Flag of Mali

Flag origins

Mali's flag is a vertical tricolor of green, gold and red, in a 2:3 ratio. These Pan-African colors express solidarity and independence. Traditional explanations connect green with hope, agricultural land and pastoral wealth; gold with mineral riches; and red with ancestral sacrifice for independence. The present plain tricolor dates to 1961.

Flag story

The Mali Federation formed with Senegal in 1959 used a black kanaga figure at the center of the same tricolor. Rooted in Dogon culture, it resembled a person raising both arms. It remained briefly after the Republic of Mali was established in 1960, then was removed in 1961 amid objections to depicting a human figure. Guinea's colors are the reverse order: red, yellow, green rather than green, yellow, red.

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.

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

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