Flag of Burundi - the facts...

The flag of Burundi is a combination of colors, stripes, stars, and circles.

At its center is a medium sized round white circle which houses three red stars. The stars are six pointed and are outlined in green.

The stars are aligned with one star at the top of an imaginary triangle and the two other stars at the two end points of the base of the imaginary triangle.

From the circle are four white diagonal stripes that shoot out to the corners and divide the flag into almost triangular shaped area. The left and right triangular shapes are green and the top and bottom triangular shapes are red.

The Presidential Decree of September 1983 describes all the dimensions of the flag of Burundi, the width of the white strips, the placement of the stars, and the diameter of the central white disk.

The national flag of Burundi's measurements are 2.50m long x 1.50m wide.

Motto on the Flag of Burundi

The three stars at the center of the flag represent the three words of Burundi national motto which are Unity, Work, and Progress.

In Burundi their national motto is actually written in French language which is Unité, Travail, Progrès.

The three stars also represent the three ethnic groups who started and still live in Burundi the Hutu, Tutsi and the Twa.

Colors of the Flag of Burundi

The red color in the flag of Burundi is said to stand for their independence struggle. The green color represents their hope and the white color is their wish for peace.

Their Air Force uses the three colors, green, white and red for their plane emblems. These emblems are round and, as a result, look more like a bull’s eye with the green at the center which is encircled by the white and then encircled by the red color.

How History affected the Burundi Flag

In the 19th century Burundi was ruled by a Tutsi King.

In 1890 Burundi became part of German East Africa.

However, the Germans did not attempt to govern the area until 1897. At that time, Burundi’s flag was the German tricolor flag that had three equal sized horizontal banners.

The top banner was black, the middle banner was white, and the lower banner was red. In the center of the white banner was an uncrowned imperial eagle.

In 1916 during World War I, the Belgian army occupied Burundi.

In 1922, the war had ended and the League of Nations had been established.

Burundi became part of Belgium as a mandate from the League of Nations. Burundi was part of the Belgium Congo until 1962. It was the Belgians who brought the French language to Burundi, where most people speak French.

The Belgian flag is a tricolor flag with vertical banners of black, yellow, and red and stand for freedom and revolution. It has dimension ratio is 13 in height and 15 in width and displays three vertical stripes of equal size.

On July 1, 1962, the country became an independent Kingdom of Burundi. With this independence Burundi created a new flag.

It had two diagonal white strips which created a top and bottom red triangular shapes and a left and right green triangular shapes. Centered over the strips and triangular shapes was a white circle. Inside the circle was a black drum, called the Karyenda, which is a traditional emblem of the Mwami or king. Below and slightly in front the drum was also a green sorghum plant with a red blossom.

In 1966 the flag was changed slightly. The drum color was changed from black to red. Several other variances of the drum and plant or just the plant were proposed in 1966-67.

In 1967 a stamp was created of the final version of the flag with the three stars. The stamp had the stars incorrectly placed. It had two stars at the top and one on the bottom instead of the other way around.

From 1967 until 1982 the size ratio of the flag had been 2:3.

In September of 1982 the ratio was changed to the 3:5 ratio size which is the most common ratio size throughout the world.

Although most people refer to the country as Burundi, its official name is the Republic of Burundi.

Now you know all about the flag of Burundi click here for more facts on the country, its history, facts and figures.