Four flags, five colors and a revolution – all in a tiny, pastoral country

An article about the political history of the Seychelles through its four flags. The small archipelago changed three flags in 20 years, each born from a crisis: a British colonial flag, an independence flag that resembled a shipping company's flag, a single-party flag following a coup, and finally the multi-party compromise flag from 1996 with five diagonal stripes.

A background article about the Seychelles, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean with an area less than a third of the Gush Dan region, describing the country's turbulent political history through its four flags. The first flag was a British colonial flag with the Union Jack. The second flag, raised upon independence in June 1976, was almost identical to an Australian shipping company's flag. The third flag was raised after a 1977 coup by France-Albert René, who turned the country into a single-party regime. The current flag, with five diagonal stripes, was adopted in 1996 as a compromise between parties after the return to a multi-party system in 1993. The colors combine the colors of the two main parties.