Gabon Flag Colors, Meaning & History

Gabon flag
Color Palette
ColorsHEX CodeRGBCMYK
Green#0490594, 144, 8997, 0, 38, 44
Yellow#FCD116252, 209, 220, 17, 91, 1
Blue#3A75C458, 117, 19670, 40, 0, 23

The flag of Gabon consists of three horizontal stripes of green, yellow, and blue, the green band is on top, the yellow is in the middle, and the blue is at the bottom.

Meaning of the Gabon Flag

The green color represents the country’s lush forests and vegetation which are a very important natural resource. The yellow color represents the sun and the equator which passes through the country, and the blue symbolizes the wide coastal line on the Atlantic Ocean.

History of the Gabon Flag

In 1839, Gabon was colonized by France. It remained under French rule, and in 1915, it became part of the French Equatorial Africa. The colonies were forbidden to raise their own flags, so Gabon did not have a flag of its own. Although many autonomous-ruled nations in Africa did not have their own flags, Gabon was one of the first countries to adopt a national flag. When Gabon became an autonomous country in 1958, the search for a flag started. The flag adopted was horizontally striped with the yellow band in the middle narrower than the other two stripes, and the tricolor was placed in the canton. In 1960, shortly before independence from France, the flag was modified. The central yellow stripe became equal to the other stripes, and the tricolor was removed from the canton. The Gabon flag is still the same till now.