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French Somaliland

Historcal flag

Image by Pierre Gay, 05 Feb 2003

French Somaliland

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French Somaliland

In 1862, France purchased the moorage of Obock from the Danakil chiefs. At the same time a protectorate was established over the sultanates of Tajura and Gobad and the area that is now Djibouti was ceded by the United Kingdom. In 1896, all these territories were merged to form the colony of the French Somalis' Coast (Côte française des Somalis). Here Somalis has to be understood as the name of a people and not of a geographical area of Somalia, which is Somalie in French, or Somaliland. In 1946, the reform of the French overseas possessions made of the colony an overseas territory (territoire d'outre-mer) called Territoire français des Afars et des Issas, which gained an autonomous status in 1957 and independence in 1977 as the Republic of Djibouti. However, France still maintains a lot of troops there.

Prior to independence, the French tricolore would have been used as the national flag. In addition there would have been the colonial Governor's flag. This is a square blue field with the French national flag in canton and a swallow tail in the fly.
Ivan Sache, 05 Feb 2003