Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
national flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The national flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a sky blue flag, adorned with a yellow star in the upper left canton and cut diagonally by a red stripe with a yellow fimbriation. It was adopted on 18 February 2006. A new constitution, ratified in December 2005 and which came into effect in February 2006, promoted a return to a flag similar to that flown between 1966 and 1971, with a change from a royal blue to sky blue background. Blue represents peace. Red stands for "the blood of the country's martyrs", yellow the country's wealth; and the star symbolises the future.
During the period between 1971 and 1997 as Zaire, the flag consisted of a light green fabric with a yellow circle containing an arm holding a flaming torch.
It is one of the few national flags incorporating a diagonal line, with other examples including Tanzania, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Brunei.
Colours
The colours approximation is listed below:
Historical flags
The flag immediately before the current one was adopted in 1997. It was similar to the flag used between 1960 and 1963. That flag, in turn, was based on the flag which was originally used by King Leopold's Association Internationale Africaine and was first used in 1877.
“Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo” enters the record as national flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Flag, Democratic and Republic can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Flag, Democratic and Republic provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q164584. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2006, 2005, 1966 and 1971.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo primary sources, Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo archive and Flag research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.