Flag of French Guiana

What the flag of French Guiana looks like

French Guiana has no separate legal flag. The official flag is the flag of France: three vertical bands of blue at the hoist, white in the middle and red at the fly, in a 2:3 ratio. It is the flag used when a flag is needed to represent French Guiana.

The second flag, seen on cars, shops and at sports events, is a diagonal bicolor. It is divided diagonally into two triangles, green in the upper fly and yellow in the lower hoist, with a red five-pointed star in the center. It is a widely used unofficial flag of the territory, also used by the French Guiana national football team, and is the one many people mean when they search for the flag of French Guiana.

French Guiana flag meaning and symbolism

The French tricolor carries its usual meaning: its colors are tied to the French Revolution, and the flag represents the French Republic, of which French Guiana is a full part.

The unofficial green and yellow flag is explained like this:

• Green stands for the forests.
• Yellow stands for gold and other minerals of the region.
• The red star stands for either blood or socialism.

The flag was designed in 1967 by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers' Union. After discussions at the Guyanese Social Forum in 2006 and 2007 it was adopted by the Departmental Council of French Guiana, but it remains unofficial.

History of the French Guiana flag

French settlement in Guiana began in the 17th century, and the territory was under the white flag of the French kings until the Revolution. The tricolor became the flag of France, and with it of Guiana, in the 1790s. Over the following decades the territory was also occupied for a time by Portuguese forces, until it was returned to France in 1817. It was a penal colony for many years, including the island prison of Devil's Island.

In 1946, French Guiana became an overseas department of France, with the same rights as any department. Since 2016 it has been governed by a single territorial authority, the Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane. Today the tricolor remains the only official flag. The green and yellow flag is widely seen and has been adopted by the Departmental Council, but it remains unofficial.