Flag of Namibia

Last updated

Republic of Namibia
Flag of Namibia.svg
Use National flag and ensign
Proportion2:3
Adopted21 March 1990;34 years ago (1990-03-21)
DesignA white-edged red diagonal band radiating from the lower hoist-side corner. The upper triangle is blue, charged with a gold sun with 12 triangular rays and the lower triangle is green.
Designed byTheo Jankowski
Don Stevenson
Ortrud Clay
Naval Jack of Namibia.svg
Use Naval jack
DesignA white field with the national flag in the canton.
Namibian flag Flag of Namibia 02.jpg
Namibian flag

The flag of Namibia consists of a red diagonal band edged in two white bands with a blue upper triangle charged with an 12-ray yellow sun and green lower triangle.

Contents

The flag was adopted on 21 March 1990 upon independence from South Africa. During apartheid 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 [1] of Windhoek 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. The three designers were publicly acknowledged by judge Hans Berker, the chairman of the subcommittee, at the unveiling ceremony on 9 March 1990. [2] [ dubious discuss ]

However, two other claims were made – South African Frederick Brownell claimed that he had designed the flag in his role as South African State Herald. [3] 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. [4]

It is one of the few national flags incorporating a diagonal line, with other examples including the DR Congo, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, and Brunei.

Colours

The colours of the Namibian flag are described in the Government Gazette. [5] This document also details construction of the Presidential flag. The tone or specific shade for white has not been specified.

Color modelBlueYellow goldGreenRed
Pantone 294 C116 C347 C186 C
Coates SP 5 8091 8026535
RGB [6] 0, 47, 108 (#002F6C)255, 205, 0 (#FFCD00)0, 154, 68 (#009A44)200, 16, 46 (#C8102E)

Construction sheet

Symbolism

The chairman explained the symbolism of the flag's colours as follows: [3]

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: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.

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References

  1. Donny's Flag: An American Graphic Artist Designs Namibia's Flag (Namibia Documentary Series), 15 August 2014, retrieved 2022-11-28
  2. Kangootui, Herman; Amagola, Elizabeth (14 June 2018). "The Namibian flag: Its origins and spirit that inspire the nation". New Era . Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 (reported by) FG Brownell (December 1990), Coats of Arms and Flags in Namibia (A series of 8 articles.)
  4. Schütz, Helge (23 October 2015). "Allen from Plymouth ... The man who designed the Namibian flag". The Namibian .
  5. "Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia, No. 6807" (PDF). Government of the Republic of Namibia.
  6. "Pantone Color Picker". Find a PANTONE color. Pantone LLC. Retrieved 10 January 2020.