Flag of Cape Verde

What the flag of Cape Verde looks like

The national flag of Cape Verde has a blue field with a band of three narrow stripes running below the middle: white, red and white. The wide blue areas above and below them are the outer bands. A ring of ten five-pointed yellow stars is placed on the hoist side, centered on the red stripe, so the circle is cut across by the band. The five bands are in a 6:1:1:1:3 ratio from top to bottom, while the constitution gives no width-to-length ratio (the government's 2009 graphic guide uses 2:3).

The flag is unusual among African flags. Instead of the pan-African red, yellow and green, it relies on blue, and its circle of stars is unlike the flags of its mainland neighbors. Nothing on the flag refers to the old colonial power, Portugal.

Cape Verde flag meaning and symbolism

According to the Cape Verdean government, blue represents the sky and the sea. White and red represent the desire of Cape Verdeans for peace and their efforts in nation-building, respectively.

The ten yellow stars stand for the ten islands of the archipelago, arranged in a circle to symbolize unity.

• Blue: sky and sea
• White: desire for peace
• Red: efforts in nation-building
• Ring of ten stars: the islands and their unity

History of the Cape Verde flag

Portuguese settlers who arrived in 1462 were the first recorded inhabitants of the islands, which remained under Portuguese rule until independence on 5 July 1975. During the colonial period they used Portuguese flags and colonial emblems.

After independence the country was led by the PAIGC, the party that had fought for the freedom of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. The first national flag, raised on independence day and made official by law on 19 April 1976, was based on the party's flag. It had two horizontal bands of yellow and green, with a vertical red band at the hoist charged with a black star framed by ears of corn and a sea shell. Like the flag of Guinea-Bissau, it was based on the PAIGC flag, and the two were easily mistaken for each other.

After the liberal Movement for Democracy defeated the ruling party in the 1991 two-party election, a contest was held in 1992 for a new flag to mark the break with the socialist past. The winning design was by the architect Pedro Gregório, who wanted a flag that would not be mistaken for another country's. The new design replaced the Pan-African colors with blue, white and red and a ring of ten stars, and became official on 25 September 1992. It is still in use today.

Two flags, one country

People who ask why Cape Verde has two flags are usually looking at the 1975-1992 flag and the current one. Only the ten-star design is official today. Other flags in the area, such as those of Guinea-Bissau, still use the Pan-African colors. You can see all national flags on the flags of the world page, and the Cape Verde flag emoji shows the same ring of stars in a small size.