Belgium, Germany, and Angola are the three soverign nations with flags with black, red and yellow on their flags. Several other flags of states, territories, and indigenous groups have the three colors and an additional color, often white.
Uganda is another country that uses this color scheme, with the addition of a white disc with a Gray-crowned Crane in the center.
Still, several states and regions have flags with those three color combinations. So, in this article, we’ve put together a list of the places that have black, red, and yellow flags. Let’s get started!
Countries with Black, Red, and Yellow Flags
1. Angola
The flag of Angola has two horizontal bands. The upper band is red, while the lower band is black.
As for the yellow, the flag of Angola has a yellow emblem in the middle. It consists of a yellow half-gear wheel crossed by a machete on the lower half. The machete is topped with a five-pointed star.
According to Angola’s constitution, the upper red half symbolizes the bloodshed spilled during Angola’s colonial period and the fight for independence. The lower black half, on the other hand, represents African people and Africa as a whole.
The central emblem’s yellow color represents the country’s wealth, which is the result of what the symbols in the emblem represent:
- The gear represents the industrial workers and means of production.
- The machete represents the peasants and agricultural production.
- The star represents international solidarity and progress.
Related Article: What Does a Solid Black Flag Mean?
2. Belgium
Belgium’s flag is a tricolor flag with three vertical bands: black, yellow, and red. The black represents humility, the yellow represents prosperity, and the red represents victory.
These three colors were chosen to match the Duchy of Brabant’s coat of arms. The vertical design is also likely inspired by the French flag. Still, the Belgian national flag went through several stages before reaching its current form.
During the Belgian Revolution of 1830, the insurgents replaced the French flag with a tricolor flag similar to the one used during the Brabant Revolution. The flag had the same red, yellow, and black bands, but they were horizontal.
In the constitution, the colors of the flag were described, but the direction and order of the color bands were not. As a result, the bands were turned vertical instead of horizontal, and the colors were arranged as black, yellow, and red.
3. Germany
Germany has a tricolored flag consisting of three horizontal bands of black, red, and gold (not yellow). The distinction between yellow and gold is rarely highlighted in vexillology. However, the color used in the German flag is gold rather than yellow.
One theory that may explain why the German flag has such a color distinction dates back to the Lützow Free Corps, which was formed in opposition to Napoleon’s occupation. Those troops wore mainly black uniforms with red facings and gold buttons.
In general, the association of Germany with the three colors black, red, and gold began in the 1840s. At the time, Germany flew the black-red-gold flag as it moved against the Conservative Order.
During that period, those three colors represented liberalism in Germany. They came to represent Germany’s national colors from then on.
Related Article: American Flag with a Green Stripe Meaning
4. Uganda
The Ugandan flag is made from six equal horizontal bands of black, yellow, red, black, yellow, and red.
A white disc in the center of the flag depicts Uganda’s National Bird, the Gray-crowned Crane. This majestic Crane symbolizes elegance and prosperity, and its raised leg represents the country’s forward movement.
The black bands represent native African ethnic groups, African heritage, and Uganda’s fertile soil. The yellow bands represent Uganda’s sunny days. Finally, the red bands, being the color of red, represent African brotherhood and connection to all humanity.
5. Papua New Guinea
The flag of Papua New Guinea was adopted by Papua New Guinea in 1971. It contains a black and red background. The background is split across the diagonal with red on the top-right and black on the bottom-left.
In the red section is the southern cross which is only visible in the southern sky. It’s also on other southern hemisphere countries’ flags such as Australia’s and New Zealand’s.
In the black section is a silhouette of the Raggiana bird-of-paradise which is a bird endemic to the island.
Related Article: American Flag with a Yellow Stripe Meaning
Other Black, Red and Yellow Flags
6. Aboriginal Australia Official Flag
In the early 1970s, the Australian Aboriginal flag was first flown as a symbol of unity for Aboriginal people on National Aborigines Day. It consists of two black and red horizontal bands with a yellow disc in the center.
Then, in 1995, Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating granted the flag National Flag Status, along with the Torres Strait Islander flags.
According to the flag’s designer Harold Thomas, the flag colors have the following symbolic meaning:
- Black represents Australia’s Aboriginal people.
- Red represents the red earth and the blood of the Aboriginal people.
- The yellow disc represents the sun.
7. Lower Saxony
Every German land (state) has a Landesflagge, which translates to a state flag or civil flag. Lower Saxony, one of those states, has a tri-colored flag with black, red, and gold stripes. In the middle of the flag, a white horse is superimposed against a red background defined with black.
Adopted on May 1, 1951, the Lower Saxony flag follows the same color scheme as the national German flag. The color scheme is also meant to be a neutral symbol that represents Braunschweig, Hannover, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe.
Because Lower Saxony is a merger of those four territories, the most logical flag design was to use the German flag rather than a combination of the four territories’ flag colors.
That said, the white horse represents the coats of arms of Braunschweig and Hannover.
8. Sarawak
Each of Malaysia’s 13 states, like Germany, has its own state flag. Sarawak’s flag has undergone numerous changes throughout its history. There are also conflicting accounts of what the flag looked like in the 19th century.
That said, Sarawak’s current flag was adopted in 1988 and is based on the White Rajah flag of the Raj of Sarawak.
According to the Sarawak Government, the symbolic meaning of the flag’s colors are as follows:
- The yellow background symbolizes the supremacy of law and order, as well as unity and stability amid diversity.
- The black stripe represents Sarawak’s wealth and abundance of natural resources.
- The red stripe represents the people’s bravery, blood, sweat, and tears in creating and maintaining a model state.
- The yellow nine-pointed star represents the nine divisions of the state, as well as the people’s desire to improve their quality of life.
9. Norte de Santander
The flag of Colombia’s Department of Norte de Santander consists of two horizontal bands: upper red and lower black. The flag also has four stars in the shape of a rhombus, one in each stripe and two on the dividing line between the red and black bands.
When the Department was formed, it merged the four provinces Chinácota, Cúcuta, Pamplona, and Ocaña. So, the four stars in the flag represent those four provinces.
The red band, on the other hand, represents patriotism and bloodshed, while the black band represents the oil drilled in the region.
10. Negeri Sembilan
Negeri Sembilan is yet another Malaysian state with a black, red, and yellow flag. These three colors represent the traditional colors of the original settlers, the Minangkabau.
Unlike the horizontal and vertical bands seen elsewhere on this list, the flag of Negeri Sembilan is yellow with a diagonally divided upper hoist canton. The canton’s upper portion is red, while the lower portion is black.
Conclusion
Only three countries in the world have this color combination: Angola, Belgium, and Germany. Uganda uses the same color scheme, but with a bit more white and animal symbolism.
Apart from the four country flags, other states, counties, and regions have flags that are black, red, and yellow. These places include Aboriginal Australians, Sarawak, Northamptonshire, Lower Saxony, and many others.
Now that you know where there are black, red, and yellow flags, as well as what those three colors mean in each location, you can boast your global geography skills to your friends and family!
I’m Chris and I run this website – a resource about symbolism, metaphors, idioms, and a whole lot more! Thanks for dropping by.