Flag of Guinea-Bissau

Meaning and history of the flag of Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau's flag was adopted on September 24, 1973, during the struggle for independence from Portugal, and was retained after formal independence in 1974. The design features a red vertical stripe at the hoist and two equal horizontal stripes of yellow above green. A black five-pointed star sits at the center of the red stripe.

The red symbolizes the blood shed during the independence war, one of Africa's longest, lasting from 1963 to 1974. The yellow represents the sun and the country's savannas, the green embodies its tropical forests and hope, and the black star is the pan-African symbol of the continent's freedom, popularized by Ghana. The pan-African colors express solidarity with the rest of Africa.

The flag was designed as a symbol of the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde), the liberation movement led by Amilcar Cabral. Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde originally shared this flag with the intention of forming a unified state, a project abandoned after the 1980 coup in Guinea-Bissau. Cape Verde subsequently adopted its own flag, while Guinea-Bissau kept the original design.

You can view the flag of Guinea-Bissau in high resolution above and download it in several sizes for personal, educational or reference use. To explore more, visit the full Guinea-Bissau profile, its map, or the current local time in Bissau.