Flag of Katanga

What the flag looks like

Divided diagonally by a green band running from the lower hoist to the upper fly, with red above and white below, and three red crosses in the white lower fly.

What it means

The three red crosses are Katanga crosses, the cross-shaped copper ingots once used as currency in the region, a reference to its copper wealth.

How to remember it

Katanga split its flag diagonally with a green band, red above and white below, and put three red copper-ingot crosses in the white corner.

Fun facts

• Katanga, led by Moïse Tshombe, declared independence from the newly independent Congo on 11 July 1960; no country recognized it, and UN forces ended the secession in January 1963.
• UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in 1961 while travelling to negotiate a ceasefire in the Katanga conflict.

Katanga at a glance

Existed

1960–1963

Flag used

1960–1963

Today

DR Congo

Capital

Élisabethville

Region

1960–1963

Languages

French

Currency

Katangese franc

Flag adopted

1960