Flag of Ethiopia

What the flag of Ethiopia looks like

The national flag of Ethiopia has three horizontal bands of equal height: green at the top, yellow in the middle and red at the bottom. In the center is a blue disc, and on the disc is a yellow pentagram (a five-pointed star outlined with lines) with short yellow rays extending from between the points. The proportions are 1:2.

The disc is large enough to overlap all three bands, and it is the most distinctive feature of the design. The emblem was added in 1996, while the tricolor itself is much older. Without the emblem, the flag would be a plain green, yellow and red tricolor of the kind used by many African states, so the blue disc and star are what make it recognizable at a glance.

The Ethiopia flag emoji and the files on the Ethiopia flag download page show the same design.

Ethiopia flag meaning and symbolism

The three stripes have long been given meaning in Ethiopia. What the colors symbolize varies with point of view. In general, red represents the blood spilled in defense of Ethiopia, yellow represents peace and harmony between the country's various ethnic and religious groups, and green is said to symbolize hope, or the land and its fertility. The colors were used by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church before they became the colors of the state.

On the emblem, the star stands for Ethiopia's bright future, and the rays it emits are equidistant and are said to represent the equality of all Ethiopians regardless of race, creed or sex.

Because Ethiopia was one of the very few African countries to remain independent in the age of colonialism, its colors became a symbol of African freedom. Several newly independent African countries later adopted these three colors in homage to Ethiopia's resistance to foreign occupation, which is why they are known as the Pan-African colors.

History of the Ethiopia flag

Ethiopian rulers used banners and pennants for centuries. The colors green, yellow and red held symbolic importance in Ethiopia since at least the early 17th century. The modern tricolor was first adopted on 11 October 1897, when Emperor Menelik II, a year after Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa, ordered a horizontal tricolor of red, yellow and green from top to bottom. The order was later flipped, and from 1914 green has been on top. The royal flag often showed a crowned Lion of Judah carrying a cross on the yellow band.

After the emperor Haile Selassie was deposed in 1974 by a military committee, the Derg, the lion was dropped, and various emblems were used by the government from 1974 onward. Before 1996 the plain green, yellow and red banner was commonly used as a civil flag.

The current flag, with the blue disc and star, was adopted on 31 October 1996. In 2009 a flag proclamation required the flag to be used with its emblem.

Why the Ethiopian flag is used in Jamaica and elsewhere

The green, yellow and red of the Ethiopian flag are used by the Rastafari movement, which began in Jamaica in the 1930s. Rastafari see Haile Selassie as a divine figure and Ethiopia as a symbol of African pride, and they often add the colors, and sometimes the Lion of Judah, to clothing and banners. The colors also appear on the flags of many African nations. Compare them on the flags of Africa page.