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Flags of Chad

From the Kanem-Bornu and Wadai sultanates of the Sahel and Sahara borderlands, through French military conquest and the colonial territory that outlasted every other part of French Equatorial Africa in reaching full colony status, to an independence in 1960 quickly overtaken by a civil-conflict history that has run, in one form or another, for most of the country's existence since — three flags across roughly a century and a quarter of documented rule.

Chad's national flag, a simple blue-yellow-red vertical tricolor adopted in 1959, has never changed despite the decades of civil war, Libyan military intervention in the north during the 1970s and 80s, and repeated changes of regime that followed independence — a rare constant in an otherwise turbulent political history.

Scope of this page: the territory of present-day Chad, precolonial sultanates to present, three political-flag eras. Chad's post-independence history includes multiple civil wars, a Libyan-backed northern insurgency, and several changes of government by coup or rebellion (Tombalbaye, Habré, Déby, and beyond); because the national flag has remained unchanged throughout, this page tracks that continuity as a single entry rather than inventing flag sub-periods the historical record does not support. A map of the country's own real border appears below.

One Sahelian border, with one 21-year exception

Chad's own real border, traced whole — a vast, landlocked territory governed as a single French colony and then a single republic almost throughout, except for one internal split: the Aouzou Strip in the far north, occupied and annexed by Libya from 1973 to 1994 while the rest of Chad remained under its own government the whole time.

One documented exception to Chad's single-flag history. Chad's own national flag has never changed despite decades of civil war and a Libyan-backed insurgency, so this page otherwise tracks a single region. But from 1973 to 1994, Libya occupied and annexed Chad's mineral-rich Aouzou Strip in the far north, administering it separately from Tripoli while the rest of Chad — through Tombalbaye's overthrow, the civil war, and Habré's and Déby's rule — stayed under the Chadian government the entire time. A 1994 International Court of Justice ruling confirmed Chad's sovereignty and Libyan forces withdrew. The border line below solidifies only for that 21-year span.

before 1900

Real traced border (simplified); the Aouzou Strip/rest-of-Chad line is schematic, not surveyed, and solidifies only for the 1973–94 occupation — see the rule box above.

blue-yellow-red vertical tricolor — unchanged since 1959

1959 – present

Republic of Chad

Republic, independentFrançois TombalbayeSecular (no state religion)

Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Libya (Aouzou Strip, 1973–94)Immigration: Sudanese refugees (2003–, surging 2023–)

Who & why: Chad adopts its national flag on 6 November 1959 as an autonomous republic within the French Community, and becomes fully independent on 11 August 1960 under President François Tombalbaye. Tombalbaye's increasingly authoritarian rule provokes a northern rebellion by 1965–66, opening a civil-conflict era that runs through his 1975 overthrow and assassination, a fractured mid-1970s–80s civil war, direct Libyan military intervention and occupation of the northern Aouzou Strip through the 1970s and 80s (finally resolved by a 1994 International Court of Justice ruling in Chad's favor), Hissène Habré's harsh 1982–90 rule, and Idriss Déby's three decades in power from 1990 until his 2021 death at the front against rebels, succeeded by his son. State factually: the flag itself is untouched by any of it.

What it represents: a simple vertical tricolor combining pan-African green-yellow-red sentiment (swapping green for blue) with the format of the French Tricolor — blue for sky, hope, and unity, yellow for the sun and the Sahara, red for the blood of independence and unity.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3.

LayoutThree equal vertical bands: blue, yellow, red.

Blue#002664

Yellow#FECB00

Red#C60C30

the French Tricolor over the Chad colony

1900 – 1959

Chad (French Equatorial Africa)

Colonial territoryÉmile GentilNo official state religion

Migration & conquest:Conquered by: France (1900–1920)

Ruling house:Kolak dynasty (Wadai)

Who & why: French forces defeat the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr at the 1900 Battle of Kousseri, opening the way for colonial administration of the Chad basin; the territory is governed at first as a military region, only reaching ordinary colony status within French Equatorial Africa in 1920 — later than the federation's other territories, reflecting how thinly and slowly French control actually extended across Chad's vast, arid north and east. Islamic sultanates in the region, including remnants of Wadai and Baguirmi authority, persist under indirect colonial oversight for years afterward. The territory gains a local assembly after World War II and full internal self-government in 1958–59 ahead of independence.

What it represents: the plain French Tricolor, flown as over the rest of French Equatorial Africa; no distinct territorial flag existed for Chad during the colonial period.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3.

LayoutThree equal vertical bands: blue, white, red.

Blue#002395

Red#ED2939

placeholder maroon field — precolonial sultanates, no unified flag survives

before 1900

Kanem-Bornu, Wadai, and Baguirmi sultanates

Fragmented sultanatesNo single ruler documentedSunni Islam (sultanate establishment)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: enslaved people taken north via trans-Saharan trade

Ruling house:Sayfawa dynastyKolak dynasty (Wadai)Sultanate of Bagirmi

Who & why: for centuries before French conquest, the Chad basin is dominated by a succession of Islamic states — the long-lived Kanem-Bornu Empire centered around Lake Chad, and the Sultanates of Wadai and Baguirmi to its east and south — alongside numerous smaller polities and non-state peoples across the Sahelian and Saharan north. These states engage extensively in trans-Saharan trade and, into the 19th century, slave raiding, before French military expeditions bring the region under colonial control from 1900.

What it represents: no single flag unified this territory; individual sultanates likely used their own banners in the Islamic vexillological tradition, but none is securely attributable and reconstructable for the region as a whole. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested unified flag.

Reading the tags

Fragmented sultanates — no single state yet

Colonial territory — governed as part of a foreign empire

Republic, independent — sovereign under its own government

Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start

State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's

Find the records

Family history research for Chad lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.

Search Record Atlas for Chad →

More of the atlas

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