Flag Of Tunisia
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The flag of Tunisia is a rectangular panel of red color with an aspect ratio of 2:3. In the center of the cloth in a white circle is placed a red crescent, surrounding a red five-pointed star on three sides. Bey Tunisia Hussein II decided to create a flag for Tunisia, close in appearance to the modern one, after the
Battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O. S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–29), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied fo ...
on 20 October 1827; in 1831 he was officially approved. In this form, the flag existed during the French protectorate, and on 1 June 1959, it was proclaimed the state flag of the
Republic of Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
(in accordance with the country's constitution). On 30 June 1999, the proportions and design of the flag were clarified by a special law; the general appearance of the flag remained virtually unchanged. The crescent and star depicted on the flag of Tunisia are traditional symbols of
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, and are also considered symbols of good luck.


History


Previous flags

Until the mid-18th century, the design and significance of
maritime flag A maritime flag is a flag designated for use on ships, boats, and other watercraft. Naval flags are considered important at sea and the rules and regulations for the flying of flags are strictly enforced. The flag flown is related to the country ...
s flying on ships in Tunis are unknown. However, various sources have been able to distinguish certain similarities among the flags: they were designed with a crescent-oriented shape in the presence of the colors blue, green, red, and white. Thereafter, and until the early 19th century, the flag was composed of horizontal blue, red and green stripes, which are the colors of the ruling Husainid dynasty. This kind of flag with multiple bands and irregular contours floated on top of ships all along the coast of
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
; similar flags with different colors and arrangements were also used in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. According to Ottfried Neubecker, the
Bey of Tunis Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
also had his own flag. This flag was most likely a simple personal banner of the ruler, as it floated above the
Bardo Palace In some schools of Buddhism, ''bardo'' ( xct, བར་དོ་ Wylie: ''bar do'') or ''antarābhava'' (Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese: 中有, romanized in Chinese as ''zhōng yǒu'' and in Japanese as ''chū'u'') is an intermediate, transitio ...
, the Citadel of Tunis, on navy ships, and also in the center of the
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
in Tunisia. It was used at a number of public ceremonies until the abolition of the monarchy and proclamation of Republic on 25 July 1957. Believed to have been introduced by Hussein II, although some sources, such as Abdel-Wahab, claim that it was in use three centuries earlier, the flag was rectangular in shape and divided into nine stripes, the middle one green and double the size of all other bands, while the others alternated between yellow and red. Featured in the center of the green stripe was the
Zulfiqar Zulfiqar ( ar, ذُو ٱلْفَقَار, Ḏū-l-Faqār, ), also spelled ''Zu al-Faqar'', ''Zulfikar'', ''Dhu al-Faqar'', ''Dhulfaqar'' or ''Dhulfiqar'', is the sword of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Middle Eastern weapons are commonly inscribed w ...
, the legendary Islamic
sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
of
Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...
, with the blade in white and the hilt multicolored. The red and yellow stripes each contained five
equidistant A point is said to be equidistant from a set of objects if the distances between that point and each object in the set are equal. In two-dimensional Euclidean geometry, the locus of points equidistant from two given (different) points is the ...
symbols, whose order was alternated between each stripe. These symbols were divided into two categories: one red six-sided star voided with a disk of a different color in the center—either a red star and green disk or a white star and blue disk—, and a large disk voided in its lower right by a small disk of different color, with the combination being either a small red disk within a larger blue disk or a small yellow disk within a larger green disk. The first yellow stripe contains three red stars and two blue disks. The second stripe, red in color, contains three green disksand two white stars. The third stripe (second yellow one) is identical to the first, with the exception that the star in its center is white, while the fourth stripe (second white one) is identical to the 2nd stripe. File:Hafsid Flag - Tunisia.svg, Flag of the Hafsid dynasty Sultanate (1230–1574) File:Hafsid Flag 2 - Tunisia.svg, Variant flag of the Hafsid dynasty Sultanate ( 15th century) File:Flag of Ottoman Tunisia (1685).svg, Flag of the Eyalet of Tunis (1574–1705) File:Tunisian flag till 1831.svg, Flag of the
Husainid dynasty The Husainid dynasty or Husaynid dynasty ( ar, الحسينيون) was a ruling dynasty of the Beylik of Tunis, which was of Greek origin from the island of Crete. It came to power under al-Husayn I ibn Ali in 1705, succeeding the Muradid dynast ...
(1705–1827) File:Flag of the Beylik of Tunis (1831–1881).svg, Flag of the
Beylik of Tunis The Beylik of Tunis (), also known as Kingdom of Tunis ( ar, المملكة التونسية) was a largely autonomous beylik of the Ottoman Empire located in present-day Tunisia. It was ruled by the Husainid dynasty from 1705 until the abolit ...
(1827–1881)


Origin of the current flag

Several Muslim countries along the south coast of the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
used a plain red naval flag. After the destruction of the Tunisian naval division at the
Battle of Navarino The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October (O. S. 8 October) 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–29), in Navarino Bay (modern Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied fo ...
on 20 October 1827, the sovereign
Husainid Dynasty The Husainid dynasty or Husaynid dynasty ( ar, الحسينيون) was a ruling dynasty of the Beylik of Tunis, which was of Greek origin from the island of Crete. It came to power under al-Husayn I ibn Ali in 1705, succeeding the Muradid dynast ...
leader Hussein II decided to create a flag to use for the fleet of Tunisia, to distinguish it from other fleets. There are some discrepancies over the date of the flag's adoption, as the government states that it was adopted in 1831, while other sources like Siobhan Ryan's ''Ultimate Pocket Flags of the World'' claim that it was adopted in 1835.


French protectorate

During the era of the French protectorate in Tunisia, The Tunisian flag has not changed. However, according to an article in the ''Flag Bulletin'' publishing in Fall 2000, for a short period of time during the French protectorate, the
flag of France The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Irelan ...
was placed in the canton (upper left) of the Tunisian flag. In the same vein,
vexillologist Vexillology ( ) is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.Smith, Whitney. ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Print. The word is a synth ...
Whitney Smith Whitney Smith Jr. (February 26, 1940 – November 17, 2016) was a professional vexillologist and scholar of flags. He originated the term ''vexillology'', which refers to the scholarly analysis of all aspects of flags. He was a founder of s ...
stated that the addition of the French flag was "modification of the unofficial Tunisian national flag, used for a few years". He added: Confusion arose when an issue of the French daily newspaper '' Le Petit Journal'', published on 24 July 1904 on the occasion of the bey of Tunis's visit to France, reproduced an illustration showing the flag used while he was visiting the
Hôtel de Ville, Paris The Hôtel de Ville (, ''City Hall'') is the city hall of Paris, France, standing on the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville – Esplanade de la Libération in the 4th arrondissement. The south wing was originally constructed by François I beginning i ...
. Ivan Sache of '' Flags of the World'' claimed that this flag design, which hadn't been seen earlier, may have been inaccurate, suggesting that the journalist might not have been at the affair or he had reproduced a drawing of the wrong flag.


Proposed flags

The union project between
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
and
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
in 1973–1974 almost led to the unification of
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
and the
Libyan Arab Republic Muammar Gaddafi became the ''de facto'' leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. After the king had fled the country, the Revolutionary Comma ...
. After a meeting between
Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...
and
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
, Tunisian Foreign Minister Mohamed Masmoudi read a joint statement: But, faced with the opposition that arose both within the regime and abroad, Bourguiba was forced to backtrack and abandon the project on the pretext of the unconstitutionality of the referendum. The flag itself would have taken the colors of the flag of Libya, floating between 1972 and 1977, but the falcon present in the center of this same flag would have been replaced by the star and the Tunisian red crescent, such as the treaty of l union describes it:


Description

The Tunisian flag was defined in Article 4 of the 1 June 1959 constitution under these terms: "The flag of the Republic of Tunisia is red, it has, under the conditions defined by law, in the middle, a white disk containing a five-pointed star surrounded by a red crescent." The Organic Law No. 99-56 of 30 June 1999, adopted on 3 July by the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
, formalized the Tunisian flag for the first time in law, clarifying Article 4 of the constitution. The flag is in the form of a red rectangle with a
width Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...
equal to two-thirds of its
length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...
. In the middle of the flag is a white disk whose
diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...
is equal to one-third of the length of the rectangle and whose center is located at the intersection of the
diagonal In geometry, a diagonal is a line segment joining two vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, when those vertices are not on the same edge. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word ''diagonal'' derives from the ancient Greek δ ...
s of the rectangle. A red five-pointed star is located to the right of the disk, whose center is at a distance equal to one-thirtieth of the length of the flag from the center of the disk. The location of the star's five points is determined by an imaginary disk centered on the star's center, its diameter equal to roughly 15% the length of the flag. The points of the star are equidistant from each other, and one of the points is located on the horizontal median of the flag to the left of the center of the imaginary disk. The star is surrounded on its left by a red crescent made by the intersection of two arcs, an outer arc whose diameter is equal to one-fourth of the length of the flag, and an internal arc with a diameter equal to one-fifth of the flag's length. In addition, at the top of the flag used by the President of the Republic, the words "for the nation" ( ar, للوطن) are written in gold. The three outer edges of the flag are lined with golden yellow
fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...
and a red ribbon, with golden fringe on the right vertical side and a white disk with a star and crescent near the fringe, is attached to the flag pole above the flag. Article 4 of the 1959 constitution specifies the presence of a technical dossier containing a model of the flag, a guide to drawing it, which includes the proper measurements, and technical specifications of its colors.


Colours scheme


Symbolism

For the Tunisian
embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
in France, the color red represents the blood of Tunisian
martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
s killed during the Crusades before the advent of the Ottomans on 1574. Another interpretation is that the "red Beylical flag spread light throughout the
Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
". The white symbolizes
peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
, the disk symbolizes the radiance of the nation as the sun, while the crescent and five-pointed star represent unity of all Muslims and the
Five Pillars of Islam The Five Pillars of Islam (' ; also ' "pillars of the religion") are fundamental practices in Islam, considered to be obligatory acts of worship for all Muslims. They are summarized in the famous hadith of Gabriel. The Sunni and Shia agree on ...
, respectively. According to Ludvík Mucha, author of ''Webster's Concise Encyclopedia of Flags & Coats of Arms'', the white disk located in the center of the flag represents the
sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
. The red crescent and the five-pointed star, two ancient symbols of Islam, were appeared on many flags of Islamic countries. The crescent is, from the viewpoint of an Arabic observer, supposed to bring good
luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...
. The color red represents the blood of martyrs. Whitney Smith states that the crescent was first emblazoned on standards and buildings in the Punic state of
Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
, located in present-day Tunisia. Nevertheless, they were widely adopted by Muslim countries, and have become known as symbols of Islam, when in fact, they may be cultural symbols. Likewise, the sun is often represented with the crescent on ancient Punic artifacts and is associated with the ancient
Punic religion The Punic religion, Carthaginian religion, or Western Phoenician religion in the western Mediterranean was a direct continuation of the Phoenician variety of the polytheistic ancient Canaanite religion. However, significant local differences de ...
, especially with the Sign of Tanit.


Protocol

The Tunisian flag is visible on all public and military buildings. The flag also betokens Tunisian ambassadors at regional and international meetings as well as at buildings housing Tunisian representatives around the world. It is deployed during commemorations and national honors in a strictly ceremonial manner. On the listed Flag Days below, the Tunisian flag is flown in public buildings, compulsory by law: Article 129 of Penal Code of Tunisia punishes the insult either "publicly, by words, writings, gestures or any other manner" of the Tunisian flag and also foreign flags with one year imprisonment.


Variants

The colors of the flag are included in other Tunisian symbols, such as the
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
, which contains a crescent and star enclosed in a disk with red border. In addition, equipment belonging to the
Tunisian army The Tunisian Land Army ( ar, جيش البر التونسي, Jaîsh el-Barr et'Tunsi, french: Armée de terre tunisienne) is the ground component of the Tunisian Armed Forces . The Land Forces Command is located in Bizerte. The TAF itself was cr ...
are visually recognized by the presence of a
cockade A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colours which is usually worn on a hat or cap. Eighteenth century In the 18th and 19th centuries, coloured cockades were used in Europe to show the allegia ...
. Most political parties of Tunisia reflect the colors of the flag or the flag itself. Many
postal stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...
s reflect the motifs of the flag, which radiate "with brightness" on them.


Notes


References

* *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Tunisia
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
1831 establishments in Africa 1831 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 19th-century establishments in Tunisia National symbols of Tunisia
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...