Madagascar

The national flag of Madagascar is a tricolour featuring two equal horizontal bands of red and green with a vertical white band of the same size on the hoist side. It was designed by Andrianome Ranaivosoa, an agent of the Malagasy National Geographic Institute. The design was chosen by a technical commission on 15 October 1958 and officially adopted on 21 October, one day and one week after the Malagasy Republic was proclaimed, respectively.

The design of the flag is described in Title I, Article 4 of the Constitution of Madagascar, 2010: [Madagascar's] national emblem is the tricolour flag of white, red, and green, composed of three rectangular bands of equal dimensions: the first vertical of white on the side of the pole, the other two horizontal, the superior red and the inferior green. The colours of the flag originally had no meaning. Upon the adoption of the flag on 21 October 1958, Barinia Tsara of the Bureau of the Constituent National Assembly gave the following significance to its colours: "White is purity; red is sovereignty. As for green, gentlemen, it is hope". The meanings of the colours have since changed, with more complex meanings being attributed to them. The office of the Malagasy president describes the present significance of the flag's colours as such: red represents national unity, green represents hope, and white represents freedom, security, and cleanliness. Additionally, the office connects the colours to different elements of Madagascar's geography and society. Red was a symbol of the country's historical monarchies and is the colour of the clay bricks used to construct most Malagasy…