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Flags of Tanzania

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Flags of Tanzania

Modern Tanzania is a union of two histories that ran on separate tracks for most of the last two centuries: a mainland taken by Germany in the 1880s and handed to Britain after the First World War as Tanganyika, and an island Sultanate of Zanzibar that traded across the Indian Ocean world for centuries before falling under its own separate British protection in 1890. The two territories won independence within two years of each other and merged into a single country in 1964 — a genuine union, not an annexation, and Zanzibar still keeps its own government and flag within it today.

Tanzania's own flag, adopted at that 1964 union, is built directly from the two predecessor flags — Tanganyika's green and gold, Zanzibar's blue and black — laid across one diagonal band.

Scope of this page: the mainland lineage (German East Africa → British Tanganyika) is treated as the page's main thread, with Zanzibar's own separate protectorate and 1964 revolution folded into the union entry where the two histories meet, since Zanzibar's fuller island history sits outside this mainland-scoped atlas page. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

One mainland, one archipelago, one union

Tanzania's own real border, split into the two territories that governed separately for most of the last three centuries: mainland Tanganyika, and the island Sultanate of Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba, off the coast) — which keeps a shade of its own even after the 1964 union, reflecting the semi-autonomous status it still holds today. Press play, or drag the slider.

Zanzibar had its own flag while the mainland had none — and it never fully disappeared into the union. The Sultanate of Zanzibar flew a plain red banner from roughly 1700 onward; the mainland interior had no unified flag of its own until German colonization in 1885. The two territories share one flag and one sovereignty from the moment of the April 1964 union — but the map keeps Zanzibar in a shade of its own within that same union palette, because Zanzibar keeps its own president, legislature, and constitution as a semi-autonomous part of the union to this day, a genuinely distinctive federal-style arrangement the mainland's own territory doesn't share.
1964–present
UGANDA KENYA D.R. CONGO ZAMBIA MALAWI MOZAMBIQUE INDIAN OCEAN TANGANYIKA ZANZIBAR
United Republic of Tanzania

Real traced border (1km-resolution coastline) — Zanzibar's own islands (Unguja and Pemba) are shown at true relative scale, so they appear small next to the mainland.

How we know this. 5 of 5 eras on this page carry an evidence panel (2 attested, 1 placeholder image, 2 not yet checked). Only the ones marked attested are confirmed by the sources named under them; where sources disagree or a claim could not be confirmed, the panel says so.
green and blue triangles split by a black diagonal band with gold fimbriation
1964 – present

United Republic of Tanzania

Republic, independentJulius NyerereSecular (no state religion)
Migration & conquest:Emigration: Arab & South Asian Zanzibaris fleeing (1964)Immigration: regional refugees (1960s–)

Who & why: Tanganyika and Zanzibar formally unite on 26 April 1964, three months after the Zanzibar Revolution, forming the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar under President Julius Nyerere; the country is renamed the United Republic of Tanzania later that year, combining the two territories' names. Zanzibar keeps its own president, legislature, and constitution as a semi-autonomous part of the union to this day — a genuinely distinctive federal-style arrangement within a single sovereign state.

What it represents: a black diagonal band with thin gold fimbriation splits the flag into a green triangle (the mainland's agriculture and land) and a blue triangle (Zanzibar and the Indian Ocean); the design deliberately merges Tanganyika's green-gold-black-gold-green flag with Zanzibar's own blue-black-green tricolor into one union banner.

Attestedhow we know this

Wikipedia's infobox gives the adoption as 30 June 1964. FOTW: Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged on 26 April 1964 and the union flag recombined the two predecessors, the lower green stripe of Tanganyika's flag taking Zanzibar's blue and the stripes rearranged diagonally; the name Tanzania was adopted 29 October 1964; the 1971 Flag Act gives the flag legal validity from 26 April 1964.

Not established: The sources differ on the day (Wikipedia 30 June 1964, FOTW 26 April 1964 for the union and flag), but agree on 1964; the colour meanings and swatch values were not compared.

Paint guide
Proportions2:3.
LayoutGreen (upper hoist) and blue (lower fly) triangles, divided by a black diagonal band with gold fimbriation, hoist-bottom to fly-top.
Green#1E7A4A
Blue#00A3DD
Black#050505
Gold fimbriation#F9D616
Tanganyika's green field, black-and-gold central band
1919/1920 – 1964

Tanganyika (League of Nations mandate / UN trust territory, British-administered)

Colonial ruleKing George VAnglican Christianity (established colonial church)
Migration & conquest:Immigration: South Asian traders & laborers
Ruling house:House of WindsorHouse of Busaidi (Al Said)

Who & why: Germany's defeat in the First World War strips it of German East Africa; the mainland portion (excluding Ruanda-Urundi, given to Belgium) is reorganized as Tanganyika, a League of Nations mandate administered by Britain from 1919/1920, continuing as a UN trust territory after 1946. Julius Nyerere's Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) leads a largely peaceful path to self-government, and Tanganyika becomes independent on 9 December 1961, a republic within Nyerere's presidency by December 1962 — two years before the union with Zanzibar. Zanzibar, meanwhile, runs its own separate history over this same span: a British protectorate from 1890, independent as a constitutional sultanate on 10 December 1963, and then upended just weeks later by the violent Zanzibar Revolution of 12 January 1964, which overthrows the Sultan and installs a revolutionary government — the government that then negotiates the April 1964 union with Tanganyika.

What it represents: Wikipedia says Britain administered the Tanganyika Territory from about 1919 under a League of Nations mandate, that its flag in 1923-1961 was a British Red Ensign with the mandate emblem, and that the independence flag of 9 December 1961 (used to 1964) was a green field with a gold-edged black horizontal band, following TANU's green, black and yellow party flag. The drawing here shows the 1961 flag only; the sources read do not give the meanings of the colours stated earlier on this page.

Attestedhow we know this

Wikipedia: Britain administered Tanganyika Territory from about 1919 under a League of Nations mandate, then as a UN trust territory; its flag in 1923-1961 was a British Red Ensign with the territory emblem; the independence flag of 9 December 1961 was green with a gold-edged black band. FOTW: the mandate was formalised 20 July 1922, trust status from 1946; Red and Blue Ensigns carried a giraffe-head badge (approved 1919) until the end of 1961; the 9 December 1961 flag was green-black-green with thin gold stripes, based on TANU's flag.

Not established: The drawing shows only the 1961 independence flag, the last years of the era; the dates of the Red Ensign differ (Wikipedia 1923, FOTW 1919); the page's colour meanings are covered only for FOTW's 'land, people, minerals' reading.

Paint guide
Proportions2:3.
LayoutGreen field, central black band with gold fimbriation above and below.
Green#1E7A4A
Black#050505
Gold#F9D616
imperial German colonial ensign, black-white-red canton on a black field (schematic)
1885 – 1919

German East Africa

Colonial ruleCarl PetersNo official state church (Lutheran missions favored)
Ruling house:House of Hohenzollern

Who & why: Carl Peters's German East Africa Company begins signing treaties with local rulers from 1884, and the German Empire formalizes control as the protectorate/colony of German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) from 1885, encompassing present-day mainland Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. German rule is met with sustained resistance, most notably the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1905-07, put down with harsh reprisals. Germany's defeat in the First World War ends its East African empire; Britain occupies the mainland by 1916-18, formalized as the Tanganyika mandate from 1919/1920.

What it represents: Wikipedia says the German East Africa Company had its own flag in 1885-1891 (not described) and that the colony's flag of 1891-1918 was a horizontal black-white-red tricolour with the Reichsadler in a white circle at the centre. Flags of the World similarly describes the governors' flag of 1898-1919 as the black-white-red national flag with the uncrowned imperial eagle in the white stripe, and says the 1914 colonial flags were never adopted. The black field with a black-white-red canton drawn here is not described by either source and may be wrong.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

Wikipedia (Flag of Tanzania): the German East Africa Company had a flag in 1885-1891 (image only) and the colony's flag in 1891-1918 was a horizontal black-white-red tricolour with the Reichsadler in a white circle. Wikipedia (German East Africa): the colony was established by the DOAG on 27 February 1885, 1885-1918, infobox flag the Colonial Office service flag, a 1914 proposed flag never used. FOTW: DOAG flag from about 1885 (undescribed), governors' flag 1898-1919 black-white-red with the uncrowned imperial eagle in the white stripe; 1914 colonial flags never adopted.

Not established: Both sources describe a tricolour with an eagle (FOTW: the governors' flag), not the black field with a black-white-red canton drawn on this page, so the drawing is not confirmed; whether the tricolour served as the colony's flag generally, and the years (1891 or 1898 start), is unsettled.

Paint guide
Proportions2:3, standard German colonial ensign.
LayoutBlack field, canton with black-white-red diagonal stripes (imperial German merchant colors), simplified here.
Black#050505
Red#A4302A
White#F4EFE1
ZANZIBAR SULTANATE COASTAL & ISLAND INFLUENCE
plain red field — the Zanzibar Sultanate's flag, whose trading reach touched the mainland coast
c. 1700 – 1885

Coastal Swahili towns & unaligned mainland interior

Fragmented / pre-state
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Omani Arab settlers (from 1840)Emigration: enslaved people trafficked via the Zanzibar slave trade
Ruling house:House of Busaidi (Al Said)

Who & why: before German colonization, the Tanzanian coast is dotted with Swahili trading towns (Bagamoyo, Kilwa's later medieval legacy, Pangani) increasingly drawn into the commercial orbit of Omani-descended Zanzibar, whose sultans move their own capital to Zanzibar island in 1840. Inland, peoples such as the Nyamwezi, Sukuma, Chagga, and Hehe govern themselves through their own kingdoms and clan structures, with no single authority spanning the mainland before European colonization arrives in the 1880s.

What it represents: Wikipedia dates a plain red flag of Zanzibar under the Omani Empire to 1698-1856, followed by a striped Sultanate flag with eight green crescents in 1856-1896. The sources read do not say the red banner governed the Swahili coast or the mainland interior, and do not describe a flag for the interior.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

Wikipedia: a plain red flag of Zanzibar under the Omani Empire 1698-1856, then a striped Sultanate flag with eight green crescents 1856-1896. FOTW: Oman flew a plain red flag that continued in use after the Sultan moved his seat to Zanzibar in 1840, and Zanzibar was part of the Sultanate of Oman 'as was much of the East African coast'.

Not established: The two publishers conflict on whether the plain red flag lasted to 1885 (FOTW) or gave way to a striped flag in 1856 (Wikipedia); neither names the Swahili towns or the interior's flags, and FOTW's Zanzibar page does not mention the 1856 flag.

Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for this period's coastal banner.
LayoutPlain red field (Zanzibar Sultanate); no flag attested for the mainland interior.
Zanzibar red#A4302A
NO FLAG DOCUMENTED
placeholder maroon field — earliest recorded coastal trade era, no flag survives with confidence
before c. 1700

Early Swahili coast & mainland interior peoples

Fragmented / pre-state

Who & why: for centuries before 1700, Swahili trading towns along the Tanzanian coast (linked to the wider medieval Swahili civilization that also built Kilwa, further south) trade across the Indian Ocean, while the interior is home to Bantu-speaking peoples with no shared central authority. This is the deepest, least documented layer of Tanzania'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 for any Tanzanian coastal or interior polity. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Placeholder imagehow we know this

This page's own caption calls the image a placeholder: «placeholder maroon field — earliest recorded coastal trade era, no flag survives with confidence».

Not established: Whether a flag, banner or standard existed in this period was not checked. The colour shown is not evidence of one.

Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

Fragmented / pre-state — no single ruling authority
Colonial rule — protectorate, colony, or mandate/trust territory under a European power
Republic, independent — modern sovereign republic

Find the records

Family history research for Tanzania 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 Tanzania →

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
Compiled from Wikipedia, Flags of the World (fotw.info / crwflags.com), and Britannica. Colors are close historical approximations for painting reference; pre-19th-century swatches are informed reconstructions, not official specifications. Map is schematic and not surveyed.