Coat of arms and flag of Tanzania: description and meaning of state symbols

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Tanzania is an African country in the eastern part of the continent. The state has two capitals, and in its history managed to visit a colony of Germany and Great Britain. What is Tanzania? The flag and coat of arms of the country are able to fully tell about it.

Coat of Arms of Tanzania

One of the main official symbols of the country reflects its geographical features, and also refers to its history. The coat of arms of the shield is atypical for traditional heraldry. Usually they use a French or, for example, an English shield, but in Tanzania it is African. This is how the local warriors defended themselves.

The composition of the shield is divided into four horizontal areas. A burning torch is depicted on a golden background of the uppermost part. It is a symbol of freedom and enlightenment, and the yellow background means the richness of the bowels of the Earth.

The next box shows the flag of Tanzania. Below it is a red area, indicating fertile soils in the country. The bottom stripe of the shield features blue wavy lines on a white background that represent lakes and seas.

In the center of the shield, over four stripes,a spear, crossed ax and hoe are depicted. The spear symbolizes the struggle for freedom, the defense of the state, and the tools represent agriculture, which forms the basis of the local economy.

At the foot of the coat of arms is Mount Kilimanjaro. On both sides it is framed by elephant tusks, which are held by a man and a woman. At the feet of a man is a carnation, near a woman is a cotton bush, symbolizing the equality of the sexes. Between them is a white ribbon with the country's motto in Swahili: Uhuru na Umoja ("Freedom and Unity").

Tanzania: flag

The national flag of the republic was adopted in 1964. The flag of Tanzania is a rectangular panel, the width and length of which are related to each other as 2:3. It combines the symbols of Zanzibar and Tanganyika. Previously, the territories were two separate colonies, but now they have united into one state.

The flag of Tanzania is divided by a black diagonal stripe from top right to bottom left. Passing through the entire cloth, it forms two triangles at the other ends of the flag. The triangle closest to the pole is green, and the one in the lower right corner is blue. On both sides, the black diagonal is surrounded by one yellow stripe, much thinner than itself.

The green color on the flag represents the vegetation of the country. Blue symbolizes water we alth, and yellow indicates an abundance of minerals. Black is the skin color of the local population and represents the people of Tanzania.

History of the flag

The flag of Tanzania has changedsimultaneously with the political system in the state. On the territory of the country, a total of about 15 flags were changed (at different times and in different lands). During the existence of the German colony, the flag of German East Africa operated here. It consisted of red, white and black horizontal stripes with a lion in the middle.

After World War I, the lands of Tanzania were divided. The flag of Tanganyika was red with a giraffe in a white circle and a miniature of the British flag at the hoist. From 1962 to 1964 it was painted green with a black stripe down the middle flanked by two thin yellow stripes.

Zanzibar from 1918 to 1963 existed under the flag of Great Britain. In the center of it was an emblem with a sailboat, on the stern of which there was a red flag (the flag of the Sultanate of Zanzibar 1861-1963). Later, the flag of the Republic of Zanzibar consisted of equal horizontal stripes of blue, black and green.