Family research · Phase 13 of the world atlas

Flags of Eswatini

Formerly Swaziland, renamed Eswatini by royal decree in 2018, this small kingdom has been ruled by the Dlamini dynasty since the 18th and 19th centuries and remains today one of the world's last absolute monarchies, where the king holds ultimate executive, legislative, and judicial authority. Its path runs from the founding Dlamini kings through British protection (administered alongside South Africa, but never absorbed by it) to independence in 1968.

Scope of this page: the lands of present-day Eswatini, from the founding of the Swazi kingdom under the Dlamini dynasty through the British protectorate to the modern kingdom. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

One border, three eras

Eswatini's own real border, traced whole — a small kingdom deliberately kept outside the Union of South Africa's borders throughout. Press play, or drag the slider.

Eswatini has no genuine internal governing split to show. From the Dlamini-founded kingdom through British protection to full independence, the Swazi monarchy's own territory was governed as one unit throughout — kept administratively separate from South Africa the whole time, but never internally divided.

c. 1745

Swazi Kingdom (Dlamini dynasty)

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

blue-yellow-red-yellow-blue with a black-and-white Nguni shield, spears, and staff

1968 – present

Kingdom of Eswatini (independent)

Kingdom, absolute monarchySobhuza IINo official state religion (Christian/traditional blend)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: mine labor migration to South Africa

Ruling house:House of Dlamini

Who & why: Swaziland becomes independent on 6 September 1968 under King Sobhuza II, who reigns until 1982 (one of the longest verified reigns of any monarch in history). His son King Mswati III, on the throne since 1986, renames the country Eswatini ("land of the Swazis") in 2018 to mark 50 years of independence and to avoid confusion with Switzerland. The kingdom remains an absolute monarchy today, with political parties banned from standing in elections and the king holding final authority over government, a system that has drawn sustained pro-democracy protest movements in recent years.

What it represents: based on a banner presented to Swazi soldiers who served in the British Army during the Second World War, blue for peace, yellow for the country's mineral wealth, and red for past conflicts; the black-and-white Nguni cowhide shield, spears, and staff represent the monarchy's protective authority over the nation.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3.

LayoutHorizontal bands blue-yellow-red-yellow-blue, black-and-white shield with two spears and a feathered staff centered on the red band.

Blue#001489

Yellow#FFF200

Red#C8102E

British Blue Ensign with the Swaziland Protectorate's own badge

1903 – 1968

Swaziland (British protectorate)

ProtectorateLabotsibeni Mdluli (Queen Regent)No official state religion (mission Christianity spreading)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: European settlers & land concessionaires

Ruling house:House of Dlamini

Who & why: after a period of contested Boer and British administration in the late 19th century (including brief South African Republic/Transvaal control), Britain takes over Swaziland as a protectorate following the Second Boer War in 1903, administering it separately from South Africa throughout — despite repeated South African requests to incorporate it, another regional instance (alongside Basutoland/Lesotho and Bechuanaland/Botswana) of a small kingdom kept deliberately outside the Union of South Africa's borders.

What it represents: the standard British colonial Blue Ensign pattern, defaced with Swaziland's own badge, used throughout the protectorate era; the Swazi monarchy itself continues in parallel under indirect rule throughout this period.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutBlue field, Union Jack in canton, territorial badge on a white disc in the fly.

Blue#00247D

Red#C8102E

placeholder maroon field — Swazi Kingdom under the Dlamini dynasty, no flag documented for this era

c. 1745 – 1903

Swazi Kingdom (Dlamini dynasty)

Kingdom, independentNgwane IIITraditional Swazi ancestral religion

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Dlamini/Ngwane founding migration

Ruling house:House of Dlamini

Who & why: the Swazi (Ngwane) nation traces its founding to Ngwane III, who leads his Dlamini-led followers into the region around the mid-18th century; the kingdom is substantially consolidated under King Mswati II in the mid-19th century, whose name the Swazi people (and later the country, as Eswatini) take. Mswati II negotiates carefully with both the neighboring Zulu Kingdom and encroaching Boer and British colonial interests, preserving Swazi sovereignty through diplomacy even as land concessions accumulate through the century's final decades, ahead of formal British protection in 1903.

What it represents: no securely documented national flag survives from this era; royal authority was expressed through Nguni-tradition shields, regalia, and ceremony rather than a fixed territorial banner. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

Kingdom, independent — sovereign under its own crown

Protectorate — British protection, monarchy retained

Kingdom, absolute monarchy — sovereign, executive authority held by the king

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 Eswatini 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 Eswatini →

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