Last modified: 2006-12-16 by bruce berry
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2:3~ image by Martin Grieve,
16 Oct 2005
From the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Angola adopted on 25 August 1992
(although text on national symbols is basically the same as that contained in
the Constitution adopted at the time of independence on 11 November 1975. In the
latter the national symbols are covered in Part IV and the country's name was
"People's Republic of Angola").
"Part VI
Symbols of the Republic of Angola
Article 161:
The symbols of the Republic of Angola shall be the Flag, the Insignia and
National Anthem.
Article 162:
The national flag shall consist of two colours in horizontal bands. The upper
band shall be bright red and the lower one black and they shall represent:
Bright red - the blood shed by Angolans during colonial oppression, the national
liberation struggle and the defence of the country.
Black - the African continent.
In the centre there shall be a composition formed by a segment of a cog wheel,
symbolising the workers and industrial production; a machete symbolising the
peasants, agricultural production and the armed struggle; and a star,
symbolising international solidarity and progress. The cog wheel,
the machete and the star shall be yellow, symbolising the country's wealth.
Article 163: (Coat of Arms)
The insignia of the Republic of Angola shall be formed by a segment of a cog
wheel and sheaves of maize, coffee and cotton, representing respectively the
workers and industrial production, the peasants and agricultural production. At
the foot of the design, an open book shall represent education and culture, and
the rising sun shall represent the new country. In the centre shall be a machete
and a hoe symbolising work and the start of the armed struggle. At the top shall
be star
symbolising international solidarity and progress. In the lower part of the
emblem shall be a golden band with the inscription 'Republic of Angola'."
(Source: "Constitutions - what they tell us about flags and coats of arms"
by Jos Poels and Pascal Vagnat (SAVA, Dec 2000)
Bruce Berry, 02 Nov 2006
Horizontally divided red over black.
In the middle a golden star, part of a cog wheel and a machete. Symbol
is clearly inspired by hammer and sickle, and represents industrial and
agricultural workers.
Yellow is to represent mineral wealth, and red and black are said to
stand for 'Freedom or Death'. Officially hoisted at independence on 11 November 1975.
Željko Heimer, 28 November 1995
The People's Republic of Angola (PRA) adopted a flag closely based on that of
the ruling
MPLA
: red over black with a yellow design in the centre featuring a cogwheel,
machete and star. The PRA was proclaimed by the MPLA in March 1975; it was this
action which caused the final split between the MPLA,
FNLA and
UNITA who had previously agreed to bury their
differences in the run-up to independence. Initially, it was recognized only by
radical African nations and the Communist bloc. Cuba dispatched thousands of
troops to Angola in 1975 to ensure victory for the MPLA, and South Africa
intervened (with tacit US backing) in support of UNITA and the FNLA. Once South
Africa became involved in the conflict, other African nations recognized the PRA
and by 1976 it was also acknowledged by the
Organization of African Unity. In contrast, the United States did not
recognize the PRA until 1991 - by which time the ruling MPLA had officially
abandoned Marxism, and the word "People's" from the title of the country. In
view of political developments, it is quite likely that a new flag will be
adopted by a future Angolan government.
Stuart A. Notholt, 01 Oct 1996
The country name was altered to Republic of Angola in the Coat of Arms by
Angola Constitution Article 163 in Part VI issued on 24 Aug 1992.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 17 Jun 1999
The National Flag shall consist of two colors in horizontal bands. The upper
band shall be bright red and the lower one black and they shall represent:
Bright red - The blood shed by Angolans during colonial oppression, the
national liberation struggle and the defense of the country.
Black - The African continent.
In the center there shall be a composition formed by a segment of a
cogwheel, symbolizing the workers and industrial production, a machete,
symbolizing the peasants, agricultural production and the armed struggle, and a
star, symbolizing international solidarity and progress.
The cog wheel, the machete and the star shall be yellow, symbolizing the
country's wealth.
Source: Constitution of Angola
M.V. Blanes, 12 Sep 2000
image by
Martin Grieve, 16 Oct 2005No official construction sheet for Angola's National flag exists as
far as I know, and therefore the images I depict should be approached very cautiously.
My sources here were Graham Bartram's illustration on the
World Flag Database web-site,
and Christopher Southworth's figures, which differ only very slightly
from the ones I "calculate" here -
probably because of rounding up to whole numbers.
Martin Grieve, 16 Oct 2005
I am a little bit confused about the position of the cog wheel. Manuel
Gabino's image on FOTW, Fischer Weltalmanach (2005) and "Wappen und Flaggen
aller Nationen" (1980) [smi81g] are
all showing one cog "lying" on the border of red and
black. Your image and the image in my Chinese book "National Flags, Emblems
and Anthems across the World" (2003) have this cog crossing the border.
Is there no specification or was there a change ?
J. Patrick Fischer, 16 Oct 2005
Actually, I believe you got one thing wrong: the position of the device on
the flag.
As you drew it, with the "whole" cogwheel centered on the flag, the final
effect is of a device shifted to the fly because the hoist side of the
cogwheel is missing and there's nothing in its place. This unbalances the
flag, and therefore I believe that it shouldn't be so: the device should be
centered as it is effectively drawn, not counting the missing part of the
wheel.
Jorge Candeias, 16 Oct 2005
I agree with Jorge's comment that the emblem should be centrally
positioned.
Also, I wonder if we could even talk about such a construction sheet
at all, since quite different constructions could produce equally
acceptable image of the flag - compare the Album 2000 [pay00] drawing - quite
different one in details.
According to Album 2000 the cog wheel should "start" at 12 o'clock,
just above the star. Also one point of the star should
almost directly point toward the tip of the machete - quite unlike
those in your drawing. But these are all just descriptions of various
drawings - we still don't know from where to start - we need a
primary source.
By the way, I am not sure why there is a "notch" in the cog laying directly
under the machete (namely the cog number 7 if you count the visible
cogs from the top clockwise). It seems to me that there is no reason
why it would be "cut" vertically?
Željko Heimer, 16 Oct 2005
As it is now drawn, with the "whole" cogwheel centered on the flag, the final
effect is of a device shifted to the fly because the hoist side of the
cogwheel is missing and there's nothing in its place. This unbalances the
flag, and therefore I believe that it shouldn't be so: the device should be
centered as it is effectively drawn, not counting the missing part of the
wheel.
Perhaps but perhaps not? As we know flags do not always follow what is
logical or most attractive, and in the absence of any official statistics
(and all my efforts have been unable to bring any to light) one answer is as
likely to be right as the other - is the star, the part cogwheel or indeed
the whole emblem centred?
Christopher Southworth, 17 Oct 2005
I did not realise what a "storm" I would start up when I posted the
images of Angola's National flag
and construction sheet, but the response from so many eminent
Vexillologists interested me and I
would like to thank all of you for polite, and constructive
criticism/support on this matter.
Let me start here by saying that the entire ensemble is *never*
positioned centrally on the flag, and the
reason I say this, is because no fewer than 5 flag books and 1 flag
chart
that I own show the entire device shifted (albeit very slightly in many
cases)
towards the fly on the National flag of Angola.
I would be the first to agree that the device, if centrally positioned
would be
more attractive, - but this would make the star out of place.
Angola's flag presents us with an optical illusion and it is
impossible therefore to say
with any conviction that the device is dead-center - even although
at first glance it
may seem so.
Martin Grieve, 17 Oct 2005
Bruce Berry has three Angolan Flags in his collection. Two are manufactured
by the National Flag company in South Africa
and the other by William Smith & Gourock, a Zimbabwean flag manufacturer.
Bruce has shown me all three of them in order to
produce a drawing.
The Zimbabwe-made version is produced in the overall proportions of
1:2, which is hardly
surprising as Zimbabwe's National Flag is 1:2.
The two versions of the South African-made flags are in the ratio of
2:3. and all 3 versions
differ slightly in the geometric arrangement of the central device
which consists of a machete,
half-cogwheel and 5-pointed star. All of these flags show this entire
device to be positioned approximately
centrally upon the flag.
The shades of yellow are all consistent - a deep shade which I
approximate
to RGB 255-204-0, whilst the red is a deep red. Album des Pavillons
gives this shade of red to be
PMS 186c which is identical to the shade of red on the Union Flag of
the United Kingdom.
Bruce compared these two flags next to one another and informs me that
the Angolan red is slightly brighter.
The half-cogwheel's tooth-edges are all illustrated as "beveled" as
opposed to being radially produced from
the centre of the wheel - the first remark on the flag from Bruce
when we met.
The main difference between the 2 South African produced flags is the
termination of the
half-cogwheel. The storm size one has the top-most cut-off line at
about 5 past twelve o'clock
whilst the larger version has this at 12 o'clock and therefore
vertical from the 5-pointed star.
It would now appear that placing the half-cogwheel in the centre would
be erroneous, although one
could argue that providing the flag consists of the basic elements and
"looks right" it would not be
wrong.
Martin Grieve, 30 Oct 2005
All considered, the shade of red on the flag of Angola, should be, drawn as
RGB:255-255-0. Album des Pavillons [pay00]
gives this shade of red to be PMS 186c which is identical to the shade of red on
the Union Flag of the UK. This is, in my opinion, a mistake. No matter how
one matches it to any given
system, the shade of red in the Union Jack is explicitly dark (FIAV'S R+),while
the flag of Angola is bright red («vermelho vivo» in the Constitution). Any
coherent pair of these two flags should always show the Union Jack in a darker
shade, regardless of the exact values used.
António MARTINS-Tuválkin,
01 Nov 2005
.gif)
sent by M.V. Blanes, 12 Sep 2000
The insignia of the Republic of Angola shall be formed by a segment
of a cogwheel and sheaves of maize, coffee and cotton, representing respectively
the workers and industrial production, the peasants and agricultural production.
At the foot of the design, an open book shall represent education and
culture, and the rising sun shall represent the new country. In the center
shall be a machete and a hoe symbolizing work and the start of the armed
struggle. At the top shall be a star symbolizing international solidarity
and progress.
In the lower part of the emblem shall be a golden band with the inscription
'Republic of Angola'.
Source: Constitution of Angola.
M.V. Blanes, 12 Sep 2000
Just a note on the terminology: as the emblem in question is not following
the rules of heraldry, it ought not to be called coat of arms. Note, that
in the legal text below, the words used are insignia, design and emblem.
There is no mention of arms or coat of arms.
Elias Granqvist, 13 Sep 2000
Knowing the current status of Angola, this description can be seen as
a piece of very sad humour. It is true, anyway, that Angola was once a world leader in coffee production. Now the production is nearly
extinct, not because of plant pathogens but because of human ones. Only
armed struggle (but Angolans vs. Angolans) has remained. There is of
course international solidarity to protect diamond fields and progress
towards better mining techniques.
Ivan Sache, 13 Sep 2000