Family research · Phase 12 of the world atlas

Flags of Ethiopia

Ethiopia stands apart from every other country in this hub: it is Africa's oldest continuously independent state, tracing an unbroken thread of statehood back through the medieval Solomonic empire to the ancient Kingdom of Aksum, interrupted by real foreign rule only once, briefly, when Mussolini's Italy occupied the country from 1936 to 1941. Its history since is no less consequential — a modernizing but autocratic emperor, a Marxist military junta whose years in power included a well-documented famine, and a federal republic still finding its shape since 1991.

Ethiopia's green-yellow-red tricolor, in use in some form since the 1890s, is one of the oldest national color schemes in Africa and the direct inspiration for the "pan-African colors" adopted by many other African flags after independence — not the other way around.

Scope of this page: the Ethiopian highlands and their successive states, c. 100–present, five political entries. Aksum's own flag is not documented in the modern sense; its entry represents the kingdom's real historical footprint honestly, without inventing a banner. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

One border, five eras

Ethiopia's own real border, traced whole — today's landlocked outline, current since Eritrea's 1993 independence. Press play, or drag the slider, across five eras of Africa's oldest continuously independent state.

Ethiopia has no genuine internal governing split to show within this border. Its foreign rule is a single, brief exception rather than a lasting partition: Mussolini's Italy occupied the country from 1936 to 1941, and Ethiopian sovereignty was restored over the whole territory, not divided among it. The map's modern outline reflects today's post-1993 borders; some eras shown here also governed territory now part of independent Eritrea, covered on its own page.

before c. 100

Pre-Aksumite highland peoples

Real traced border (johan/world.geo.json, ETH; modern post-1993 outline), no internal partition — see the rule box above for why.

green-yellow-red tricolor, blue disc with the gold Star of Unity at center

1991 – present

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Republic, independentMeles ZenawiNo official state religion (secular)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Somali, South Sudanese & Eritrean refugeesEmigration: Tigray war refugees to Sudan (2020–22)

Who & why: the Derg falls in 1991 as EPRDF-led rebel forces (a coalition dominated by the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front) take Addis Ababa, ending Mengistu's rule. A transitional government gives way to a new federal constitution in 1995, organizing Ethiopia into ethnically based regional states, with Eritrea's own independence formally recognized separately in 1993 after its decades-long war. Ethiopia has continued as a federal republic since, including a change of ruling coalition in 2018 under Abiy Ahmed and a devastating internal Tigray war from 2020-2022, though the flag and constitutional structure have remained the same throughout.

What it represents: the same green-yellow-red tricolor carried since the 1890s, now centered on a new emblem adopted in 1996 — a blue disc (representing peace) bearing a gold five-pointed star with rays (the "Star of Unity," standing for the equality and unity of Ethiopia's nations and peoples) — replacing the Lion of Judah of the imperial era and the Derg's own socialist emblem.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutGreen-yellow-red horizontal bands; centered blue disc with a gold five-pointed star and radiating rays.

Green#1E7A4A

Yellow#F9D616

Red#A4302A

Emblem blue#1A3A6B

green-yellow-red tricolor with the Derg's socialist emblem (gold star and plough, simplified)

1974 – 1991

Provisional Military Government (the Derg)

Military / one-party ruleMengistu Haile MariamState atheism (Marxist-Leninist)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: Beta Israel airlifted to Israel (1984–91)Emigration: famine & war refugees to Sudan (1983–85)

Who & why: a committee of junior military officers, the Derg, deposes the aging Haile Selassie in a 1974 coup amid famine, inflation, and unrest, and by 1975 abolishes the monarchy outright, later executing the former emperor. Mengistu Haile Mariam consolidates control by the late 1970s and declares a Marxist-Leninist state (the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987), fighting a long civil war against regional insurgencies including Eritrean and Tigrayan rebels. The period includes the Red Terror political purges of the late 1970s and the well-documented 1983-1985 famine, worsened by drought, war, and government policy, in which hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians die — a defining and tragic chapter of this era, stated here factually. The regime collapses in 1991 as rebel forces take the capital.

What it represents: the same green-yellow-red tricolor is kept, but the imperial Lion of Judah is replaced with a socialist state emblem (a gold star over a stylized plough and gear, representing workers, peasants, and the revolution) centered on the flag.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutGreen-yellow-red horizontal bands; centered socialist emblem (star, plough, gear), simplified here.

Green#1E7A4A

Yellow#F9D616

Red#A4302A

green-yellow-red tricolor with the Lion of Judah bearing a cross-tipped staff (simplified)

c. 1270 – 1974

Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty)

Kingdom / Sultanate, independentYekuno AmlakEthiopian Orthodox (Tewahedo) Christianity

Migration & conquest:Occupied by: Italy (1936–41)

Ruling house:Solomonic dynasty

Who & why: the Solomonic dynasty, claiming descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (the Kebra Nagast legend), takes the imperial throne in 1270 and rules the Ethiopian Empire, with interruptions, for seven centuries. Ethiopia's independence is broken only once in this whole span: Mussolini's Italy invades in 1935-36 and occupies the country from 1936 to 1941, with Emperor Haile Selassie in exile and appealing personally to the League of Nations, before British-assisted Ethiopian forces liberate the country in 1941 and restore him to the throne. Haile Selassie (reigning 1930-1974) modernizes the state's institutions and becomes internationally influential as a founding figure of the Organisation of African Unity, while also being revered as a messianic figure by the Rastafari movement that emerges in Jamaica during his reign. Growing unrest over famine, inequality, and slow reform brings his rule to an end in the 1974 coup.

What it represents: the green-yellow-red tricolor is adopted in this form around 1897 (building on earlier plain colored pennants used from the mid-19th century) and formalized under Haile Selassie with the imperial coat of arms — the Lion of Judah, a Solomonic dynastic symbol, bearing a cross-tipped staff and flag — centered on the field.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio before the 20th century; roughly 1:2 under Haile Selassie.

LayoutGreen-yellow-red horizontal bands; centered Lion of Judah emblem bearing a cross-tipped staff, simplified here.

Green#1E7A4A

Yellow#F9D616

Red#A4302A

no national flag — shown here as the carved obelisks (stelae) of Aksum, its real historical signature

c. 100 – 940

Kingdom of Aksum

Kingdom / Sultanate, independentZoskalesPolytheistic Aksumite pantheon (pre-Christian)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: South Arabian traders & settlers

Who & why: the Kingdom of Aksum, centered in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, grows into one of the major trading powers of the ancient world by the early centuries AD, linking the Roman Mediterranean and Persia to India across the Red Sea. Under King Ezana, around 330 AD, Aksum becomes one of the first states anywhere to adopt Christianity as an official religion, a mark of its early sophistication and a faith Ethiopia has kept continuously since. Aksum's power fades gradually from the 7th century as trade routes shift and regional rivals rise, with successor dynasties eventually giving way to the Solomonic line by 1270.

What it represents: no flag survives from Aksum in the modern sense; its best-documented visual legacy is the massive carved granite stelae (obelisks) that marked royal burial sites at the capital, shown here as an honest stand-in rather than an invented banner.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag; shown as the kingdom's carved stelae.

Stone brown#7A4A1F

Carved gold#C9A13C

placeholder maroon field — pre-Aksumite highland peoples, no flag survives

before c. 100

Pre-Aksumite highland peoples

Fragmented / pre-stateNo single ruler documentedIndigenous polytheistic beliefs (no unified state religion)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: early Sabaean (South Arabian) contact

Who & why: before Aksum's rise, the Ethiopian highlands hold earlier states and cultures, including the D'mt kingdom of the early first millennium BC, whose own political organization and territorial extent remain only partly understood. This is the deepest, least documented layer of Ethiopia's own timeline, included here for completeness rather than as a claim of any single governing flag.

What it represents: no securely documented flag survives from this era. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

Fragmented / pre-state — no single ruling authority

Kingdom / Sultanate, independent — sovereign under its own crown

Military / one-party rule — an authoritarian military or single-party regime

Republic, independent — modern sovereign republic

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 Ethiopia 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 Ethiopia →

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 East Africa hubEleven countries, one region