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Use | National flag and ensign ![]() ![]() |
---|---|
Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | 4 April 1959 |
Design | A vertical tricolour of green, gold, and red |
The national flag of Mali is a vertical tricolour of green, gold, and red, [1] the pan-African colours. The flag of Mali is almost identical to the flag of Guinea, with the exception that the colours are in reverse order.
The current flag was adopted on 1 March 1961. The original flag was adopted on 4 April 1959, when Mali joined the Mali Federation. This flag was the same, except the golden stripe had a black kanaga , a shape of a squatter man with arms raised to the sky. The figure was removed due to the opposition, in a country whose population is 90% Muslim (95% Sunni 5% Shia), of Islamic fundamentalists [2] (see Aniconism in Islam, the belief against making pictures of the human figure). [3]
The green stands for fertility of the land, gold stands for purity and mineral wealth, and the red symbolizes the blood shed for independence from the French. [4]
![]() | Green | Yellow | Red |
---|---|---|---|
Pantone | 2271c | 115c | 3546c |
CMYK | 91-0-100-0 | 0-9-100-0 | 0-86-63-0 |
RGB | 20-181-58 | 252-209-22 | 206-17-38 |
Hexadecimal | #14B53A | #FCD116 | #CE1126 |
Flag | Years of use | Ratio | Government | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | c. 1324 | Mali Empire (possible) | The royal standard of Musa I (Mansa Musa) of the Mali Empire was reportedly a yellow rectangle centered on a red field. [5] | |
![]() | 1880–1958 | 2:3 | French Sudan [a] | The French tricolor was used as the official flag of French Sudan for most of its history. |
![]() | 1958–1959 | 2:3 | A new flag was adopted in 1958, when French Sudan gained autonomy within the French Community. It consisted of the French tricolor with a black Kanaga centered on the white band. | |
![]() | 1959–1960 | 2:3 | Mali Federation | The flag initially adopted on Malian independence consisted of a vertical tricolor of green, gold, and red with a black Kanaga centered on the gold band. |
1960-1961 | Republic of Mali | |||
![]() | 1961–present | 2:3 | The current flag of Mali was adopted on 1 March 1961, removing the Kanaga featured on the previous flag. | |
The royal flag that flew over Mansa Musa when he rode out on horseback was yellow with a red background.