Africa · CM / CMR
Flag of Cameroon
The Cameroon flag is a vertical tricolor of green, red and yellow with a yellow five-pointed star in the center of the red band. It uses the Pan-African colors, and took its present form with the central star on 20 May 1975.
What the flag of Cameroon looks like
The national flag of Cameroon has three vertical bands of equal width: green at the hoist, red in the middle and yellow at the fly. The proportions are 2:3. In the middle of the red band is a single yellow five-pointed star, placed at the exact center of the flag.
The flag has no emblem or text. Its three colors, green, red and yellow, are the Pan-African colors, but the star and the order of the bands set it apart from similar African flags. In the Cameroon flag emoji, the star is shown in the center of the red stripe.
Cameroon flag colors
Color codes measured from the official design. Use HEX for the web and CMYK for print.
HEX
#FCD116RGB
252, 209, 22CMYK
0, 17, 91, 1HEX
#007A5ERGB
0, 122, 94CMYK
100, 0, 23, 52HEX
#CE1126RGB
206, 17, 38CMYK
0, 92, 82, 19Cameroon flag meaning and symbolism
The colors are commonly explained as follows. Green stands for the forests of the south, red is the color of unity, and yellow represents the sun and the savannas of the north. Other sources give slightly different readings.
The yellow star is known as the star of unity. It was added to the center of the flag in 1975, after Cameroon became a unitary state, and the center stripe is thought to stand for unity. Since Cameroon shares the Pan-African colors with many neighbors, such as Senegal and Mali, the red middle band and the star are the main visual differences.
History of the Cameroon flag
The area was a German colony, Kamerun, from 1884 until the First World War. After 1919, the League of Nations divided it into French Cameroun and British Cameroons, and each part flew a flag of its administrating power. French Cameroun, which became independent in 1960, used a plain vertical green, red and yellow tricolor, made law on 26 October 1957.
In 1961 the southern part of British Cameroons voted to join Cameroon, and the country became the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The flag of 1961 to 1975 added two gold stars on the upper half of the green band, representing East Cameroon and West Cameroon. The present flag was adopted on 20 May 1975, once Cameroon had become a unitary state. The two stars were replaced by one star in the center of the red band, and the design has not changed since.
Cameroon flag facts
| Country | Republic of Cameroon |
|---|---|
| Flag adopted | May 20, 1975 |
| Proportions | 2:3 |
| Colors | #FCD116, #007A5E, #CE1126 |
| Symbols | five-pointed star |
| Flag emoji | 🇨🇲 |
| Country code | CM, CMR (ISO 3166) |
| Capital | Yaoundé |
| Continent | Africa |
| Population | 28,372,687 |
| Area | 475,442 km² |
| Currency | Central African CFA franc |
| National anthem | O Cameroon, Cradle of Our Forefathers |
Cameroon flag: frequently asked questions
What does the Cameroon flag represent?
Green stands for the southern forests, red for unity, and yellow for the sun and the northern savannas. The central star symbolizes national unity.
What was the original Cameroon flag?
The first flag was a plain vertical green, red and yellow tricolor, made law in 1957. A version with two stars on the green band was used from 1961 to 1975, and the single central star was added in 1975.
Which colors are on the flag of Cameroon?
The flag has green, red and yellow vertical stripes, with a yellow star on the red stripe. These are the Pan-African colors.
What country is the Cameroon flag emoji?
It shows the flag of Cameroon, a country in Central and West Africa with its capital in Yaoundé.
Why is Cameroon called Little Africa?
Cameroon is sometimes called Africa in miniature because its territory covers coast, rainforest, mountains, savanna and desert edge, and it has more than 200 ethnic groups.
Where is Cameroon located?
Cameroon is in Central Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea (Bight of Biafra). It borders Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. It is described as being in both Central and West Africa, which is why it uses the Pan-African colors on its flag.
What does Cameroon mean in English?
The name comes from the Portuguese Rio dos Camarões, meaning Shrimp River, given by sailors who reached the coast in 1472 and found many ghost shrimp in the Wouri River. The name later became Cameroon in English, and the German colony was Kamerun.
