A sun appears in the upper hoist corner of Namibia’s national flag.
It is a golden-yellow sun with 12 triangular rays, set inside the flag’s blue upper triangle. The sun symbolizes life and energy, while its golden color represents the country’s wealth. The 12 rays are commonly explained as representing Namibia’s 12 ethnic groups at the time of the flag’s creation.
Namibia adopted the flag on 21 March 1990, the day it became independent from South Africa. Its design features a red diagonal band edged in white, with blue above and green below. Red represents the people and their determination, white represents peace and unity, green represents vegetation and agriculture, and blue refers to the sky, Atlantic Ocean, water, and rain.
The sun is sometimes mistaken for a star because it is a compact yellow emblem with radiating points. Its defining feature, however, is the 12-ray sunburst—not a star or crescent.