São Tomé and Príncipe 1974 flag proposals

Last modified: 2005-10-08 by antonio martins
Keywords: star: 5 points (black) | stars: 2 |
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• Presentation
• 1st project
• 2nd project
• 3rd project
• 4th project
• 5th project
• 6th project
• 7th project
• 8th project

• São Tomé and Príncipe

Presentation

According to Flaggenmitteilung 96 (March 1984), the files of late A. Usachow [1974] show 8 flag projects worth mentioning. In the end none of the designs was adopted, rather the flag of the MLSTP instead.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

1st project

Horizontal yellow over green (colours of the liberation movement), 2 red stars in the middle.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96

2nd project

Since the struggle for independence was not satisfactorily represented by this, a red stripe was added nearby the hoist and the stars were changed to black.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96

3rd project

The red stripe didn’t express equality, and was replaced by a red triangle.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96

4th project

To express the African character better, the colour of the triangle was changed from red to black, with in the middle of it a red star for «unity in struggle». The two back stars were omitted.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96

5th project

Because the black stars would well enough express the unity of the two islands a new design was made. This flag was red with a yellow over green stripe with two black stars.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96

6th project

But in this way a four-striped was obtained, a type common to the Indian revolutionaries at the beginning of the 20th century. So the yellow-green stripe with the black stars was placed diagonal (from lower hoist to upper fly).
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96

7th project

This still looked too much like the four-striped flag, so a design with three stripes diagonal yellow-red-green (with the stars on the central stripe) was made.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96

8th project

Two dark colours were however near each other which is against heraldic rules, so the stripes were placed green-red-black with narrow yellow fimbriations. The two black stars remained on the central stripe.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96