Madagascar Flag

Description

The Madagascar flag is available from Flags Online in full-size and desk formats, printed on both sides and made to last outdoors.

About the Madagascar Flag

The Madagascar flag is one of the few national banners built around a single vertical stripe on the hoist side paired with two horizontal bands, giving it an unusual look among African flags. A white panel sits at the flagpole edge, with red above green filling the rest of the field. The proportions run 2:3, a ratio common to many national flags, but applied here to a design that owes more to the island’s own royal history than to the pan-African colour schemes used by several of its neighbours.

Colours and Symbolism

White stands for purity and, in some readings, for the rice that has fed the island for centuries. Red is tied to sovereignty and to the old Merina kingdoms of the central highlands, where red and white were the traditional royal colours long before independence. Green was added to bring the coastal and southern peoples, often called the côtiers, into a flag that might otherwise have felt like it belonged only to the highlands. Together the three colours were meant to make the Madagascar flag speak for the whole island rather than for one region or dynasty.

History of the Madagascar Flag

Before the current design, Madagascar’s flags followed the red and white palette of the Merina monarchy, most visibly under Queen Ranavalona and her successors. French colonial rule from 1896 replaced those banners with the Tricolore. As independence approached, a technical commission reviewed a shortlist of proposals and settled on the red, white and green combination that makes up the Madagascar flag today, formally adopted on 14 October 1958, ahead of full independence in 1960. It has not been altered since, surviving a shift to a socialist republic in the 1970s and the return to multiparty rule in the 1990s.

Flying and Displaying the Flag

The white stripe is always flown at the hoist, closest to the pole, with red on top and green below running horizontally across the rest of the field. Getting this orientation wrong is a common mistake, since the layout is unlike most other African tricolours, which tend to run in purely vertical or horizontal bands. The Madagascar flag appears on government buildings, at diplomatic missions, and during national holidays such as Independence Day on 26 June. As with most national flags, it should be kept clean and undamaged when displayed, and lowered with a measure of care rather than simply pulled down.

Madagascar Flag Sizes and Pricing

• 180 x 120cm — R860
• 22 x 15cm Desk Flag (10 units) — R800
• 10 x 15cm Desk Flag (10 units) — R650
• 90 x 60cm — R400

Material and Construction

Made from 100% polyester bunting material and digitally printed on both sides. Hemmed all around with two rows of stitching and finished with a polyester webbing heading. Rope and toggle for hoisting included.

Supplied in packs of 10. Printed on both sides onto polyester and supplied with a black plastic stick and removable base — take the base off and it doubles as a hand waving flag.

Ordering and Delivery

Every Madagascar flag is printed to order and dispatched from our Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and Johannesburg branches, with courier delivery nationwide. Bulk and school orders are welcome — contact us for volume pricing on quantities of 10 or more.

Additional information