Flag of Seychelles

What the flag of Seychelles looks like

The flag of Seychelles has a width-to-height ratio of 1:2. Five oblique bands spread out from the bottom corner at the hoist (the side nearest the pole) like rays from a single point, and widen as they cross the flag to the top and right edges.

From the top edge down to the bottom edge, the colors are blue, yellow, red, white and green. Blue is next to the top of the flag and green runs along the bottom. There is no emblem or text.

The shape is unusual. Most flags are built from horizontal or vertical stripes, a cross or a canton. The bands symbolise a dynamic new country moving into the future. You can see how it looks at small size on the Seychelles flag emoji page.

Seychelles flag meaning and symbolism

The commonly cited meanings are:

• Blue for the sky and the sea that surround the islands.
• Yellow for the sun, which gives light and life.
• Red for the people and their determination to work for the future in unity and love.
• White for social justice and harmony.
• Green for the land and the natural environment.

Taken together with the oblique pattern, the flag is meant to show a young country moving ahead. The colors are also those of two political parties: red, white and green are the shades used by the United Seychelles party, and blue and yellow represent the Seychelles Democratic Party.

History of the Seychelles flag

The islands were uninhabited until the French settled them in the 1770s. They passed to Britain in 1814, were governed from Mauritius, and became a separate British Crown Colony in 1903. As in other British colonies, its flag was a British ensign with a colonial badge.

Seychelles became independent on 29 June 1976 and has been a republic within the Commonwealth since then. At independence, it adopted a flag of alternating blue and red triangles, which was very similar to the flag of the Seychelles Democratic Party and to the flag of the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company, whose ships regularly visited the islands. In 1977, when President James Mancham was overthrown by France-Albert René, that flag was abolished and a red, white and green flag with a wavy white stripe, based on the flag of the Seychelles People's United Party, came into use.

When that party lost its majority in the elections, other parties demanded a change of flag, and parliament approved a new design. The current flag was adopted in 1996 and is the third flag used since independence.