Hello followers and fellow Steemians welcome to the review of the flag of Angola! This is the 5th flag i'll be covering on my series to cover most of the flags of the world! I hope you enjoy the flag of this country!

Today's flag is the flag of Angola!

Flag of The Republic of Angola

The flag of Angola is a flag split horizontally into 2 halves. The upper half is red and the bottom half is black, also featuring a yellow half gear wheel crossed by a machete and crowned with a star in the center of the flag.

Meanings

This flag was adopted by the country on November 11 of 1975.

The flag is mostly based on the flag of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which was a movement that fought against Portuguese colonial rule and emerged victorious after the Angolan Civil War. This war was really long and bloody, it started the day the country declared independence on November of 1975 and lasted until the 4th of April of 2002, lasting over 26 years!

The red represents the bloodshed that occurred during the Angola's struggle for independence in the Angolan Civil War.

The black represents the continent of Africa as a whole.

Some other non official sources claim that the red and black colors are meant to represent together the struggle of the war, or put simply the red and black color represent "Freedom or Death"

The different pieces of the central emblem have their own meanings as well ( The wheel and the machete are meant to resemble the soviet iconography of the hammer and sickle, i personally believe the Angolan version is way cooler than the soviet one :P)

All the pieces of the central emblem are yellow, this color represents the wealth of Angola's mineral resources.

The gear represents the industrial workers of Angola.

The machete represents the agricultural workers and the peasantry of Angola.

The star presents socialism.

Flags that Might Have Been!

While researching the history behind the flag of Angola, i stumbled upon some amazing flags that the country could have been using right now if history went slightly different! These flags were just too cool to pass up, so i'm showing them here too!

Before the Angolan struggle for independence started, Portuguese authorities were working on a deal to integrate Angola permanently into Portugal as a overseas province, basically upgrading its status of colony to a province of the country, Angola would have been a part of Portugal just as Lisbon is today. This is the proposed flag for the Portuguese Angola!

Proposed flag for Portuguese Angola in 1967

In 2003, the Angolan parliament proposed the adoption of a new, more "optimistic" flag, since the one with the wheel and the machete was deemed to by violent and outdated. The proposed design was not adopted, but i still believe its worth looking at, because its pretty cool! The sun symbol in the middle is meant to represent ancient carvings found in Angolan caves in Tchitundo-Hulu cave.

Proposed flag of Angola in 2003

Facts

Angola is known to be the birthplace of the dreadlocks hair style!

After 26 years of civil war, there’s a shortage of men in the country. So it’s not unusual for a man to have several “non-official” wives

It is illegal to take photographs of government buildings and military sites in Angola, and it can be heavily penalized.

Location

Angola is located in south west Africa.

Thanks for reading this far! If you enjoy my content please vote, follow and reesteem it :-D.