thumb|Protestors with Gabonese flags

The flag of Gabon () is a tricolour consisting of three horizontal green, yellow, and blue bands. Adopted in 1960 to replace the previous colonial flag containing the French Tricolour at the canton, it has been the flag of the Gabonese Republic since the country gained independence that year. The design of the present flag entailed the removal of the Tricolour and the widening of the yellow stripe at the centre.

History

The French gained control of modern-day Gabon in 1839, when a local chief surrendered the sovereignty of his land to them. The Berlin Conference of 1885 solidified France's claim to the territory through diplomatic recognition, and it later became part of French Equatorial Africa in 1910. Under French colonial rule over Gabon, the authorities forbade the colony from utilizing its own distinctive colonial flag. This was because they were worried that this could increase nationalistic sentiment and lead to calls for independence. However, with the rise of the decolonization movement in Africa, the French were obliged to grant limited autonomy to Gabon as a self-governing republic within the French Community. This was granted in 1958 after a referendum was held supporting the proposal. It featured a horizontal tricolour identical to the current flag,

On 9 August 1960 – just over a week before Gabon became an independent country on 17 August – the flag was slightly modified. The change entailed removing the Tricolour at the canton and enlarging the yellow stripe at the centre, thus giving it equal width with the two other bands. The green epitomizes the natural resources of Gabon, as well as its "extensive forested area" that the Gabonese people are economically dependent on in the form of lumber. and San Marino. Furthermore, the country's flag does not utilize the green, yellow and red colours of the Pan-Africanist movement, in contrast to its neighbouring countries. Unlike other former French colonies in Africa, the flag consists of a horizontal tricolour, rather than a vertical one modelled after the flag of France.

Presidential flags

{| class="wikitable"

! width="110"|Flag!!width="100"|Duration!!width="250"|Use!!width="250"|Description

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| style=" background:#E0E0E0;" | center|100px || 1960–1990 || rowspan="3" | Presidential Standard of Gabon || Banner of arms. Green field with three yellow circles forming the top third. The bottom two-thirds feature a yellow field, with a galleon flying the flag of Gabon at the stern sailing on the sea with three blue waves.

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| style=" background:#E0E0E0;" | center|100px || 1990–2016 || Horizontal green and blue bands separated by a yellow band at the centre, with the coat of arms in a white circle in the middle.

|-

| style=" background:#E0E0E0;" | center|100px || 2016–present || Coat of arms on a navy blue background with bands the same colours as the national flag in each corner, from the edge green, yellow, and blue

|}

{| class="wikitable"

! width="110"|Flag!!width="100"|Duration!!width="250"|Use!!width="250"|Description

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| style=" background:#E0E0E0;" | center|100px || ?–? || Smaller replacement of the Gabonese Navy masthead pennant|| On the hoist, a tricolor of green, yellow and blue, on the fly, a white field charged with the arms of the Gabonese Navy.

|-

| style=" background:#E0E0E0;" | center|100px || de facto|| Naval Jack of Gabon