changed, and the country marks Independence Day on 24 May.

The flag in use

Eritrea's flag stands apart from many African flags, which are based on the Pan-African palette of green, yellow and red. Its neighbor Ethiopia has a horizontal tricolor with a central emblem, so the two are easy to tell apart. To compare it with other national flags, see the flags of the world.