The

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

of the

Union of the Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

was designed in 2001 and officially adopted on 23 December of that year. It continues to display the crescent and four stars, which is a motif that has been in use in various forms since 1975 during the independence movement. In its constitution, the government of the Comoros refers to the insignia as ', or the "national emblem", though it is understood to actually represent a flag.

Colours

The colours are defined in the constitution as simply yellow, white, red, blue, and green. Nowhere does the government document any specific colour shades. For lack of any official standard, the colours used at the 2012 Olympics are shown in the table below.

Design

The design consists of a white

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

with four white five-pointed

stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

inside of a green

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

. The flag has four stripes, representing the four main islands of the nation: yellow for

Mohéli Mohéli , also known as Mwali, is an autonomous island that forms part of the Comoros, Union of the Comoros. It is the smallest of the three major islands in the country. It is located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa and it is the sma ...

, white for

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loc ...

French department In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-s ...

claimed by the Comoros), red for

Anjouan Anjouan (; also known as Ndzuwani or Nzwani, and historically as Johanna or Hinzuan) is an autonomous high island in the Indian Ocean that forms part of the Union of the Comoros. Its chief town is Mutsamudu and, , its population is around 277,500. ...

and blue for

Grande Comore Grande Comore () is an island in Comoros off the coast of Africa. It is the largest island in the Comoros nation. Most of its population is of the Comorian ethnic group. Its population is about 316,600. The island's capital is Moroni, Comoros, ...

. The four stars on the flag also symbolize the four islands. The star and crescent, as well as the colour green on the flag, symbolise their main religion,

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. The stars' points are usually orientated upwards, as reflected in the model supplied when the flag was adopted, though legal documents concerning the flag do not specify the flag's orientation and there is a variant in which the stars point outwards and not up.

History

The first official flag of Comoros was designed and adopted for local use in 1963 by Suzanne Gauthier, before Comoros gained its independence. It had a white crescent at upper hoist facing the

fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

, four stars in a diagonal, and used a 5:7 proportion with a green background. This design continued to be used after independence in 1975. The flag changed in 1975 under

Ali Soilih Ali Soilih M'Tsashiwa ( ar, علي صويلح; January 7, 1937 – May 29, 1978) was a Comorian socialist revolutionary and political figure who served as the 3rd President of the Comoros from 3 January 1976 to 13 May 1978. Biography Soilih ...

. The crescent was moved and the stars were rearranged into a diamond. Two thirds of the flag became red and symbolized the regime's

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

ideology. This flag shares the design to that of the

Soviet-era The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...

and post-1995 Belarusian flags. When

Ahmed Abdallah Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane ( ar, أحمد عبد الله عبد الرحمن, , 12 June 1919 – 26 November 1989) was a Comorian politician. He was a member of the French Senate from 1959 to 1973, and President of the Comoros from 25 Octobe ...

returned to the presidency in 1978, the flag changed again. It returned to being completely green, with the crescent moving to the centre of the flag and the stars forming a line between its horns. Information about the proportions of this variant suggest either a 1:2, 2:3, or 3:5 ratio. With the adoption of a new constitution in 1992, the flag changed again, with the crescent and stars rotated to face upward rather than down and to the right. The adoption of yet another constitution changed the flag again in 1996, rotating the flag to face the fly and adding a white inscription to the lower hoist and another to the upper fly. The inscriptions are written in Arabic calligraphy with the former reading "

Muhammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

" and the latter reading "

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

". The proportions of this flag were reported to be 7:5 (1.4:1). This flag was changed by referendum in 2001 to the modern one. From 1996 until 2001, variants of the Comorian national flag supplied mainly by

Annin Flagmakers Annin Flagmakers is an American corporation based in Roseland, New Jersey. The flagmaker was founded by Alexander Annin in 1847 and incorporated on January 10, 1910. Annin Flagmakers produces American flags, state flags and national flags of all U ...

contained the names "Muhammad" and "Allah" written out in longform. A similar flag using this design was flown outside the United Nations headquarters in 2000, which caught the attention of the Comorian ambassador, resulting in him rejecting the flag flown on display.

Former flags of the Comoros

File:Flag of France.svg, Flag of France (1887–1963) File:Flag of the Comoros (1963–1975).svg, Flag of the State of the Comoros (1963–1978) from the pre-independence period before July 1975 until January 1976 File:Flag of the Comoros (1975–1978).svg, Flag of the State of the Comoros under the Ali Soilih Regime (January 1976 – September 30, 1978) File:Flag of the Comoros (1978–1992).svg, Flag of the Federal and Islamic Republic of the Comoros (October 1, 1978 – June 6, 1992) File:Flag of the Comoros (1992–1996).svg,
Flag of the Federal and Islamic Republic of the Comoros (June 7, 1992 – October 5, 1996) File:Flag of the Comoros (1996–2001, reverse).svg,
The obverse side of the Flag of the Federal and Islamic Republic of the Comoros (October 6, 1996 – December 22, 2001) File:Flag of the Comoros (1996–2001).svg, The reverse side of the flag. File:Flag of the Comoros (1996–2001) (Erroneous Variant).svg,
Version of the 1996–2001 flag which was rejected by the Comorian Ambassador because of an erroneous form of text.

Flags of individual islands

File:Flag of Anjouan (official).svg, The

flag of Anjouan The flag of Anjouan was adopted in 2012. It is a red field with a centered white crescent moon and four white stars. Historical flags File:Flag_of_the_Ndzuwani_Sultanate_(Until_1833).svg, Flag of the Sultanate of Ndzuwani (pre-1833) File:Flag ...

File:Flag of Grande Comore.svg, The

flag of Grande Comore The flag of Grande Comore, Ngazidja was adopted in 2002. It is a navy blue field with a Star and crescent, white crescent moon and four white stars in the hoist side. Historical Flags Throughout history, only one other flag has been used on the ...

File:Flag of Mohéli (official).svg, The

flag of Mohéli The flag of Mohéli is a yellow field with a red star. It is similar to the flag of Vietnam. It was adopted in 2003. It replaced the previous flag, which was adopted when Mohéli became an autonomous island in 2002. Mohéli separatists formerly ...

References

External links

*
Flag of Comoros
at the

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Comoros, Flag of

Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

Flags of Africa