Flag of Eritrea

Flag origins

Eritrea’s flag has a large red triangle between green above and blue below, with a gold olive branch and wreath on red. Its embassy in Japan explains green as agricultural resources and fertility, blue as marine resources and wealth, red as those who sacrificed their lives for the homeland, and gold as mineral wealth. The olive also symbolizes peace. The basic design descends from the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front’s flag. The EPLF used a yellow star where the historical olive emblem was placed after independence.

Flag story

The surrounding olive branches have thirty leaves in total, representing roughly thirty years of armed struggle. The war began in 1961; Ethiopian forces withdrew in 1991; and formal independence followed the referendum of 1993. The olive was not invented after independence. It had appeared on Eritrea’s blue flag in 1952, during federation with Ethiopia. Ethiopia later abolished autonomy and banned that flag. Independence brought the olive back.

Editorial notes and references

Edited by ABELHA WORKS. The English text translates the administrator-edited Japanese description. Legends should be distinguished from documented history. General reference links do not substantiate every statement in the text.

• Eritrea — general information on Wikipedia
• Japan MOFA: countries and regions (Japanese)

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