Flag of Ivory Coast
The national flag of Ivory Coast is a vertical tricolour of orange, white, and green, with a 2:3 width-to-length ratio. It was adopted on 3 December 1959 with the passing of law no. 59-240 by the Ivorian Legislative Assembly, and is defined in Article 48 of the country's 2016 constitution. It is similar to the flag of Ireland, which is the same tricolour but reversed and with wider proportions.
The symbolism of the flag's colours and layout has been variously interpreted as representing aspects of the country's growth and geography. The president's office uses the meaning assigned by then state minister in a speech he gave after the flag was adopted. Delafosse stated that orange represents Ivorians' land, struggle, and blood; white represents peace and order; and green represents hope and a better future.
Adoption
The results of the 1958 French constitutional referendum led to the French Fourth Republic being replaced with the Fifth Republic and the French Union with the French Community, under which most colonies became "autonomous states", including Ivory Coast on 4 December 1958. The new status allowed the adoption of a distinct flag for the first time, in place of the French flag. The orange, white, and green tricolour was adopted by law no. 59-240, passed by the Ivorian Legislative Assembly on 3 December 1959, just before the first anniversary of the country's autonomy. The French commissioner had suggested a red, white, and blue tricolour with stars, but Ivorians wanted a greater departure from the flag of their former colonial ruler. Conversely, the vexillologist Whitney Smith claimed that, in contrast to neighbouring post-colonial states, Ivory Coast rejected the pan-African colours of green, yellow, and red for its national flag because of its close ties to France.Prime Minister Félix Houphouët-Boigny declared full independence from France on 7 August 1960, and the Legislative Assembly sat as a constituent assembly to draft a constitution. Legislator Augustin Loubao proposed changing the orange band to red, to symbolise Ivorians' willingness to shed their blood to defend the new republic. Other legislators opposed the proposed change, and the existing flag was retained in Article 1 of the constitution adopted on 3 November 1960. It was retained as Article 29 of the 2000 constitution and Article 48 of the 2016 constitution.
Design
The design of the flag is defined in Article 48 of the Constitution of Ivory Coast as a "tricolour flag of orange, white, and green in vertical bands and of equal dimensions". The width-to-length ratio of the flag is 2:3. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games used Pantone codes PMS 151 for orange and PMS 347 for green in their manual for the 2012 Summer Olympics.| Orange | White | Green | |
| CMYK | 0/70/100/0 | 0/0/0/0 | 77/20/95/4 |
| Hexadecimal | #FF8200 | #FFFFFF | #009A44 |
| Pantone | 151 | N/A | 347 |
| RGB | 255/130/0 | 255/255/255 | 0/154/68 |
Symbolism
After the flag was officially adopted on 3 December 1959, Minister of State presented the flag to the Legislative Assembly and gave the following explanation of its significance:The office of the president of Ivory Coast repeats this anecdote and describes it as having "thus defined the meaning of ". Smith similarly wrote in the Encyclopædia Britannica that the "symbolism of the colours was said to be dynamic national growth, peace developing out of the purity and unity of all citizens, and hope for the future ". However, when presenting the colours of the flag to the 1960 constitutional assembly, commissioner Mamadou Coulibaly gave a different explanation:
Smith describes the added meaning of the savannas and forests as unofficial. The vertical alignment of the bands also symbolises Ivorian youth working towards a better future for their country, under the national motto "Unity, Discipline and Work".