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São Tomé and Príncipe 1974 flag proposals

Last modified: 2022-10-22 by ian macdonald
Keywords: star: 5 points (black) | stars: 2 |
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Presentation

According to an article [usa74] in Flaggenmitteilung 96 (March 1984), the files of late A. Usachow [1974] show 8 flag projects worth mentioning. In the end none of the designs was adopted, rather the flag of the MLSTP instead.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997


1st project

Flag proposal #1 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

Horizontal yellow over green (colours of the liberation movement), 2 red stars in the middle.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96


2nd project

Flag proposal #2 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

Since the struggle for independence was not satisfactorily represented by this, a red stripe was added nearby the hoist and the stars were changed to black.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96


3rd project

Flag proposal #3 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

The red stripe didn’t express equality, and was replaced by a red triangle.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96


4th project

Flag proposal #4 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

To express the African character better, the colour of the triangle was changed from red to black, with in the middle of it a red star for «unity in struggle». The two back stars were omitted.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96


5th project

Flag proposal #5 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

Because the black stars would well enough express the unity of the two islands a new design was made. This flag was red with a yellow over green stripe with two black stars.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96


6th project

Flag proposal #6 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

But in this way a four-striped was obtained, a type common to the Indian revolutionaries at the beginning of the 20th century. So the yellow-green stripe with the black stars was placed diagonal (from lower hoist to upper fly).
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96


7th project

Flag proposal #7 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

This still looked too much like the four-striped flag, so a design with three stripes diagonal yellow-red-green (with the stars on the central stripe) was made.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96


8th project

Flag proposal #8 image by Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997

Two dark colours were however near each other which is against heraldic rules, so the stripes were placed green-red-black with narrow yellow fimbriations. The two black stars remained on the central stripe.
Mark Sensen, 26 May 1997, quoting from [fml] 96