Flag of Gabon

Flag origins

Gabon’s green-yellow-blue horizontal tricolour was adopted at independence from France in 1960. Green generally represents tropical forests and natural abundance, yellow the equator and sun, and blue the Atlantic. All three are closely tied to geography: forests cover much of Gabon, it faces the Atlantic, and the equator crosses the country.

Flag story

The yellow band’s association with the equator is unusually direct among African flags, even compared with other equatorial countries. In 1959, a similar design had a French tricolour in the upper left. Independence in 1960 removed that canton, leaving the present plain tricolour.

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.

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

Report an error