The

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and national symbol, symbolizes a given nation. It is Fly (flag), flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanin ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

() was adopted in its present form on 20 May 1975 after

became a unitary state. It is a vertical tricolour of green, red and yellow pales, with a yellow five-pointed star in its center. There is a wide variation in the size of the central star, although it is always contained within the inside stripe.

Description

The colour scheme uses the traditional Pan-African colours (Cameroon was the second state to adopt them). The centre stripe is thought to stand for unity: red is the colour of unity, and the star is referred to as "the star of unity". The

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

stands for the sun, and also the

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

s in the northern part of the country, while the

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

is for the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s in the southern part of Cameroon. The previous flag of Cameroon, used from 1961 to 1975, had a similar colour scheme, but with two gold (darker than the third stripe by comparison) stars in the upper half of the green. It was adopted after British

Southern Cameroons The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southw ...

joined with Republic of Cameroon to create the Federal Republic of Cameroon.''The International Flag Book in Color'', Christian Fogd Pedersen (1971) The two stars represented the two components of the federation, East Cameroon and

West Cameroon West Cameroon () was a federated state within the Federal Republic of Cameroon that existed between 1961 and 1972. It was formed on 1 October 1961 when the formerly British-administered Southern Cameroons was integrated into the Republic of Camer ...

. The original flag of the State of Cameroon and the Republic of Cameroon, made law by Law No. 46 of 26 October 1957, was the simple tricolour. It was confirmed on 21 February 1960 in the new constitution.

Military flags and ensigns

Military flags and ensigns of Cameroon are following British practice with different designs.

Colors

Historical flags

Colonial-era

File:Reichskolonialflagge.svg, Flag of the German Colonial Office File:Flag of Deutsch-Kamerun.svg, Proposed flag of German Cameroon File:Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1974, 2020–present).svg, Flag of

French Cameroon French Cameroon, also known as the French Cameroons (), was a French mandate territory in Central Africa. It now forms part of the independent country of Cameroon. Eastern part of the former German colony of Cameroon (). Its status, from ...

(1916–1960) File:British Cameroon Flag.svg, Flag of

British Cameroons British Cameroons or British Cameroon was a British Empire, British League of Nations mandate, mandate territory in British West Africa, formed of the Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Today, the Northern Cameroons forms parts of the Bor ...

(1922–1961) File:Flag of Cameroon (1957).svg, Flag of the State of Cameroon (1957–1960).

Post-independence

File:Flag of Cameroon (1957).svg, Flag of the

Republic of Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

(1960–1961). File:Flag of Cameroon (1961-1975).svg, Flag of the Federal Republic of Cameroon (1961–1975)

Similar colours

The flag of Cameroon uses the Pan-African colors that is used by many African countries in the region, most notably with similar designs in the flags of

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

and

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

References

External links

* {{Union Flag

National symbols of Cameroon

Tricolor flags Flags with stars