Africa

Flag of Guinea

Guinea is a West African nation on the Atlantic coast, sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. It is one of the world's largest producers of bauxite, the ore from which aluminium is refined, and has significant iron ore, gold, and diamond deposits. Despite this mineral wealth, Guinea is one of the world's least developed countries, with most of its population depending on agriculture.

CapitalConakry
RegionAfrica
Current flag since1958
Main coloursRed, Yellow, Green
Populationabout 14 million
Areaabout 246,000 km²
Flags in history2

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Guinea means

Red represents the blood of the martyrs and labour, yellow the sun and the country's gold, and green its vegetation, reflecting the national motto “Work, Justice, Solidarity”. The flag was adopted in 1958, when Guinea became the first French colony in Africa to vote for immediate independence.

More about the flag

Guinea was the only French colony in Africa to vote no in the 1958 referendum on joining the French Community, and it became independent on 2 October 1958 under Ahmed Sékou Touré. Its colours follow Ghana's Pan-African tricolour, as both countries hoped to form a union. Guinea holds some of the world's largest reserves of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminium.

How to recognise it

Vertical red-yellow-green — the same colours as Mali but in reverse order.

Did you know?

Guinea holds the world's largest reserves of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminium.

Easily confused with

Guinea's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

Mali

Senegal

Cameroon

Flag history of Guinea

Every flag that has flown over Guinea, from today back through time.

1958–present

Flag of Guinea

Adopted in 1958 after Guinea alone rejected the French Community and chose immediate independence under Sékou Touré. The red-yellow-green tricolour mirrors Ghana's pan-African colors and has never changed.

1891–1958

French Guinea

A colony within French West Africa, French Guinea flew the French tricolor. In the 1958 referendum it became the only territory to vote "Non" to de Gaulle's French Community and chose immediate independence — to which an enraged France responded by stripping the country of everything it could, even ripping out telephone wires as it withdrew.

Related historical states

Empires, kingdoms and republics that once covered part of Guinea.

1878–1898

Wassoulou Empire

The West African empire built by Samori Ture, a brilliant military strategist who resisted French conquest for nearly two decades before his capture, flying a blue-white-red horizontal triband.