The national coat of arms of Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea where the capital Malabo is situated.Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the...

was adopted on the 21st of August in 1979.

This coat of arms shows a grey shield

Shield

A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....

, which contains a tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

. This tree is a silk cotton tree, or so-called "God tree". This is where the first treaty was signed between Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and the local ruler. Over the shield, there are six six-pointed star

Star

A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

s. They stand for the mainland and the five main islands.

Motto

Underneath the shield is the national motto of Equatorial Guinea, Unidad, Paz, Justicia ("Unity, Peace, Justice"). The motto was adopted in 1968. During the dictatorship of Francisco Nguema (1972–79) the arms and motto were changed,, a combination of different tools and swords with a cock over all, and motto on two stripes, in the middle of the arms Trabajo (work), and below Unidad, Paz, Justicia, but the original 1968 coat of arms' motto was restored afterward.