Flag of French Guiana

What the flag of French Guiana looks like

French Guiana has no separate legal flag. The official flag is the flag of France: three vertical bands of blue at the hoist, white in the middle and red at the fly, in a 2:3 ratio. It is flown on government buildings and used in official events, along with the flag of the European Union.

The second flag, seen on cars, shops and at sports events, is a diagonal bicolor. It is divided from the upper right to the lower left corner, with green above and yellow below, and has a red five-pointed star in the center. It is the most commonly used unofficial flag of the territory, and is the one many people mean when they search for the flag of French Guiana.

French Guiana flag meaning and symbolism

The French tricolor carries its usual meaning: its colors are tied to the French Revolution, and the flag represents the French Republic, of which French Guiana is a full part.

The unofficial green and yellow flag is explained like this:

• Green stands for the Amazon rainforest that covers most of the territory.
• Yellow stands for gold and for the wealth of the land, and for the sun.
• The red star is often said to stand for the blood shed in the territory's history, and for the hopes of the Guianese people.

These meanings are informal. The flag grew out of the autonomist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and for some people it expresses a distinct Guianese identity within France or a wish for more self-government. For others it is simply a regional emblem.

History of the French Guiana flag

French settlement in Guiana began in the 17th century, and the territory was under the white flag of the French kings until the Revolution. The tricolor became the flag of France, and with it of Guiana, in the 1790s. Over the following decades the territory also passed briefly under Portuguese and British control, until it was returned to France in 1817. It was a penal colony for many years, including the island prison of Devil's Island.

In 1946, French Guiana became an overseas department of France, with the same rights as any department. Since 2016 it has been governed by a single territorial authority, the Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane. Today the tricolor remains the only official flag. The green and yellow flag is tolerated and widely seen but it is not recognized in law as the flag of the department.