Tanzania’s flag displays a black diagonal band bordered in yellow from lower hoist to upper fly, dividing a green upper triangle and blue lower triangle. Adopted in 1964 upon the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, it fuses Tanganyika’s green‑yellow‑black with Zanzibar’s black‑blue‑green. Green represents land and agriculture; blue the Indian Ocean and lakes; black the people; yellow the nation’s mineral wealth. Statutes fix proportions, colour values, and band geometry; protocol governs respectful use across the union’s institutions.
The national flag of the United Republic of Tanzania is a union emblem: a diagonal, yellow‑edged black band cleaving green and blue fields to merge two former flags into one.
Union and design. On 26 April 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar united. Lawmakers sought a national flag that would honour both components. They combined Tanganyika’s green‑yellow‑black triband with Zanzibar’s black‑blue‑green: a black band for the people, edged in yellow for mineral wealth, set diagonally from hoist‑lower to fly‑upper to divide green (land and agriculture) above from blue (sea and inland waters) below. The design was proclaimed in 1964 and took immediate effect across public buildings and services.
Construction and standards. Implementing orders set a typical 2:3 ratio; specified relative widths for the black band and yellow fimbriations; and defined colour references to prevent drift across cloth and print. Guidance addresses common errors (reversing the diagonal, misplacing the band) and prescribes correct orientation in vertical display.
Protocol
The flag is raised daily on ministries, schools, courts, and military installations; flown on national holidays such as Union Day (26 April), Independence Day (9 December), and Revolution Day in Zanzibar (12 January); and half‑masted in mourning by presidential order. It is illuminated at night when displayed, never allowed to touch the ground, and retired with dignity when worn.
Continuity
and identity. While coats of arms, presidential standards, and service ensigns carry additional symbols, the civil flag has remained unchanged since 1964, a widely recognised mark of the union state at home and abroad. In sport and diplomacy, the diagonal black band bordered in gold against green and blue creates a distinctive silhouette among world flags.
Meaning and civics. Green embodies the nation’s land and agricultural base; blue the Indian Ocean, great lakes, and rivers; black the people; yellow the country’s mineral resources. These readings feature in curricula and public messaging, reinforcing a shared civic language.
Thus Tanzania’s flag is at once synthesis and statement: a union codified in colour and geometry, stable in law and protocol since the republic’s formative year.