Red and Black Flags

Which countries have red and black flags?

Albania's double-headed eagle is the clearest match, and the red and black are linked to the 15th-century leader Skanderbeg. Most other flags with red and black add white, green or yellow.

• Pan-Arab flags (red, white and black, most with green too): Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Western Sahara and Libya.
• Africa: Angola (red over black with a golden gear and machete), Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and South Africa.
• Europe: Germany (black, red and gold) and Belgium (black, yellow and red vertical stripes).
• Asia and the Pacific: Brunei, East Timor, South Korea, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
• Americas: Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Guyana, St. Kitts & Nevis and Martinique.

Angola, Germany and Belgium are close to a red and black design, but each adds gold. In Angola the gold is in the emblem, and in Germany and Belgium it is a stripe.

Why are red and black so common on flags?

Red and black are two of the four Pan-Arab colors, which date from the Arab Revolt of 1916. That alone explains the cluster of Middle Eastern and North African flags.

In many African flags, black represents the people and red the struggle for freedom. Germany's black, red and gold go back to 1848 and the 1919 Weimar Republic, and were restored in West Germany in 1949. Belgium's colors come from the arms of the Duchy of Brabant.

Trinidad & Tobago uses red for the vitality of the land and its people, white for the sea and equality, and black for strength and unity. Papua New Guinea splits its flag diagonally, with a yellow bird of paradise on the red half and the white Southern Cross on the black half.