This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Seychelles (1977-1996)

Historical flag

Last modified: 2022-10-22 by bruce berry
Keywords: seychelles | wave |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



[1977 flag of the Seychelles]      image by Željko Heimer based on Album des Pavillons (2000)
 

See also:


Seychelles flag (1977-1996)

The Seychelles national flag and ensign in use between 1977 and 1996 was red over green divided with wavy white stripe. This flag replaced the flag adopted at independence in 1976 and was in proportions of 1:2.  The wavy bar is shown by both Barraclough and Crampton 1981 and Smith 1985 as three (elongated) cosine periods. Álvarez 1986 shows it as three periods of a sine function, but I believe this source is not very reliable, at least for non-American flags (for instance, it says that "finis coronat opvs" translates into "the crown's end is to work"...!)

Origin: previously used by the Seychelles People's United Party (SPUP, currently the People's Progressive Front) showing also a yellow rising sun. This was removed in the national flag to indicate that the sun of freedom shines over the country.

Meaning: red stands for progress and revolution, green for earth and agriculture, white wavy bar for the waves which bathe the islands' beaches and the resources which are obtained from the Indian Ocean.

Sources: Barraclough and Crampton 1981 pp.153-154, Smith 1985 p.194, Crampton 1989 p.99, Álvarez 1986 p.131, Kindersley 1997 p.107 and Diccionario Enciclopédico Espasa (8th edition, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid 1978), vol. 11, p.378.
Santiago Dotor, 13 April 2000
 


Construction Sheet

[1977 flag of the Seychelles] image by Željko Heimer, 14 January 2003

There seems to be no construction details of this flag. I have prepared a construction sheet that seems plausible, but this should yet be confirmed. The wavy stripe was particularly uncertain and is shown in various sources differently (even differing in the number of waves and their "edge conditions". I send this with hope it might induce some corrections.
Željko Heimer, 14 January 2003


Three wave variant

[Old flag of the Seychelles]  image by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 18 February 2002  

Many sources report this flag with three waves.
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 18 February 2002
 


Presidential standard (1977-1996)

[Old presidential flag of the Seychelles] 1:2  by Željko Heimer, 14 January 2003

The complete achievement of the country's coat-of-arms, within a white disc in the centre (slightly offset to the bottom) of a national flag with a gold border on all four sides.
Diameter of the disc: half the width (i.e. hoist) of the national flag (i.e. not counting the fringe).
Width of the fringe 1/10th of the total width (i.e. hoist) of the flag (which makes the national flag within the fringe have proportions 4:9).
Sources: Barraclough and Crampton 1981 pp.153-154, Smith 1985 p.194, Crampton 1989 p.99, Álvarez 1986 p.131, Kindersley 1997 p.107 and Diccionario Enciclopédico Espasa (8th edition, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid 1978), vol. 11, p.378
Santiago Dotor, 13 April 2000

In Album des Pavillons (2000) it is not quite clear whether the yellow area around the flag is a border (i.e., part of the flag field) or fringe (i.e., ornamental short comb-like tails).
Željko Heimer
, 14 January 2003


Seychelles aircraft roundel (1977)

[Roundel of the Seychelles] image by Željko Heimer, 14 January 2003

Red-white-green roundel of unequal sizes of disks.  Cochrane and Elliott (1998) is not quite clear, but seems that it claims that the roundel has been in use since 1977, and that in 1990 the fin flash was added. The fin flash is flag-like, but in vertical version and without waves:

[Fin flash of the Seychelles]  image by Željko Heimer, 14 January 2003

It seems that both roundel and the fin colouring remained the same even after the flag change, judging from some images of Seychelles airplanes I found on the Net. Of course, it may be that these photos are a bit older.
Željko Heimer, 14 January 2003