Family research · Phase 13 of the world atlas

Flags of the Republic of the Congo

Congo-Brazzaville takes its name from the city Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza founded on the Congo River's north bank in 1880 — the administrative capital that grew into the seat of all French Equatorial Africa. Its own path runs from the Teke Kingdom that ceded land to Brazza's French mission, through eight decades as a French territory, a brief and genuinely radical run as a Marxist-Leninist one-party republic, and back to multiparty rule under the pan-African tricolor it first raised at independence.

It is easy to confuse with its much larger neighbor across the river, the Democratic Republic of the Congo — the two capitals, Brazzaville and Kinshasa, are the closest pair of national capitals in the world after Rome and Vatican City — but their colonial paths (French versus Belgian) and post-independence histories diverge sharply.

Scope of this page: the lands of the present-day Republic of the Congo, from the pre-colonial Teke Kingdom through French Equatorial Africa to the modern republic. The map below traces the country's whole territory, which was never itself internally partitioned. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

One territory, five eras

The Republic of the Congo’s own real border, traced whole — from the Teke Kingdom through French Equatorial Africa to the modern republic, this territory has never itself been split between rival governments. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held it, era to era.

This is a single-region page, not a partition map. Brazzaville sits across the river from Kinshasa, capital of the much larger Democratic Republic of the Congo — the closest pair of national capitals in the world after Rome and Vatican City — but the two countries have separate colonial and post-independence histories and separate pages in this atlas. Congo-Brazzaville’s own territory was never internally partitioned, so the map traces the whole country.

c. 1400 – 1880

Real traced border (johan/world.geo.json) — no internal partition, per the rule box above.

green-yellow-red diagonal tricolor, current flag since 1991

1991 – present

Republic of the Congo (multiparty republic)

Republic, multipartyPascal LissoubaSecular (no state religion)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: war refugees (1997–2003)Immigration: refugees from Zaire/DRC wars (1997–)

Who & why: a 1991 National Conference strips the ruling Congolese Labour Party of its constitutional monopoly and restores the pre-1970 flag alongside multiparty elections. The transition is not smooth — a 1997 civil war returns Denis Sassou Nguesso to power by force, and he has governed continuously (aside from a 1992–97 interlude) ever since — but the flag itself has not changed since 1991.

What it represents: the same green-yellow-red diagonal tricolor first adopted at independence in 1960, restored as the definitive national symbol after the Marxist-Leninist interlude ended.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3, green triangle at hoist-top and fly-bottom, red triangle at hoist-bottom and fly-top, yellow diagonal band between.

LayoutDiagonal tricolor, green upper-hoist, yellow center band, red lower-fly.

Green#009543

Yellow#FBDE4A

Red#DC241F

red field, gold hammer-and-hoe emblem and star — People's Republic era

1970 – 1991

People's Republic of the Congo

Republic, one-party (Marxist-Leninist)Marien NgouabiState atheism (Marxist-Leninist)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Angolan & southern African liberation-movement exiles (1975–)

Who & why: after a series of coups following independence, Marien Ngouabi declares the People's Republic of the Congo in December 1969, formalized in January 1970 — sub-Saharan Africa's first officially Marxist-Leninist state, aligned with the Soviet bloc under the sole ruling Congolese Labour Party (PCT). The system persists through Ngouabi's 1977 assassination and successive PCT leaders until the 1991 National Conference ends one-party rule.

What it represents: a red field carrying gold socialist emblems — a crossed hammer and hoe with a star, evoking the wider Marxist-Leninist iconographic family used by other socialist states of the era — replacing the independence-era tricolor for the duration of one-party rule.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3, red field with centered gold emblem.

LayoutRed field, gold crossed hammer-and-hoe with a star above, simplified here.

Red#C8102E

Gold#FBDE4A

the first Congolese flag, adopted at independence

1959 – 1970

Republic of the Congo (independence)

Republic, independentFulbert YoulouSecular (no state religion)

Who & why: the territory becomes an autonomous republic within the French Community in 1958 and adopts this flag in September 1959, ahead of full independence on 15 August 1960 under Fulbert Youlou, the country's first president. Brazzaville, already the administrative seat of all French Equatorial Africa, becomes the new republic's capital.

What it represents: the green-yellow-red diagonal tricolor uses the pan-African colors popularized by Ethiopia and Ghana, arranged in a diagonal split distinct from neighboring states' horizontal or vertical tricolors.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3.

LayoutDiagonal tricolor, green upper-hoist, yellow center band, red lower-fly.

Green#009543

Yellow#FBDE4A

Red#DC241F

the French Tricolor, flown over French Equatorial Africa's capital

1880 – 1959

French Congo / French Equatorial Africa

ColonyPierre Savorgnan de BrazzaRoman Catholic (favored, not established)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: forced labor for Congo-Ocean Railway (1921–34)

Who & why: Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza negotiates a treaty with Teke ruler Makoko in 1880, founding the post that becomes Brazzaville and establishing French claims north of the Congo River, formalized as French Congo in 1891. From 1910 the territory anchors French Equatorial Africa, a federation of four colonies (alongside Gabon, Ubangi-Shari, and Chad) governed from Brazzaville — making this small territory the administrative heart of French holdings across the whole of central Africa.

What it represents: the French Tricolor, flown as the colonial and federal ensign throughout; no distinct territorial flag existed for Middle Congo (as the colony was formally named) under French rule.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3.

LayoutVertical tricolor, blue-white-red.

Blue#002395

White#FFFFFF

Red#ED2939

placeholder maroon field — Teke Kingdom era, no flag survives

c. 1400 – 1880

Teke Kingdom (Kingdom of Anzico) and neighboring polities

Pre-colonial kingdomNo single ruler documentedTraditional/ancestral religion

Ruling house:Makoko (Teke royal title)Maloango (Loango royal title)

Who & why: the Teke (Bateke) Kingdom, also recorded by early European visitors as Anzico, controls the plateau north of the Congo River from at least the 15th century, trading ivory and copper into networks that reach the Kingdom of Kongo to the south. It is the Teke ruler Makoko who signs the 1880 treaty with Brazza that becomes the basis for French claims to the territory.

What it represents: no securely documented flag or banner survives for the Teke Kingdom or the smaller polities along this stretch of the river; shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

Pre-colonial kingdom — sovereign under its own rulers, before European claims

Colony — administered as French territory

Republic, one-party (Marxist-Leninist) — sole ruling party, socialist alignment

Republic, independent — sovereign, multiparty or transitional

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 Republic of the Congo 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 Republic of the Congo →

More of the atlas

This page is one lineage in a larger set. See the region-wide hub and the other countries here:

Flags Atlas indexSearch every country and hub Central & Southern Africa hubFourteen countries, Congo basin to the Cape