Flag of Zimbabwe

What the flag of Zimbabwe looks like

The flag of Zimbabwe has seven horizontal stripes of equal width. From top to bottom they are green, yellow, red, black, red, yellow and green, so the pattern is symmetrical around the black stripe. The proportions are 1:2.

At the hoist is a white isosceles triangle with a thin black border, pointing toward the fly. In the middle of the triangle is a red five-pointed star, and on the star is a yellow-gold image of the Zimbabwe Bird, a bird standing on a small base. The bird is drawn in a stylized, upright pose.

Compare it with the flag of Mozambique, which also has a triangle and star at the hoist. A small version appears as the Zimbabwe flag emoji 🇿🇼.

Zimbabwe flag meaning and symbolism

The meanings given to the flag by the government are as follows:

• Green stands for agriculture and the rural areas of the country.
• Yellow stands for the mineral wealth of Zimbabwe, such as gold and platinum.
• Red stands for the blood shed in the struggle for independence.
• Black represents the Black majority of the people.
• White triangle stands for peace.
• Red star stands for the hope of the nation and for its aspirations. It has also been linked to the socialist ideals of the liberation movements.

The Zimbabwe Bird is the national emblem of the country and one of its oldest symbols. It is based on a set of eight soapstone sculptures found at Great Zimbabwe, a large stone city built between about the 11th and 15th centuries by the ancestors of the Shona people. The bird is often said to be an eagle, a hornbill or a bateleur, and it represents the heritage of the country, the history of its African people and the link between the leaders and their ancestors. The country took its name from this site, since "Zimbabwe" is understood to come from a Shona phrase for "stone houses".

History of the Zimbabwe flag

Before 1980, the territory was a British colony called Southern Rhodesia. It used the British Blue Ensign with the colony's badge. In 1965 the white-minority government of Ian Smith made a unilateral declaration of independence, which Britain and most of the world refused to accept, and in 1968 Rhodesia adopted a new flag of green, white and green vertical stripes with the Rhodesian coat of arms. The country became a republic in 1970.

Black nationalist movements fought a guerrilla war against the government during the 1970s. In 1979, the country was briefly renamed Zimbabwe Rhodesia, and it was given a new flag, but this was not accepted internationally. A peace agreement at Lancaster House in London in December 1979 led to elections and to independence.

The current flag was raised at independence on 18 April 1980, with Robert Mugabe as the first prime minister. Its design is often said to be based on the flag of the ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), which has a similar pattern of colors. The flag has not changed since then.