Madagascar Flags – Malagasy Flag, Bunting & Hand Flags

The Madagascar flag: white, red and green

The flag of Madagascar has a vertical white band at the hoist and two horizontal bands in the fly, red above green. It was adopted on 14 October 1958, when Madagascar became an autonomous republic within the French Community, and it was kept at full independence on 26 June 1960. White and red were the colours of the Merina kingdom that ruled from the highlands in the nineteenth century, flown by Queen Ranavalona III until the French annexation of 1896; green was added for the Hova, the free commoners who drove the independence movement, and for the coastal peoples and the hope of the new state. Our Madagascar flag is printed with the white band a third of the length and the red and green halves of equal depth, so it reads correctly beside the similar flags of Benin and Guinea-Bissau.

Independence Day, the Barea and the UK connection

Independence Day on 26 June is the big flag day, with a military parade in Antananarivo, lanterns carried by children on the evening of the 25th and street parties through the night. Flags also come out for the Barea, the national football side that reached the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals on its debut in 2019 after beating Nigeria, for the Makis in rugby, a sport with a huge following on the island, and for family gatherings in the dry-season Famadihana months. Britain’s Malagasy community is small and centred on London, where the embassy hosts the 26 June reception, but the flag is in far wider demand: wildlife charities, zoo lemur days, World Environment Day displays, the Madagascar films at children’s parties, geography projects on the rainforest and vanilla and chocolate makers who source from the Sava region all ask for it.

Sizes, grades and fittings

The 5ft x 3ft suits a flagpole, a classroom or a zoo display; the 3ft x 2ft a window, a stall or a bedroom wall; the 8ft x 5ft a large mast or a stage; and the 20x12in a car or a hand pole. Flagtex is the printed woven polyester for indoor use and a few weeks outside; DuraFlag is the knitted heavyweight with a double-stitched hem that stays on a pole for a season. Both have a sewn header and two brass eyelets, with clips or rope and toggle as DuraFlag options.

Madagascar bunting

Madagascar bunting threads rectangular white, red and green pennants on a tape in 3m and 9m lengths. Three metres frames a classroom door, a lemur enclosure sign or a buffet; nine metres runs along a hall, a marquee or a school fair for 26 June. The pennants are polyester printed on both sides and cope with a shower.

Hand flags and table flags

Madagascar hand flags on wooden sticks are stocked in 9x6in and 18x12in for parades, football and school assemblies. The Madagascar table flag is a 6x4in desk flag with a base for an office or a travel agent, and the large wooden table flag at 18x12in suits an embassy desk or a conference table. Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Mozambique and Réunion flags are under world flags.

Madagascar flag FAQs

Popular in this collection

• Madagascar Flag (20x12in to 8x5ft, Flagtex or DuraFlag)from £6.99
• Madagascar Bunting (3m or 9m)from £9.98
• Madagascar Hand Flags (9x6in, 18x12in)from £5.99
• Madagascar Table Flag 6x4in with Basefrom £1.98
• Madagascar Large Wooden Table Flagfrom £3.98