250px|thumb|Standard of the [[president of Sierra Leone]]

thumb|Flag at the embassy in [[Washington, DC]]

The national flag of Sierra Leone is a tricolour consisting of three horizontal green, white and blue bands. It was adopted in 1961, Sierra Leone's independence year, to replace the British Blue Ensign defaced with the arms of the Crown Colony of Sierra Leone.

History

British traders and slavers were active along the coast of what is now modern-day Sierra Leone for centuries. They first attempted a permanent settlement in 1787, when philanthropists and abolitionists acquired of land situated close to Bunce Island for freed slaves. The site of the settlement is where Freetown is now located. It became a crown colony of the United Kingdom within its colonial empire in 1808, Colony of Sierra Leone.

Under colonial rule, Sierra Leone used the British Blue Ensign and defaced it with the arms of the territory. The emblem of Sierra Leone at the time consisted of a circle depicting an elephant, an oil palm tree and mountains, along with the letters "S.L." standing for the initials of the territory's name. Other than the initials, the rest of the emblem's design was identical to the colonial arms of the Gold Coast, The Gambia and the Lagos Colony. Sierra Leone was granted its own unique coat of arms in 1914, and the emblem on the Blue Ensign was modified to reflect this change. It was first hoisted at midnight on 27 April 1961, the day Sierra Leone became an independent country. Two years later, the government passed a law making it illegal to "insult" the country's flag, along with the flags of "friendly" nations.

Design

{| class="wikitable" width="600px" style="white-space: nowrap; text-align: left"

! 30px<br />(1961–present)

! style="background:#1EB53A; color:#000; width:150px" |Green

! style="background:#FFFFFF; color:#000; width:150px" |White

! style="background:#0072C6; color:#FFF; width:150px" |Blue

|-

|RGB

|30-181-58

|255-255-255

|0-114-198

|-

|Web colors

|#1EB53A

|#FFFFFF

|#0072C6

|}

The colours of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The green alludes to the country's natural resources – specifically agriculture and its mountains.

The Sierra Leonean flag is utilized as a flag of convenience by foreign merchant vessels. The "minimum enforcement" of admiralty law on such vessels has led to illegal and suspicious activity. This includes unlawful fishing,

As a result, the Sierra Leonean government has taken measures to curtail registrations related to the practice of flag of convenience. In 2010, they stopped allowing fishing vessels to register in order to stymie unauthorized catches within both its domestic waters and in international seas.