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Comoros (1963 - 1975)

Last modified: 2016-03-10 by bruce berry
Keywords: comoros |
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1963 Comoros flag image by Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002 See also:

About the flag

In 1963, a flag was adopted for local use. It was green with a white crescent placed in canton and four white stars placed in an ascending diagonal. The flag was designed by the herald Suzanne Gauthier (who also designed the coat of arms of the TAAF), and was in proportions of 5:7 (Source: Hervé Calvarin (2002) in Comores: un nouveau drapeau pour la réintégration d’Anjouan [clv02]).
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002

According to an article in The Flag Bulletin [tfb] 174, the flag of Comoros between 1963 until 1975 was green with a white crescent in the top hoist, facing the fly. Four white stars were placed diagonally across the flag, from bottom left to top right.
Stuart Notholt, 22 May 1997

A proposal for independent Comoros as described in Flags through the Ages and Arms across the World by Whitney Smith [smi75b] as follows: Green field. White crescent at upper hoist. Four white 5-pointed stars in diagonal from lower hoist to upper fly, pointing to upper fly. Smith gives no more information about the actual use of this flag.
Ivan Sache, 27 Mar 1998

This flag was adopted on 13 July 1963 and continued to be used after independence on 06 July 1975.
Jaume Ollé, 30 Mar 1997

This flag was adopted in 1963 while the Comoros were still a French overseas territory.  The crescent represents Islam while the four stars represent the four principal islands in the archipelago. Unusually for Pedersen in Alverdens flag i farver [ped70] the ratio is not specified but that shown in the illustration is 2:3.
Vincent Morley, 29 Mar 1997

France imposed a referendum on independence on each island which was held on 22 December 1974.  Mayotte rejected independence (63.82%), which was later unilaterally proclaimed by the three other islands on 06 July 1975 and recognised by France on 13 December 1975.  Pierre Charles Lux-Wurm in Les drapeaux de l’Islam de Mahomet à nos jours [lux01] says that independence was proclaimed on 07 July 1975 and that Gauthier’s flag proposal became the official flag.
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002

It is interesting to note that the main charge on Comorian flags (half moon, four stars) has been kept unchanged since independence.
António Martins, 30 Jan 2002


Alternative proposal

1963 flag proposal image by Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002

Another proposal by a Comorian student, also dated 1963, was reported to Hervé Calvarin and which he mentions in Comores: un nouveau drapeau pour la réintégration d’Anjouan [clv02]. The flag was green with a white crescent placed along the hoist and four white stars representing the geographical pattern of the archipelago, from NW to SE: Grande Comore, Moheli, Anjouan, Mayotte. It seems that such a flag never actually existed.
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002