Green on the Left Blue on the Right Black Bar in the Middle Flag Kenyan Flag

Kenya is a coastal country in Eastern Africa.

Its capital is Nairobi. It has the Indian ocean as its coastline to the East.

The design of the Kenya flag is horizontal. It has three horizontal stripes of black, red, and green. In between the black and red bands, red and green bands, there are white edges. There is a red, black, and white Masai shield in the middle of the flag. There are two white spears behind the shield. The national flag is also used as a state and a civil ensign. The official flag of Kenya was adopted in the year 1963. The Kenya flag is based on the Kenya African National Union flag. This is the party that fought for Kenya's freedom and independence. The flag design is close to the pan-African flag which was used by the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.

History Of The Kenyan Flag

The Kenyan flag is based on the Kenya African National flag.

There are four colors in the Kenyan flag: red, black, green, and white. Kenya was ruled by the British since the year 1888. An independence movement took across the continent by Marcus Garvey. Kenya also was one of the countries that took part in this movement. There was an uprising movement in Kenya in the 1950s. The people of Kikuyu were the first to start this uprising. It is a horizontal tricolor flag designed in 1963. The initial lag before independence just had black, red, and green stripes. After independence, the shield and the white stripes were added. The colors black and green come from the anglophone countries which ruled Kenya. The Kenyan African union had a cockerel in the middle of their flag when they were fighting for independence. After the independence of Kenya, the cockerel was removed, a shield and spears were added. The color black symbolizes the people of the country. The white fimbriations depict peace.

The coat of arms of Kenya has two lions that hold the symmetrical shield from both sides.

Symbolism Of The Kenyan Flag

The defense, peace, and unity of the country are depicted on the Kenyan flag.

The green color is the symbol of the wildlife and beautiful landscape of the nation of Kenya. The black color is the symbol for the people of the Republic of Kenya, and the red color is the symbol for the bloodshed to achieve independence. The white fimbriation is a sign of purity, innocence, unity, and peace. The flag of South Sudan and Kenya are very similar as they share the same colors. The coat of arms of shield and two spears represent the defense system of Kenya. The Massai tribe, which originally lived in Kenya, used to have shields and spears as their weapons. There are still a few people of the tribe of Masai residing in Kenya, and to acknowledge their contribution to the independence movement, the spears and shield are a part of the national flag and the emblem.

There have been four presidents of Kenya since they gained independence. There were different flags to represent different presidentships in the country. The second president, for example, had a flag with green background. There was a shield in the middle. The two yellow spears were crosse and put behind the shield. On the right of the shield, a cockerel was placed. The flag represents former President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Flag of former President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. His political party ruled for two terms and had a different flag. The flag was raised at midnight on December 12, 1963. The Union Jack was lowered and the Kenyan flag was hoisted on the pole. The national anthem was also played for the first time on December 12. The crowd got emotional and shouted Uhuru. Uhuru means freedom in the Sawahaii language. The new flag was raised by Kisoi Munyao. The flag was raised at Mount Kirinyaga. It is also called Mount Kenya. The black represents the Kenyan people. The green represents the country's landscape in the flag of Kenya.

Let's pull together are the words written under a shield in the historical flags. They respect Kenya's heritage of natural wealth. The British blue ensign was removed from the Kenyan flag, and initially, a green flag with crossed spears was used. The white added later represented national unity, justice, and peace. This is also present in the state ensign and various flags of the country to depict unity peace and liberty plenty.

Design of the Kenyan Flag

The flag of Kenya has three horizontal bands.

There are two white stripes between the first and second, second and third band. There is a shield in the middle of the flag with two crossed spears. The primary colors were adopted from Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League(UNIA). The leaders of the Kenya African Democratic Union were against the design of the flag. They proposed their own flag which had two white stripes with a shield and 2 crossed spears. In the end, both designs were incorporated into the Kenya flag. The height to width ratio of the flag is 2:3. Each of the lines is 6 in (15.2 cm) in length. In the middle; of the flag, the spears cross each other. Mostly African flags have some resemblance to the flags of the colonies which ruled them. Those who were ruled by French colonies had red, yellow, and green colors in their flags. The blue, green, white, and black stripes are present in the flag of countries that were ruled by Anglo-Saxon countries.

Modifications of the Kenyan flag

The flag of Kenya was modeled after the KANU flag.

From the year 1895 to 1920, when Kenya was under British rule, it had a flag with blue background. On the upper left corner, there was a British ensign, and a red lion was present beside the ensign. Some parts of the country were under German rule. They had a different flag. It had a red background and a British emblem was in the middle of the flag. Jomo Kenyatta became the leader of the KANU after world war II. He gave a speech to the Mau Mau tribe which held the military expertise and were often termed as warriors. The Mau Mau tribe gave their full support to the independence movement. He told that Africans could achieve their right to the fertile land by only shedding their blood.

Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, also has its own flag. It has two colors. The background is dark green in color and has a yellow triangle. A shield is derived from the county arms. This shield is present in the middle of the yellow triangle. This was the design that was approved in 2013. Before 2013, the flag of Nairobi city had alternating green and yellow boxes. The boxes were of rectangular color. In the middle, of the flag, there was a circle. Inside the circle, there were blue waves.

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Source: https://kidadl.com/facts/kenya-flag-facts-history-significance-and-valor

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