Flag of Botswana

What the flag means

The designer, George Winstanley, wrote that the blue stands for water, on which the country's farming depends, and that the black band with its white borders stands for racial harmony.

History

Winstanley, a British colonial official who was Clerk to the Cabinet, ran a design competition before independence. He judged the entries hopeless and drew the flag himself, using straight horizontal lines so that it would be easy to draw. The Botswana Emblems Law of 1966 set out the design, and the flag was first raised at midnight on 30 September 1966, when the Bechuanaland Protectorate became the Republic of Botswana.

It is one of the few African national flags that use none of the pan-African colours.

Earlier flags of Botswana

1. 1885–1966Union Flag of the United Kingdom, flown in the Bechuanaland Protectorate

Flags of Botswana's neighbours

• Namibia
• South Africa
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe