History of Algerian Flag

There is some confusion about the origin of the Algerian flag and who the designer was.

There have been several articles in different publications and on the internet. However there has not yet been a definitive conclusion made on who was the designer and when it was first used.

An Algerian documentary film in the 1990’s said that the Algerian flag first appeared on 26 June 1926. That flag was green with these phrases written in the right corner: “Algeria our country, Arabic our language and Islam or religion” in Arabic letters and a red star and crescent in the upper left corner.

There have been changes over the years. The current flag has two rectangles, green and white, arranged horizontally. The red crescent and star in the middle. This flag was adopted on 3 July 1962 and the national emblem on 1 November 1976. The Algerian government allows the navy to add two crossed anchors in the canton (upper left corner of a flag).

The colors in this flag have meaning. For instance the green stands for Islam, the white represents Abdel Kedir who fought against the French for Algeria, red can symbolize courage and strength or blood shed in fighting enemies.

The crescent represents openness and victory and when the Christians were in power the Virgin Mary. It may have been a link to a Babylonian female fertility cult.

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