The Republic of Ghana

The Flag of Ghana

The Ghana flag was the first outside Ethiopia to make use of the pan-African colours of red, yellow, and green. The flag was designed by Mrs Theodosia Okoh to replace the Union Jack of Great Britain when Ghana gained its independence from the UK in 1957. It is a horizontal tricolour, running from red at the top, yellow in the middle, and green at the bottom.With a black star in the centre. 

From 1959 to 1962, Ghana joined a Union with first Guinea, and later with Mali. The union was politically Marxist leaning, and modelled its flag on the flag of Ghana. However, it used first 2, then 3 stars to stand for the number of nations within the union. The union crumbled in 1962 when Mali left, after leaning towards the United States, unlike Ghana and Guinea who where leaning towards the Soviet Union.

From 1964 to 1966, under Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana gained a new flag. This flag merged the Ghana flag wit hte flag of his Convention (Peoples) Party. The party flag was a tricolour of green, white, and red. The Ghana flag took the same flag, but placed the black star at its heart.

In 1966, the original flag returned back to its place, and has not been replaced since. The red on the flag represents the blood of those who fought for Ghana's independence. The yellow represents the mineral wealth of the nation, and the green represents the country's natural wealth. The black star represents the lodestar of African freedom. The black star comes from the shipping company, the Black Star Line, which was named in honour of Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. A major figure in the early African movement.