Flag of Cape Verde

What the flag looks like

A blue field with three narrow horizontal stripes, white, red and white, below the center, and a ring of ten yellow five-pointed stars centered on them toward the hoist.

What it means

The ten stars are the ten main islands; blue is the ocean and sky, and the stripes represent the road toward building the nation, with white for peace and red for effort.

How to remember it

Cape Verde's ring of ten yellow stars, one per island, floats off-center on a blue sea, like a European Union flag drifting toward the hoist.

Fun facts

• Before 1992 Cape Verde's flag closely resembled Guinea-Bissau's, as both came from the same independence party.
• The islands were uninhabited when Portuguese navigators arrived in the mid-15th century.
• Singer Cesária Évora, the 'barefoot diva', came from Mindelo on São Vicente.

Cape Verde at a glance

Capital

Praia

Region

Western Africa

Population

524,877

Area

4,033 km²

Languages

Portuguese

Currency

Cape Verdean escudo (Esc)

Flag adopted

1992