The Republic of Seychelles

The National Flag of Seychelles

The Seychelles was initially colonised by the French in the 1780's, only to come into conflict with the UK from the 1790's. Finally, Britain gained control early in the 1800's, and used the standard British blue ensign for the new colony. This time, defaced with the Seychelles coat of arms, which featured a tree in the centre.

Upon independence from Britain in 1976, the Seychelles adopted a white saltire cross, over red and blue fields. The colours where deliberately picked. Red, white, and blue come from the flags of both Britain, and France, as well as being the colours of the 2 political parties that formed a national unity government. Red and white used by the Seychelles Peoples United Party, and blue and white used by the Democratic Party.

This flag was only in use for a year, when the SPUP engineered a coup in 1977, installing their leader, Albert Rene, as president. A new constitution saw the creation of a one-party state. The SPUP also renamed itself Seychelles Peoples Progressive Front. Also, they took their new logo of red and green with a wavy white stripe separating them with a golden sun, and used it to create a new flag for the Seychelles. 

Red and green, with a central white stripe waving through the flag. The red stood for progress, the green stood for agriculture, and the white wave line represents the oceans round the islands.

Finally in 1993, the Seychelles returned to multi-party democracy, and in 1996, adopted a new flag to replace the previous SPPF inspired flag. 

The new flag takes 5 stripes of blue, yellow, red, white, and green. All originating from the lower hoist of the flag, and spreading out like the rays of the sun.

The blue represents the sea, and the sky, the yellow represents the sun that gives life. Red represents the desire for unity, white represents social justice, and green represents the land.