Guinea ๐ฌ๐ณ
Congo ๐จ๐ฌ
Cameroon ๐จ๐ฒ
Mali ๐ฒ๐ฑ
Senegal ๐ธ๐ณ
Ghana ๐ฌ๐ญ
Ethiopia ๐ช๐น
Guinea Bissau ๐ฌ๐ผ
Ever wondered why these African Countries have similar flags?
Well.. itโs NOT because the flag desingers were lazy.
The genesis can be traced back to Ethiopia ๐ช๐น in 1897.
Thread ๐งต
Congo ๐จ๐ฌ
Cameroon ๐จ๐ฒ
Mali ๐ฒ๐ฑ
Senegal ๐ธ๐ณ
Ghana ๐ฌ๐ญ
Ethiopia ๐ช๐น
Guinea Bissau ๐ฌ๐ผ
Ever wondered why these African Countries have similar flags?
Well.. itโs NOT because the flag desingers were lazy.
The genesis can be traced back to Ethiopia ๐ช๐น in 1897.
Thread ๐งต
This thread is inspired by my previous tweet about the cost of traveling within Africa and the role of ECOWAS and AU.
Itโs pertinent to know that the concept of Pan-Africanism had been nursed by African leaders several years back.
Itโs pertinent to know that the concept of Pan-Africanism had been nursed by African leaders several years back.
Pan-Africanism aims at encouraging and strengthening the bonds of solidarity between all indigenous and diaspora ethnic groups of Africa.
I will come back to the origin of this later in the thread.
I will come back to the origin of this later in the thread.
Back to the main topic of discourse.
On October 11th, 1897, a year after Ethiopia defended itself from Italian colonization, Emperor Menelik II (King and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913) signed off the creation of the Ethiopian flag.
On October 11th, 1897, a year after Ethiopia defended itself from Italian colonization, Emperor Menelik II (King and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913) signed off the creation of the Ethiopian flag.
Let me chip in that Ethiopia ๐ช๐น is the only country in Africa to NOT be colonized-but for a short period of occupation by Italy ๐ฎ๐น.
The signed off flag by Emperor Menelik II contained a rectangular tri-color of red, yellow, and green.
Over the years, the signed off Ethiopian flag changed several times as the country itself evolved from a monarchy to a dictatorship and then to parliamentary democracy. But these three colors (Red, Yellow & Green) remained.
Fast forward to 1957, Ghana ๐ฌ๐ญ became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence. At the same time, Kwame Nkrumah became their first Prime Minister and President.
Bear in mind that Nkrumah is the first major advocate for the unity of Independent Africa. And he started championing the quest for regional integration of the whole of the African continent.
When it was time for Ghana to make their own flag, Nkrumah maintained that thereโs no need reinventing the wheel especially given the fact that he was strongly inspired by Ethiopiaโs defense against Italian colonization.
Nkrumah decided to go with Ethiopiaโs ๐ช๐น tri-color scheme (Red, Yellow & Green) and incorporated it into the Ghana ๐ฌ๐ญ flag โ as a way of paying homage to Ethiopia for being the only African country โ aside from Liberia ๐ฑ๐ท, that was never colonized.
Several years after, this singular act heavily influenced the other newly-independent African countries that followed.
About 21 Sub-Saharan countries have this flag color combination, with some adding black.
About 21 Sub-Saharan countries have this flag color combination, with some adding black.
Guinea ๐ฌ๐ณ, upon gaining independence in 1958, took the same idea but this time they went for a vertical tricolor scheme instead.
Maliโs๐ฒ๐ฑ flag is Guineaโs flag but with green at the beginning and red at the last strip instead.
The flag of Cameroon ๐จ๐ฒ , similar to Mali ๐ฒ๐ฑ , has red at the middle band with a yellow star and a yellow stripe at the end of the flag.
The flag of Senegal ๐ธ๐ณ is very similar to that of Mali ๐ฒ๐ฑ, but with a green star in the middle.
Other African countries that have these colors in their flags include Togo ๐น๐ฌ , Comoros ๐ฐ๐ฒ , Burkina Faso ๐ง๐ซ , Seychelles ๐ธ๐จ , Sao tome and Principe ๐ธ๐น , Mozambique ๐ฒ๐ฟ , Zimbabwe ๐ฟ๐ผ , Benin ๐ง๐ฏ , and so many others.
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