Feature by Amey Haldankar
Chad is a landlocked North African country surrounded by Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria.
Description of the flag
The flag of Chad is a vertical tricolour of blue, yellow, and red.
What does the Chadian flag represent?
The colour blue symbolises hope as well as the blue sky over all countries.
The colour yellow shows the sun and the desert found in the northern region of the country while the red colour represents the sacrifice made for the independence of Chad by its
freedom fighters.
Moreover, the red also signifies progress of the nation.
History of the flag
The first flag of Chad can be traced back to 14th century, when present day lands of Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon were under the control of the Kanem Empire.
Although the empire was established in the 8th Century, there are no records of its flag until 1339, when the Flag of Kanem was mentioned in the Dulceltra Atlas.
In the 1380s, the Kanem Empire fell and was succeeded by the Bornu Empire. The Empire discontinued after 1890s and starting from 1900, the country became a French colony and the
French flag was imposed.
In 1960, Chad was granted independence and the flag hasn’t changed since then.
Ongoing issue with Romania due to flag
The Flag of Chad and the Flag of Romania are identical, except for the minor things like shades of colours. Due to this similarity of flags, an international discussion has been taking place since the 1990s.
The roots of this can be traced to 1989, when the present-day Romanian flag was adopted by
Romania. Till then there wasn’t any conflict because the flags were different.
The issue was even raised up to the UN by Chad in 2004. Romania’s President, Ion Iliescu, was
asked to change the flag. He refused to make any changes.
