Flag of Saloum (1954-present)

This is a flag of the Republic of Saloum, named after a river in central Senegal. This flag is a mixture of the orange and light blue of the "''Prinsevlag''", representing the preservation of Dutch culture with the design of the Nordic Cross used in the Scandinavian countries, inheriting Viking culture and influence and a green cross in the middle, representing the river encompassing the country's territory. This is the first Nordic Cross flag ever to be used in African soil. The territory of this country in OTL is the Senegalese regions of Fatick, Kaffrine and Kaolack with its capital at Kaolack.




Flag meanings:

Orange: Hope/Religion (Islam)
White: Freedom/Dutch heritage
Blue: Prosperity/African influence
Green cross: Saloum River/Viking heritage




In an alternate scenario when Dutch colonists withdraw from Cape Colony and Mauritius since the beginning of the Dutch colonial empire, the workers of the Dutch East India company has crossed the equator and into the Saloum river in the French colony of Senegal. The French and their sided locals disputed this, said there are no trespassing in the private area and no other European country can take the river better than France, the Dutch East India Company disagrees. In 1884, nine Dutch representatives from Amsterdam (4), Maastricht (2) and Utrecht (3) attended the Berlin Conference for the scramble of Africa. They pointed out to cede the Saloum River to the Netherlands in trade for Conakry a whisk of under 3 million francs or 5 million guilds as calculated in the Dutch system. Many people debated about this and said yes to that opinion. Thereforce, France ceded the Saloum River to the Netherlands, but didn't recognize it until February 1898.

It was the 20th century, WWII nearly comes to an end, and the Dutch colonial empire declines swiftly as East Indian republicans revolt against the Dutch colonial government in Jakarta (Formerly Batavia) and on August 17 1945 (2605 in the Japanese calendar), declare independence as the Republic of Indonesia. Many Dutch colonists retreated from the East Indies to Saloum and settled with many other volunteers from British-held Mauritius in many areas across the river basin.

As a result of the aftermath of the Japanese-backed Indonesian National Revolution (1945-49) which ended with Dutch recognition of Indonesia's independence, all Dutch colonies (especially Saloum) were converted to constituent countries within the Dutch monarchy. On July 4 1976 after a status referendum, whose majority voted for independence (same status as of Suriname eight months earlier), Saloum became an independent country and entered the UN three weeks later on July 25. On December 12 1981, representatives from Senegal, the Gambia and Saloum met in Dakar and signed an agreement on confederation. The confederation was made official in February 1982 and they established a country called "Senegamsal", named after the initials of the three countries which made up the confederation. This new country was based on the former Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR). By late September 1989, Senegal dissolved the confederation after a refusal by Saloum and the Gambia for their move towards union. Today, it was a major economic powerhouse in West Africa and was a member of both the African Union and Dutch Language Union.