No. 109 / 195
- Capital
- Nouakchott
- Continent
- Africa
- Flag adopted
- 1959
- Designer
- Not individually credited
Mauritania
Colors and meaning
Green #00A95C
Islam and hope
Gold #FFD700
The Saharan sands
Red #D01C1F
Added in 2017 to represent the blood of those who resisted colonial rule and defended the nation
Symbolism and history
A gold crescent and star on green, bordered in 2017 by thin red stripes added by referendum specifically to honor resistance fighters, since the original plain-green design was seen as omitting that history.
No documented visual overlap
Mauritania’s design isn’t a close visual match for any other current national flag. A few more flags from Africa, for browsing:
Further reading: Flag of Mauritania on Wikipedia