The Republic of Benin

The National Flag of Benin

The flag was introduced upon the nations independence in 1959, when the nation was originally known as Dahomey. The flag that is in use today was adopted by the nation. It consists of 3 equally sized rectangles. 1 vertically next to the hoist, with the other 2 placed horizontal next to it. The rectangle next to the hoist is green, representing hope and revival.The bottom rectangle is red, representing the courage of the ancestors, and the final is yellow, which is the countries wealth.

However, a second set of values have also been placed on them. According to Dorling-Kindersley, the colours are pan-African. Red being the soil, yellow the savanna's, and green, the palm tree's.

The democratic government was replaced in 1972 with a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist government. This government was hugely repressive, and led to the nations economic collapse. The Marxist-Leninist party used a simple red banner as its flag. However, unlike many of its "Communist" cousins, rather than using a gold emblem, they placed a green star in the upper hoist canton. 

Upon their take-over of the nation, they replaced the national flag with one using the same design as the party flag. However, to make it different from the parties flag, they reversed the colours.

The party decided to break with history and chose to go for a neutral name for the nation, and switched from Dahomey to Benin. Naming the nation after the body of water on which the nation lies. 

In 1989, the Marxist government finally collapsed, leading to a restoration of democracy. In 1990, with the completion of the new constitution, the old flag was restored, and the nation renamed to The Republic of Benin.