The flag of

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

consists of a red bend edged in two white bands with a blue upper triangle charged with an 12-ray yellow sun and green lower triangle. The flag was adopted on 21 March 1990 upon independence from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. During

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

rule, it used the South African orange-white-blue tricolor.

Design

The National Symbols Sub-Committee received 870 entries for the national flag. Six designs were short-listed; this was reduced to three, those of three Namibians – Theo Jankowski of Rehoboth, Don Stevenson of

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

and Ortrud Clay of Lüderitz. These three designs were combined to form the Namibia national flag, adopted unanimously on 2 February 1990 by the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

. The three designers were publicly acknowledged by judge Hans Berker, the chairman of the subcommittee, at the unveiling ceremony on 9 March 1990. However, two other claims were made – South African Frederick Brownell claimed that he had designed the flag in his role as

n State

Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

. (A series of 8 articles.) The other claimant was Briton Roy Allen, who claimed that the flag design was the result of a competition run by Hannes Smith of the '' Windhoek Observer'', and that he had won. It is one of the few national flags incorporating a diagonal line, with other examples including the

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

, and

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

Colours

The colours of the Namibian flag are described in the Government Gazette. This document also details construction of the Presidential flag. The tone or specific shade for white has not been specified.

Construction sheet

Symbolism

The chairman explained the symbolism of the flag's colours as follows: * Red – represents Namibia's most important resource, its people. It refers to their heroism and their determination to build a future of equal opportunity for all. * White – represents peace, unity, tranquility, and harmony. * Green – symbolises vegetation and agricultural resources. * Blue – represents the clear Namibian sky and the Atlantic Ocean, the country's precious water resources and rain. * Golden-yellow sun – life and energy. The golden-yellow colour represents wealth of the country. * The twelve rays of the sun – represents the twelve ethnicities of Namibia, which make up most of the Namibian population, which are divided into four main groups of three.

Description

The flag has a white-edged red diagonal band radiating diagonally from the lower hoist-side corner. The upper triangle is blue with a gold sun with 12 triangular rays and the lower triangle is green.

Blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

: ''Per bend sinister Azure and Vert, a bend sinister Gules fimbriated Argent and in dexter chief a Sun with twelve straight rays Or charged with an annulet Azure.''

Other flags

File:Flag of the President of Namibia.svg, Presidential Standard File:Flag of the Namibian Police Force.svg, Police Flag File:Flag of the Namibian Defence Force.png, NDF Flag File:Flag of the Namibian Army.svg, Army Flag File:Flag of the Namibian Navy.svg, Navy Flag File:Flag of the Namibian Air Force.svg, Air Force Flag

Historical flags

Flag of Germany (1867–1918).svg, Flag of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

File:Reichskolonialflagge.svg, Flag of the Reich Colonial Office, used in German South-West Africa from 24 April 1884 to 9 July 1915. File:Flag of Deutsch-Südwest.svg, Proposed flag of German South-West Africa. File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg, Flag of South West Africa between 1915 and 28 June 1919. File:Red Ensign of South Africa (1912–1951).svg, Merchant flag of South West Africa from 1915 to 1928. File:Flag of South Africa (1928-1994).svg, Flag of

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

from 1928 until 1982 under Mandates and Trusteeships by

. File:Flag of South Africa (1982–1994).svg, Flag of South West Africa from 1982 until 1990 under Mandates and Trusteeships by South Africa. File:Flag of South West Africa People's Organisation.svg, Flag of SWAPO used at the United Nations between 1976 and 21 March 1990.

Flags of bantustans in South West Africa

Some of the

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...

s established by South Africa during its period of administering South West Africa had adopted their own distinctive flags whilst others used the flag of South Africa. File:Flag of Bushmanland.svg, Bushmanland File:Flag of Damaraland.svg, Damaraland File:Flag of East Caprivi.svg, East Caprivi File:Flag of Hereroland.svg, Hereroland File:Flag of South Africa (1928–1982).svg, Kaokoland (until 1982) File:Flag of South Africa (1982–1994).svg, Kaokoland (from 1982) File:Flag of Kavangoland.svg, Kavangoland File:Flag of Namaland.svg, Namaland File:Flag of Ovamboland.svg, Ovamboland File:Flag of Rehoboth-Basterland.svg, Rehoboth (Basterland) File:Flag of South Africa (1928–1982).svg, Tswanaland (until 1982) File:Flag of South Africa (1982–1994).svg, Tswanaland (from 1982)

References

External links

*
World Statesmen – Namibia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Namibia, Flag of Flags of Africa

Flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

Flags introduced in 1990 Flags adopted through competition

Flags displaying a sun