Flag of Tunisia

The Republic of Tunisia (Tunisia) is a state located in the north of Africa near the Mediterranean Sea. The country has an area of 163,600 square kilometers and a population of about 12 million people.

This is what the modern flag of Tunisia looks like:

History of the flag

The territory of modern Tunisia has been known since ancient times. The most famous city is Carthage (near the capital), which reached great power by the 3rd century BC. Later this territory was conquered by other countries and in different historical periods it was possessed:

• The Roman Empire,
• Western and Eastern (Byzantine) Roman empires,
• alternating caliphates (Righteous, Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Almohad),
• the Republic of Genoa
• and empires such as the Ottoman, French.

In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire conquered Tunisia several times, but the country finally became part of the empire in 1574. During this period the territory of Tunisia was represented by a flag symbolizing the power of the Ottoman Empire and consisted of alternating horizontal stripes of blue, red, and green, with rounded ends.

In 1705 the state of Tunisia was established, ruled by beys of the Husseinid dynasty, who recognized the sultan only as a religious leader. The beys who ruled the country were in fact its monarchs. They had their own symbol, which was used from the 19th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1957. This symbol was a cloth consisting of nine stripes, the central one of which was green with the image of an Islamic sword (Zulfikar), and on the top and bottom four alternating stripes of red and yellow with a width twice less than the green one.

In the 1930s, a new version of the flag was designed and adopted, which by its general appearance has been preserved to this day. It was decided by the decree of Bey Al-Husayn II ibn Mahmud after 1827. (independence of Greece), when during the Battle of Navarino, the Tunisian fleet was completely defeated. According to various estimates of historians, the new symbol of Tunisia was approved between 1831 and 1835, and it finally became the national flag in 1959.

This form of flag also existed during the French protectorate (since 1881), although an appropriate version was developed – in the upper left part of the cloth (closer to the staff) was the image of the flag of France. This flag was used for several years, since the French themselves did not particularly insist on such a modification of the Tunisian flag.

In June 1999, some changes were made to the design of the symbol – the proportions of the elements and the form of the star were specified, which were finally approved by a special law. The overall appearance did not change in fact.

Description

The flag of Tunisia is a rectangular cloth, the general background of which is colored red. The proportions of the sides are relative to each other as 2 to 3. Right in the center of the flag is a white circle. The diameter of the circle is half the width or 1/3 of the flag length. The center of the circle coincides with the intersection point of the diagonals of the rectangle.

 

In the circle itself there is a red crescent, the horns of which are directed in the opposite direction from the stem. Inside the crescent is a red five-pointed star. The outer diameter of the circumference of the crescent with the star is 1/4 of the length of the cloth.

Flag colors

Only two colors are used on the official symbol of the Republic: red and white.

Meaning of colors and flag symbol

The general appearance of the national symbol of Tunisia is similar to that of the Ottoman Empire, with the crescent and star reflecting the historical connection between the countries. The colors on the cloth signify:

1. Red is traditionally considered the color of Islam (adopted by the Ottoman Empire);
2. The crescent and star are also symbols of Islam. In addition, they are also considered to be symbols of good luck and fortune;
3. The white circle represents the sun.

According to some interpretations, the color red, oddly enough, expresses resistance against Turkish domination.

Other Flags

The presidential standard differs in that it has a gold inscription at the top in Arabic: “For the people. The same color surrounds the circumference of the circle with the crescent and the star.

In the military field there are emblems on which necessarily present the emblem of the flag:

• armed forces;

• ground troops;

• Air Force, etc.

Similar flags

The national symbol of the Republic, in addition to similarities with the symbol of Turkey, the star and the crescent have certain similarities with the symbols of other countries, but not the same color scheme. For example, Algeria, Pakistan.

Interesting facts about the flag

In 1974, it was decided to form the AIR (Arab Islamic Republic). It was to include Tunisia and Libya. A version of the symbol with horizontal red-white-black stripes and a crescent with a red star in the center of the white sector was designed for the new state. But the project turned out to be a draft because the majority of Tunisians did not support the idea of uniting the two countries.

General information about Tunisia

Map of Tunisia