Flag of Cameroon

The Republic of Cameroon is a state located in Central Africa, whose discoverers in the late 15th century were Portuguese navigators. From this time the first contacts of the local population with the Europeans were counted. The name of the country comes from Rio dos Camarão (Portuguese for “river of shrimps”).

This is what the modern flag of Cameroon looks like:

History of the flag

Cameroon from the late 19th century until 1916 was a colony of Germany. Until 1914 the territory was governed by the German West African Company. It used its flag in the form of a white cloth with a red cross and the image of a black eagle in the center, placed in a circle of yellow color. In the rectangles between the crosses, the first capital letters of the company – DWAG – were printed on a white background.

In the year of the outbreak of World War I, a new flag was designed, which was called the flag of the Cameroon Protectorate. It was planned to depict the figure of a silver elephant’s head on a red shield, and all this on the general black-white-red background of the symbol of the German Empire.

However, this did not happen, because at the end of the World War the territory was divided between Britain and France. Neither the first nor the second part of Cameroon received their flags, although the British part had a standard version used for all overseas territories.

After World War II, the national liberation movement intensified and in 1960 Cameroon achieved independence. However, even before that, the French part received autonomy and with it the first model of the flag approved in 1957. It consisted of three equal vertical stripes – green, red and yellow.

In 1961 there was a unification with the British part of Cameroon, and the country became federal. Therefore, a new version of the symbol was approved – the old cloth with the addition of two stars on its green side. This type of symbol lasted until 1975, although in 1972 the Federal Republic of Cameroon was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon.

The current version of the state symbol appeared in May 1975, as its appearance more correctly characterized the new name – the United Republic of Cameroon. Since 1984, the state became known as the Republic.

Description

The alternation of stripes on the flag of Cameroon, as it were, repeat the version of the French tricolor. The cloth is of standard rectangular shape with the ratio of sides – width to length as 2 to 3. It consists of three bands of equal width, arranged vertically. From the staff, that is, from left to right, follow the stripes: green, red and yellow. Right in the center of the flag, in the middle of the red band is a yellow five-pointed star.

Regarding the symbol of the Republic, the constitution says in Article 1, Paragraph 5 and Part 1 that “The flag shall be green, red, and yellow in three equal vertical stripes with one gold star in the center of the red stripe.”

Flag colors

The colors of the Cameroon flag (yellow, green, red) are a common combination of colors of the African continent.

Meaning of colors and flag symbol

The green color on the flag symbolizes the rich forest vegetation of the southern region of the country; it signifies the hope for a happy future. Red represents sovereignty and independence as well as the unity of the northern and southern parts of Cameroon. Yellow represents the sun, which is the source of happiness for Cameroon and the savannah in the north. The star represents the unity of the country.

The Republic of Cameroon is a multilingual country, but English and French are considered official. And the fact that the two asterisks later became one reminds us of the importance of the unity of the people of Cameroon, who lived divided for many decades.

Interesting facts about the flag

The colors on Cameroon’s flag represent the Pan-African movement and Cameroon is the second official country, after Ghana, to use them on its flag.

General information about Cameroon

Map of Cameroon