A casual glance at the flags ... Guinea: vertical stripes in red, gold and green. Mali: vertical stripes in green, gold and red. Senegal: identical to Mali, just with a green star in the middle.

Flags originated on battlefields as a means of identification and hierarchy. Over the years, they have evolved to incorporate symbols significant to the countries they represent. Click through as ...

Green, yellow and red are also Pan-African colors. You see them a lot in West Africa, and those are based on the Ethiopian flag. Green, red, white and black are the four colors of Islam ...