The national flag of

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

(french: Drapeau du Tchad; ar, علم تشاد) is a vertical tricolour consisting (left to right) of a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

, a

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

and a red field. Since the 1990s, its similarity to the

flag of Romania The national flag of Romania ( ro, drapelul României) is a tricolour. The Constitution of Romania states that "The flag of Romania is tricolour; the colours are arranged vertically in the following order from the flagpole: blue, yellow, red". ...

has caused international discussion. In 2004, Chad asked the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

to examine the issue; however,

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

, the

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

, announced no change would occur to the flag, as the existence of Romania's tricolour predates the existence of Chad as a whole.

Description

The flag of Chad is a vertical tricolour consisting (left to right) of a

, a

and a red column. These were intended to be a combination of the colours of blue, white and red as seen on the

Flag of France The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Irela ...

with the

Pan-African colours Pan-African colours is a term that may refer to two different sets of colours: * Green, yellow and red, the colours of the flag of Ethiopia, have come to represent the pan-Africanist ideology due to the country's history of having avoided being ...

of green, yellow and red. Furthermore, the blue represents the sky and hope; the gold is the sun and desert, and the red signifies the bloodshed over independence. The flag was adopted in 1960 for the autonomous republic and retained on independence in 1959, and in the constitution of 1962. Despite many political upheavals within Chad since independence, the flag has not been changed. This may be because the flag is not associated with any of the main power rivals within Chad, which had no sense of national identity before independence, and little after independence.

Similarity with Romanian flag

The flag of Chad is almost identical to the national

, although the colours in Chad flags may vary more than those specified for Romania. Romania has used the flag since 1866, which appeared for the first time in its current form in

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

. It was officially in use from 1848 until 1948, when it was superseded by the flag of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Chad began to use its present flag in 1960, after it achieved independence from France. When Chad adopted its flag, Romania's flag was different: it used to feature an insignia in the middle of the flag on top of the tricolour; this was added after World War II during the Communist era of the second half of the 20th century. But in 1989 Romania's Communist government was overthrown and the insignia was removed, reverting Romania's flag to the prewar version which matched the one which had been adopted by Chad in the meantime. The issue of Romania and Chad sharing similar flags has concerned the Chadian government on occasion; they requested in 2004 that the

should consider it an issue. In response,

Romanian President The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

said to the media, "The tricolour belongs to us. We will not give up the tricolour."

Colors

Historical flags

File:Kanem flag from dulcerta 1339-pt.svg, Flag of Kanem according to

Angelino Dulcert Angelino Dulcert (fl. 1339), probably the same person known as Angelino de Dalorto (fl. 1320s), and whose real name was probably Angelino de Dulceto or Dulceti or possibly Angelí Dolcet, was an Italian-Majorcan cartographer. He is responsible for ...

(1339) File:Bornu flag.tif, Flag of Bornu (Kanem's successor) according to Gabriel de Vallseca (1439) File:Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg,

and

French Equatorial Africa French Equatorial Africa (french: link=no, Afrique-Équatoriale française), or the AEF, was the federation of French colonial possessions in Equatorial Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River into the Sahel, and comprising what are ...

(1900–1959) File:Standard of the Free French Government of Chad, 1940–1942.svg, Flag of the

Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

government of Chad under Pierre-Olivier Lapie (1940–1942) File:Flag of Pierre-Olivier Lapie as Governor of Chad.svg, Lapie's personal flag (1940–1942) File:Standard of the French Community.svg, Standard of the

French Community The French Community (1958–1960; french: Communauté française) was the constitutional organization set up in 1958 between France and its remaining African colonies, then in the process of decolonization. It replaced the French Union, which ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chard, Flag of Flags introduced in 1959

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