FLAG OF LIBYA: HISTORY AND MEANING - CULTURE VOCABULARY

The flag of Libya is the national symbol of this Arab country in North Africa. It is made up of three horizontal stripes. The two of the extremes each occupy a quarter of the flag, while the central one covers half. The colors, from top to bottom, are red, black, and green. In the center is a white crescent and star, Islamic symbols.

The conception of Libya as a nation and its flags is recent. Before that, the territory was occupied by Mediterranean, European and later Muslim kingdoms. This led to the waving of flags belonging to these regimes in the area, until in the control of the Ottoman Empire the first ones referring to the territory began to emerge.

Flag of Libya. (Various The source code of this SVG is valid.This vector image was created with a text editor.).

In the period of Italian colonization, the use of flags changed until the current flag was created with independence. This was modified three times during the Muammar Gaddafi dictatorship, but was re-adopted in 2011 after his fall.

Red is considered to represent blood, black to the hardships experienced in the Italian colonization and green to wealth. The crescent and star represent Islam.

History of the flag

The Libyan flags are a recent invention in history, as is the unity of the country. Different tribes inhabited the territory since prehistoric times. However, the first contacts were mainly with the Phoenicians, who began to influence the Berber and Garamate tribes already established in the area.

Phenicia and Carthage

Phenicia was the first people to establish different commercial ports on the current Libyan coast. It is considered that one of the symbols of this town was a flag with two colors: blue and red, divided into two vertical stripes.

Flag of Phenicia. (Gustavo ronconi), One of their colonies, Carthage, extended its control into North Africa, where they founded settlements and formed the Punic civilization. Most of the populated centers were in the area that was later called Tripoli, coming from Three Cities: Oea, Libdah and Sabratha. The Greek power of Carthage was growing, with the foundation of different populated centers.

Roman empire

Later, the current Libyan territory was partially occupied by the Persian troops of Cambyses II, who was king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire. Greeks and Egyptians were in dispute over the area. With the fall of Carthage, the cities of Tripolitania were under the control of the kings of Numidia, until they requested Roman protection.

The annexation of Rome formally took place in 74 BC However, the Roman influence of Tripolitania came from before. The conquest took place in the reign of Augustus and the region of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica was part of the province of Africa Nova. Economically, the cities were prosperous at first, but the decline came centuries later.

The Romans did not have a symbol like a flag, but for many years they kept a vexillum or vertical banner. This was made up of maroon and brown colors and included the initials SPQR: Senado y Pueblo Romano.

Vexillum of the Roman Empire. (Ssolbergj)

Eventually, the Roman Empire split and this region became part of the Byzantine Empire. For many years, the vandals exerted influence against the system. By the 7th century, Byzantine control was reduced and the Muslim invasion became present.

Umayyad Caliphate, Abbasid and Fatimid

Islam inevitably spread in North Africa. Byzantine control was reduced and by the year 643 the conquest of Cyrenaica began, which was renamed Pentapolis. The conquest of Tripoli took longer, until 647 by Caliph Uthman. In addition to defeating the imperial rule, the Muslims managed to control the Berber factions.

The first caliphate to dominate the area was the Umayyad, led from Damascus. Subsequently, from the year 750 the Abbasid Caliphate took control, and later it controlled the Fatimí. Islam quickly became a reality, even for the Berbers, who did not fully accept the Arab government. The flag of the Abbasid Caliphate consisted of a black cloth, without other variations.

Flag of the Abbasid Caliphate. (PavelD, from Wikimedia Commons).

By the end of the 9th century, the Fatimids began to gain positions. The territory came under the control of the Shiite Fatimid government from Cairo. The flag of the Fatimid Caliphate was simply a rectangular white cloth.

Flag of the Fatimid Caliphate. (Ham105).

Spanish campaigns

The current Libyan territory changed hands when the Spanish invaded and occupied it in the 16th century. The domain happened to be managed by the Knights of San Juan, coming from Malta. First of all, the Burgundy Cross flag became relevant, but later Maltese symbols were predominant.

Flag of the Cross of Burgundy. (By Ningyou., From Wikimedia Commons).

Ottoman Libya

Sinan Pasha, the Ottoman admiral, seized control of present-day Libya in 1551, ending the brief Spanish occupation. Turgut Reis, his successor, was named Bey de Tripoli and later Pasha de Tripoli. The power for 1565 happened to be controlled by a pasha appointed by the sultan from Constantinople. The Ottomans later extended their domain to Cyrenaica.

Power passed into the hands of different military personnel, with different monarchical positions. The region maintained some autonomy from the central government. The Elayet of Tripolitania constituted a territory populated by more than 30 thousand inhabitants. The slavery of different groups was the order of the day.

After different internal coups, officer Ahmed Karamanli seized power in Tripolitania. The region acquired de facto independence. Their pirate activities led them to face a war against the United States, Sweden and Sicily. Ottoman rule was retaken by Sultan Mahmud II in the three Libyan provinces.

Flags during Ottoman rule

For several centuries, the Ottoman Empire lacked a single, official flag. Although from the first centuries of existence the crescent and the green and red colors began to consolidate as symbols of the state, it was not until 1864, within the framework of reforms, when the Ottoman Empire established a flag. This consisted of a red cloth with a white crescent and star superimposed, representing Islam.

Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1844-1920). (By Kerem Ozca (en.wikipedia.org), via Wikimedia Commons).

In addition, Vilayet de Tripolitania enjoyed its own flag. Unlike the imperial, this consisted of a green cloth with three thin white crescents. Two of them were opposed at the top of the flag while the third completed the figure at the bottom.

Flag of the Vilayato of Tripolitania. (Bamse).

Italian Libya

Italy had been unified in the middle of the 19th century. As it became a great European country, it began to have colonial interests. That led to the Italo-Turkish War in 1912, which stripped the Ottoman Empire of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. That made the territory become part of the Kingdom of Italy.

Until 1927 it kept the denomination of the Italian North Africa. However, that year the colony was divided into two: Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania, thus recovering the old Ottoman denomination.

It was not until 1934 when the name of Libya was adopted to refer to both colonies, which have since been unified. The division was of three provinces, as it had been formerly: Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Frezzan.

Italian policy in the colony was one of colonization, repression and extermination of local peoples. Also, the colonial power brought railways and different infrastructure works, within the framework of the imperial fascist project of Benito Mussolini.

Control of Libya by the Italians continued until World War II. In 1943 the British conquered the territory. The flag that the Italians used was the same as the Kingdom of Italy.

Flag of the Kingdom of Italy. (1861-1943). (F lanker).

Shields during the Italian colonization

However, the region did maintain distinctive coats of arms, in an Italian heraldic style. Tripolitania had one since 1919, consisting of a predominant blue field and a gold one at the bottom. In the central part a palm tree and above it, a silver star.

Coat of arms of Italian Tripolitania. (1919). (derivative work: GJo).

Instead, the Cyrenaica shield maintained a golden sylph on a blue field. Again, this was crowned by a silver five-pointed star.

Coat of arms of Italian Cyrenaica. (1919). (L'orso famelico).

When Libya was created, both shields were integrated. Also added to it was the most important symbol of fascism - the fascio, which was kept in a dark red upper field.

Coat of arms of Italian Libya. (1940). (derivative work: GJo)).

Tripolitan Republic and Emirate of Cyrenaica

The first attempts at independence in present-day Libya arose at the end of the First World War, during the Italian colony. In this way, on November 16, 1918, the Republic of Tripolitania was proclaimed, which had the consent of Italy. The flag that this country used kept a blue background color with a green palm tree in the central part, presided over by a white five-pointed star.

Flag of the Republic of Tripolitania. (Urutseg).

In Cyrenaica a similar movement was formed. The Sanusis were the creditors of an autonomy granted by Italy. They constituted the Emirate of Cyrenaica. Its flag was a black cloth that kept the crescent moon and the star in white, emulating the Ottoman flag.

Flag of the Emirate of Cyrenaica. (An Encore Performance From The Boys In The Band).

The independence process was short-lived, as it did not have the consensus of the different countries and in the end, it was thrown overboard by Italy. This took place after the arrival of Benito Mussolini to power, who maintained a fascist project of an imperialist nature. In 1924 it was decided to unify Tripolitania and Cyrenaica as the province of Libya, while Fezzan remained a military-type domain.

Kingdom of Libya

Italy joined forces with the Axis Powers during World War II and was defeated. That made her lose all her colonies. Libya came under the control of a British administration in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, while in the Fezzan a French military domain was maintained.

The territories were united again and the one chosen to lead them was the Emir Idris I, who had ruled in Cyrenaica and later in Tripolitania. Idris was in charge of leading the Libyan independence negotiations at the UN. On December 24, 1951, the independence of the United Kingdom from Libya was proclaimed. Idris I became king.

Also in 1951 the Libyan constitution was approved. In the seventh article of this constitution, he established the flag, which is the same as the current one: three horizontal stripes, colored red, black and green, accompanied by a five-pointed star and the crescent in the center.

The flag was designed by Omar Faiek Shennib, then Vice President of the National Assembly and Minister of Defense. The designer came from Cyrenaica and raised the flag to the Libyan National Constitutional Convention, which later received the approval of the king and the assembly.

Libyan Arab Republic

1969 marked a before and after in Libyan history. The military Muammar Gaddafi, only 27 years old, led a group of officers who carried out a coup against the monarch on September 1. In this way the later denominated Libyan Revolution took place, of which Gaddafi proclaimed himself leader and guide.

The Libyan Arab Republic was a state quite similar to its Arab neighbors during the early years. In fact, this country adopted a flag with the Pan-Arab colors very similar to the Egyptian one. It was a tricolor of three horizontal stripes of equal size. At the top was red, followed by white and finally black.

Flag of the Libyan Arab Republic. (1969-1972). (F lanker).

Federation of Arab Republics

Pan-Arabism grew under the new Libyan regime. Gaddafi carried the flag of a Federation of Arab Republics, a new attempt at state unity. The project came to fruition in 1972 and included Libya, Egypt and Syria, through a referendum. Although different countries were candidates to join, the federation ended up dissolving on November 19, 1977.

The flag of the Federation of Arab Republics kept the same colors as those of these three countries: red, white and black. The difference was that they included a golden falcon as a shield in the central part, which included the name of the federation in Arabic.

Flag of the Federation of Arab Republics. (1972-1977). (TRAJAN 117 This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape.).

Arab Republic Jamahiriya

The authoritarian drift of El Gaddafi began to be noticed with more frequency. In 1973, he announced the implementation of Sharia or Islamic law in Libya. Following the fall of the Federation of Arab Republics, the Gaddafi government established the Great Libyan Arab Socialist People's Yamahiriya. This new state raised a tribal democracy product of a mixture of socialism with Islam, proposed by Gaddafi himself in The Green Book.

The green color was precisely the icon of his government. Libya maintained the only one-color flag of a modern state that has ever existed. The pavilion was simply a green cloth. This color mainly represented Islam, the prevailing ideology and the ancient region of Tripolitania.

Libya became a state accused by different European and American governments of promoting terrorism, which led to the isolation of the Gaddafi dictatorship for several decades. However, thanks to oil extraction, Libya became one of the strongest economies in Africa and the Arab world.

Flag of the Great Libyan Arab Socialist People's Yamahiriya (1977-2011). (Zscout370).

War and recovery of the 1952 flag

The dictatorship of Muammar El Gaddafi lasted until 2011. In the last decade of his rule, the dictator rebuilt international relations and his leadership became popular in the world.

However, and in the framework of the Arab Spring that deposed several governments in this region, an armed insurrection began in Libya that lasted for months until the seizure of power in Tripoli and the capture and assassination of the dictator Gaddafi took place..

The Yamahiriya raised by the dictator became extinct and Libya entered a civil war with different armed factions that continues today. However, the 1952 flag used during the Kingdom of Libya was a symbol of the initial protests against Gaddafi and was subsequently adopted as the country's national flag by the National Transitional Council, beginning in 2011.

Meaning of the flag

The revived Libyan flag has different colors and a main symbol with various interpretations in general. In its initial conception in 1951, the star and the crescent had a meaning completely related to Islam and its worldview.

As proposed, the crescent would represent the beginning of the lunar month, based on the Muslim calendar. In addition, it would represent the migration of Muhammad from his home to prophesy.

The star, for its part, was conceived as hope, beauty and an element that leads to belief in God, the country and its dignity. Precisely the light of the star would be the one to guide on that path and fight the darkness.

Reinterpretation of the children of Omar Faiek Shennib

With the new entry into force of the flag in 2011, different statements from Ibtisam Shennib and Amal Omar Shennib, sons of designer Omar Faiek Shennib, took value. Citing events and documents from his father, red would represent the blood that was shed to achieve freedom in Libya.

Instead, black would be chosen in memory of the dark times of Italian colonization, while green would be the symbol of wealth, agriculture, food and prosperity. In addition, according to the Shennib brothers, the Islamic symbol of the crescent and star would be there because it is a symbol of the Senussi clan, to which King Idris I. belonged.

References

December 24, 1951. An online resource dedicated to the history of Libya. (sf). National Flag of Libya. December 24, 1951. Recovered from 24dec1951.com.
Dalton, C. and Lobban Jr, R. (2014). Libya: history and revolution. ABC-CLIO. Recovered from books.google.com.
El Gaddafi, M. (1984). The green Book. Public Establishment for Publishing, Advertising and Distribution: Tripoli, Libia and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hashim, H. (February 24, 2011). What's in a flag? Al Jazeera. Recovered from aljazeera.com.
Middle East Online. (February 22, 2011). Libya's monarchist flag: a symbol of anti-Gathafi protest. Middle East Online. Recovered from middle-east-online.com.
National Transitional Council. (2011). Libya National Flag. National Transitional Council. Recovered from ntclibya.com.
Smith, W. (2016). Flag of Libya. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Recovered from britannica.com.
The Libyan Youth Movement. (October 19, 2011). For Amal, life (re) begins at 75. The Libyan Youth Movement. Feb 17th. Recovered from feb17.info.

FLAG OF LIBYA: HISTORY AND MEANING - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025