Mayotte Flag

Mayotte is an overseas department of France so the official flag used in the island is the current flag of France. The island also has an unofficial flag and coat of arms which is used locally. The unofficial flag is a white rectangle with the coat of arms in the middle and the name MAYOTTE in red above the coat of arms. The coat of arms consists of a white shield braced by two grey seahorses on the right and left side. The shield bears two cloud designs of red at the bottom and blue at the top. The blue cloud has a white crescent moon facing up and the red cloud has two yellow flowers. There is a banner at the bottom of the shield with the words RA HACHIRI which in Comorian language means we are vigilant. The French national flag was adopted as the national flag in Mayotte as from 1794 when Mayotte voted to become a political part of France.

The local flag of Mayotte Island has the colors of the French national flag. The three colors are blue, red, and white which are the major colors in France’s history. During the French Revolution, the Paris militia was known to wear a cockade of red and blue which were also considered the conventional colors of Paris. White was later added by Lafayette who termed the color as the ancient French color. The three colors are at times assumed to represent the components of the revolutionary motto, while the blue symbolizes freedom, white represent equality, and red symbolizes brotherhood.

Lafayette designed the first French Tricolor in 1790 and Jacques-Louis David modified the flag to the current day flag in 1974. The flag’s design was adopted in 1790, but the colors then were reversed. Red was on the hoist side, white in the middle, and blue on the fly side. The modified flag in 1794 had blue at the hoist, white in the middle, and red on the fly.

There have been no previous versions of the unofficial flag and coat of arms in Mayotte. The flag of France had the colors reversed in the 1790 flag, and it was modified to the current flag in 1794. As from 1815 to 1830, the flag ceased to be used as the national flag and the royal white flag was used. The flag was officially re-adopted in 1830.