The flag of the Central African Republic was adopted on December 1, 1958. It was designed by Barthélemy Boganda, the first president of the autonomous territory of Oubangui-Chari, who believed that "France and Africa must march together." Thus he combined the blue, white and red of the French tricolour and the Pan-African colors red, green and yellow.
According to its official description, red symbolizes the blood of the people of the nation, the blood that was spilt in order to bring it independence, and the blood that they would spill to protect their nation. Blue represents the sky and freedom. White represents peace, and dignity. Green represents hope, and faith. Yellow represents tolerance.
From 1976 to 1979, during the existence of the Central African Empire, an imperial standard was designed for Emperor Bokassa I's personal use. The standard was light green in color, with a gold-colored eagle in the centre superimposed over a 20-pointed gold star, inspired by the eagle on the imperial standard of Napoleon I. The nation's national flag, however, remained unchanged.
Read more about Flag Of The Central African Republic: Former Flags
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Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
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And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Et in Arcadia ego.
[I too am in Arcadia.]”
—Anonymous, Anonymous.
Tomb inscription, appearing in classical paintings by Guercino and Poussin, among others. The words probably mean that even the most ideal earthly lives are mortal. Arcadia, a mountainous region in the central Peloponnese, Greece, was the rustic abode of Pan, depicted in literature and art as a land of innocence and ease, and was the title of Sir Philip Sidney’s pastoral romance (1590)
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—Policy statement, 1944, of the Youth League of the African National Congress. pt. 2, ch. 4, Fatima Meer, Higher than Hope (1988)
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—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)