Flag and Symbols of Swaziland

Kingdom of Swaziland

Related Categories: City Symbols World Flags and Symbols USA State Symbols

Flag of Swaziland
Three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue; the red band is edged in yellow; centered in the red band is a large black and white shield covering two spears and a staff decorated with feather tassels, all placed horizontally.

Autonomy for the Swazis of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British in the late 19th century; independence was granted in 1968. Student and labor unrest during the 1990s pressured the monarchy (one of the oldest on the continent) to grudgingly allow political reform and greater democracy. Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection. - CIA World Factbook.

Swaziland - Fotw
Political Parties, Royal flags, The Zulu and Swazi shield, flag variation.
www.fotw.us/flags/sz.html

Swaziland - wikipedia.org
Prehistoric human remains and artifacts have been found in Swaziland. The earliest inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaziland

Swaziland - U.S. Department of State
The majority of the population is ethnic Swazi, mixed with a small number of Zulus and non-Africans. Traditionally Swazis have been subsistence farmers and herders, but some now work in the growing urban formal economy and in government. Some Swazis work in the mines in South Africa. Christianity in Swaziland is sometimes mixed with traditional beliefs and practices. Most Swazis ascribe a special spiritual role to the monarch.
The country's official languages are Siswati (a language related to Zulu) and English. Government and commercial business is conducted mainly in English.
www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2841.htm