- Flag of Ghana
Use = 111011
Proportion = 2:3
Adoption = 1957(readopted 1966)
Design = Horizontaltricolour of red, gold, and green, charged with a black five-pointed star in the center of the middle stripe
Designer =Theodosia Okoh
Use2 = 000100
Proportion2 = 2:3
Design2 = A red field with the national flag, fimbriated in black, in the canton
Type = National"' was adopted in 1957. It was replaced with a variant with a white stripe in the middle from 1964 to 1966.Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first leader after independence, was the first to introduce the politically symbolic Pan-African colors- red, yellow, green, and black- into African flags. They were ultimately derived from the 19th century Ethiopian colors and have now become associated with the Rastafarian movement in the West Indies. The flag also became the inspiration of numerous other African flags during the period of decolonization. The black star in the center is the star of African freedom. Red recalls the blood shed by freedom fighters, yellow represents mineral wealth, and green is symbolic of the country's rich forests.
The flag was designed by Mrs.
Theodosia Okoh to replace theflag of the United Kingdom upon attainment of independence in 1957. It consists of thePan-African colours ofEthiopia , i.e., red, gold, and green, in horizontal stripes with a black five-pointed star in the centre of the gold stripe. The Ghanaian flag was the firstAfrica n flag after theflag of Ethiopia to feature these colours.The red represents the blood of those who died in the country's struggle for independence, the gold represents the mineral wealth of the country, the green symbolises the country's rich forests and natural wealth, and the black star stands for the
lodestar of African freedom. (The black star was adopted from the flag of theBlack Star Line , a shipping line incorporated byMarcus Garvey that operated from 1919 to 1922, [cite conference
first=William George | last=Crampton | title=Marcus Garvey and the Rasta colours | date=1993 | booktitle=Report of the 13th International Congress of Vexillology, Melbourne, 1989 | pages=169–180 | publisher=Flag Society of Australia | id=ISBN 0-646-14343-3] and gives theGhana national football team their nickname, the "Black Stars".)The
civil ensign is ared flag with the national flag in a black-fimbriated canton.Air force ensign and civil air ensign
The
Ghana Air Force has its own ensign which incorporates the flag of Ghana. Civil aviation in Ghana is represented by the national civil air ensign.Other flags
The flag of the
Union of African States was modelled on Ghana's flag with two black stars. later this was changed to be a black star representing every member nation (also two).Originally
Ghana andGuinea were the only members, but in May 1959 the third star was added to representMali . Nowhere specified how the stars were arranged, and it was possible that they were arranged in a triangle, although the three-in-a-line formation (as shown here) is more likely. [ [http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/flags/qw-uas.html Union of African States ] ]References
External links
*FOTW|id=gh|title=Ghana
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