1.
Glossary of vexillology
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Flag terminology is the nomenclature, or system of terms, used in vexillology, the study of flags, to describe precisely the parts, patterns, and other attributes of flags and their display. Badge A coat of arms or simple heraldic symbol, canton Any quarter of a flag, but commonly means the upper hoist quarter, such as the field of stars in the flag of the United States or the Union Jack in the Australian Flag. Charge A figure or symbol appearing in the field of a flag, emblem A device often used as a charge on a flag. It may be heraldic in origin or modern, for example the maple leaf on the Canadian Flag, field The background of a flag, the color behind the charges. Fimbriation A narrow edging or border, often in white or gold, for example the white and gold lines of the South African Flag. Fly The half or edge of a flag farthest away from the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the horizontal length of a flag. Hoist The half or edge of a flag nearest to the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the vertical width of a flag. Length The span of a flag along the side at right angles to the flagpole, width The span of a flag down the side parallel to the flagpole. Flags often inherit traits seen in traditional European heraldry designs and as a result patterns often share names, banderole or bannerol A small flag or streamer carried on the lance of a knight, or a long narrow flag flying from the mast-head of a ship. Banner Generically, a synonym for a flag of any kind, in heraldry, a flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms, but usually in a square or rectangular shape, also known as a banner of arms. Burgee A distinguishing flag of a recreational boating organisation, Civil ensign, merchant flag or merchant ensign A version of the national flag flown by civil ships to denote nationality. Civil flag A version of the flag flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. Colour or color The flag of a military unit, courtesy flag or courtesy ensign A flag flown by a visiting ship in foreign waters as a token of respect. Ensign The flag of a ship or military unit, may also be used generically as a synonym for a flag of any kind. Fanion A small flag used by the French military, gonfalon, gonfanon or gonfalone A type of heraldic flag suspended from a crossbar. Guidon A small flag borne by a military unit, in Scots heraldry, a smaller version of the Standard. Pennon or pennant A flag larger at the hoist than at the fly, pipe banner A decorative flag for the Scottish Highland bagpipes. Prayer flag A type of flag found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas, rank flag or distinguishing flag The flag flown by a superior naval officer on his flagship or headquarters
2.
Civil flag
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A civil flag is a version of the national flag that is flown by civilians on nongovernmental installations or craft. The use of flags was more common in the past to denote buildings or ships not manned by the military. In some countries, the flag is the same as the war flag or state flag but without the coat of arms, such as in the case of Spain. In others, it is an alteration of the war flag, in Scandinavia, state and war flags can be double and triple-tailed variants of the Nordic Cross flag. Many countries, particularly those with a British heritage, still have distinctive civil flags for use at sea, many based on the Red Ensign
3.
State flag
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There are two separate meanings for the term of state flag in vexillology, the flag of the government of a sovereign state and the flag of an individual subnational state. A state flag is a variant of a national flag specifically designated and restricted by law or custom to use by a government or its agencies. For this reason they are referred to as government flags. Scandinavian countries also use swallowtailed state flags, to differentiate them from civil flags. In addition, some countries have state ensigns, separate flags for use by government ships such as guard vessels. For example, government ships in the United Kingdom fly the blue ensign, state flags should not be confused with the national flag as used by military organisations, these are referred to as war flags and naval ensigns. To avoid confusion with the first meaning of the term, however, such a flag would be more referred to as the flag of the state of X. For this usage, see also, Flags of the Australian states and territories Flags of Brazilian states Flags of the U. S. states Flags of German states Znamierowski, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
4.
Civil ensign
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Civil ensign is the ensign used by civilian vessels to denote nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and its also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag. Some countries have civil ensigns for yachts, and even for specific yacht clubs. Most countries have one national flag and ensign for all purposes. In other countries, a distinction is made between the flag and the civil, state and naval ensigns. The civil ensigns that are different from the flag can be grouped into a number of categories. Several countries use red flags with, in most cases, either the national flag or the Union Flag in the canton. British overseas territories fly the plain Red Ensign or a Red Ensign with the colonial arms in the fly. Saudi Arabia puts its national flag in the canton of an otherwise-green flag, Ghana stopped using its Red Ensign in 2003 with the adoption of a new merchant shipping act, which made the Ghanaian flag the proper national colors for Ghana ships. Similarly, Sri Lanka stopped using its Red Ensign in 1969, several countries have civil ensigns that are very different from the national flag, for instance Malta and Luxembourg. Well-known examples are the Italian civil ensign showing the shield with the arms of the sea republics or the Polish civil ensign with the arms of Poland, most of these emblems were added to distinguish the ensign from similar flags of other countries or from other signal flags. In several countries there are two versions of the flag, a simpler one and a more elaborate one with the national arms. The simpler one is used as ensign, whereas the version with the arms is mainly used by the government. In Spain and Argentina the flag without the arms is only a variant for civil use, in El Salvador, the civil ensign also differs from the national flag in the proportions. France is a case, the overall proportion is the same. Civil and merchant ensigns Civil air ensign
5.
Ensign
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Ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern of the ship, the naval ensign, used on warships, may be different from the civil ensign or the yacht ensign. Large versions of naval ensigns called battle ensigns are used when a warship goes into battle, the ensign differs from the jack which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. In its widest sense, an ensign is just a flag or other standard, the European military rank of ensign, once responsible for bearing a units standard derives from it. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, liwa, derives from the command of a unit or units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a units ensign, and is a general officer. In Arab armies, ensign is a title equivalent to a Western brigade. In nautical use, the ensign is flown on a ship or boat to indicate its appartenance, while this includes its nationality, it may well indicate more information rather than being the national flag itself. This is particularly common for commonwealth and European countries, ensigns are usually at the stern flagstaff when in port, and may be shifted to a gaff or mast amidships when the ship is under way, becoming known as a steaming ensign. Vexillologists distinguish three varieties of a national flag used as an ensign, A civil ensign is worn by merchant. In some countries the yacht ensign, used on boats or ships instead of merchant vessels. A state ensign or government ensign is worn by government vessels, a naval ensign is used by a countrys navy. Such ensigns are strictly regulated and indicate if the vessel is a warship, a merchant ship, several Commonwealth countries national flags had their origin in the ensigns of their original colonising power, the United Kingdom. Most notable of these flags are those of Australia, New Zealand. It is also likely that the original design from which the flag of the United States developed was strongly influenced by the British Red Ensign or the flag of the East India Company. With the creation of independent air forces and the growth in aviation in the first half of the 20th century. These may be divided into air force ensigns and civil air ensigns, in heraldry, an ensign is the ornament or sign, such as the crown, coronet, or mitre, borne above the charge or arms. Distinguishing mark Maritime flag Znamierowski, Alfred, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
6.
Triband (flag)
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The triband is one of the most common designs of flag, and is the design of some 30% of all current national flags. As the name suggests, the feature of the design of a triband is three parallel bands of colour. If the three bands have three different colors, the triband is a tricolour, in its simplest form, the triband consists of three equally sized horizontal or vertical stripes and nothing else. Examples of horizontal tribands include the flags of Austria and Germany. In each of these pairs, the second named flag is also a tricolour, diagonal tribands are less common, and often do not have stripes of equal areas or widths. An example is the flag of the Republic of the Congo, such flags are often not considered tribands by vexillologists, but rather are described as having a single diagonal stripe on a one- or two-coloured background. More complex tribands include flags charged or defaced with an emblem or flags with bands of unequal size, the most famous complex triband is arguably the national flag of Canada, which is charged with a maple leaf and has bands of uneven size. The ratio of the bands on this flag has led to the term Canadian pale to refer to any central vertical band on a triband which is twice the size of the bands on either side. Some tribands, such as the flag of the Gambia, are fimbriated and this means that between the stripes there are narrower stripes. This is sometimes done to increase contrast between multiple stripes or to follow the rule of tincture, though in cases the fimbriation also has specific symbolism. Below is a list of tribands organized by continent, some of them are charged, i. e. they have some additional symbol apart from the three simple coloured fields
7.
Jordan
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Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain
8.
Arab Revolt
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Contrarily, Turks accused rebelling tribes of betraying the Muslim Caliphate during a campaign against imperialist powers which were trying to divide and govern the Muslim lands. The rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire dates from at least 1821, Arab nationalism has its roots in the Mashriq, particularly in countries of Sham. The political orientation of Arab nationalists in the prior to the Great War was generally moderate. The Young Turk Revolution began on 3 July 1908 and quickly spread throughout the empire, as a result, sultan Abdul Hamid II was forced to announce the restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of the Ottoman parliament. This period is known as the Second Constitutional Era, in the elections held in 1908, the Young Turks through their Committee of Union and Progress managed to gain the upper hand against the Liberal Union led by Prince Sabahaddin. The CUP preached a message that was a mixture of Pan-Islamism, Ottomanism, and Pan-Turkicism, at its heart, the CUP were Turkish nationalists who wanted to see the Turks as the dominant group within the Ottoman Empire. The new parliament was composed of 142 Turks,60 Arabs,25 Albanians,23 Greeks,12 Armenians,5 Jews,4 Bulgarians,3 Serbs, the CUP in the parliament gave more emphasis to centralization and a modernization program. At this stage, Arab nationalism was not yet a mass movement, many Arabs gave their primary loyalty to their religion or sect, their tribe, or their own particular governments. The ideologies of Ottomanism and Pan-Islamism provided strong competition for Arab nationalism, in the Ottoman Empire, Sunni Islam was the state religion, and the sultan-caliph was the supreme religious-political leader, thus making the crown and the faith one and the same. Before 1914, of the ten million or so Arabs living under Ottoman rule, only a mere 350 were involved in various feuding nationalist groups, most of whom wanted only autonomy rather than independence. Arab members of the parliament supported the countercoup of 1909, which aimed to dismantle the constitutional system, in 1913, intellectuals and politicians from the Arab Mashriq met in Paris at the First Arab Congress. They produced a set of demands for autonomy within the Ottoman Empire. They again demanded that Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army should not be required to serve in other regions except in time of war. Hussein saw himself as the founder of a new empire, and looked down upon his fellow Ottoman Arabs as backward and it is estimated that the Arab forces involved in the revolt numbered around 5,000 soldiers. E. On a few occasions, particularly during the campaign into Syria. Many Arabs joined the Revolt sporadically, often as a campaign was in progress or only when the fighting entered their home region. During the Aqaba raid, for instance, while the initial Arab force numbered only a few hundred, estimates of Faisals effective forces vary, but through most of 1918 at least, they may have numbered as high as 30,000 men. The Bedouin would not fight unless paid in advance with gold coin, and by the end of 1916, by September 1918, the British were spending £220, 000/month to subsidize the revolt
9.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
10.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
11.
Pan-Arab colors
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The Pan-Arab colours are black, white, green, and red. Individually, each of the four Pan-Arab colours were intended to represent a certain Arab dynasty, or era. The four colours derived their potency from a verse by 14th century Iraqi poet Safi Al-Din Al-Hilli, « White are our acts, black our battles, green our fields, Pan-Arab colours were first combined in 1916 in the flag of the Arab Revolt. It may be noted that while Libya is an Arab country and has a flag with the four colours. From the 1950s onwards, a sub-set of the Pan-Arab colours and these consist of a tricolour of red, white and black bands, with green given less prominence. The Arab Liberation colours were inspired by the use of the Arab Liberation Flag in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, list of Arab flags Pan-Arabism Tricolour Pan-Slavic colors Pan-African colours Pan-Arab colors Evolution of the Arab Flag, by Dr. Mahdi Abdul-Hadi
12.
Abbasid Caliphate
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The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, the political power of the caliphs largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a ceremonial religious function. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and this period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, the Abbasids claimed to be the true successors of Prophet Muhammad in replacing the Umayyad descendants of Banu Umayya by virtue of their closer bloodline to Muhammad. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character, according to Ira Lapidus, The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, Muhammad ibn Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Prophet Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II. During the reign of Marwan II, this culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam. On 9 June 747, Abu Muslim successfully initiated a revolt against Umayyad rule. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslims command when the hostilities began in Merv. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, after this loss, Marwan fled to Egypt, where he was subsequently assassinated. The remainder of his family, barring one male, were also eliminated, immediately after their victory, As-Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas. Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad, introduced the worlds first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, As-Saffah focused on putting down numerous rebellions in Syria and Mesopotamia. The Byzantines conducted raids during these early distractions, the first change the Abbasids, under Al-Mansur, made was to move the empires capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762, a new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. During Al-Mansurs time control of Al-Andalus was lost, and the Shiites revolted and were defeated a year later at the Battle of Bakhamra, the Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads
13.
Umayyad Caliphate
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The Umayyad Caliphate, also spelled Omayyad, was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. This caliphate was centred on the Umayyad dynasty, hailing from Mecca, Syria remained the Umayyads main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula into the Muslim world. At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covered 11,100,000 km2 and 62 million people, the Umayyad Caliphate was secular by nature. At the time, the Umayyad taxation and administrative practice were perceived as unjust by some Muslims, Muhammad had stated explicitly during his lifetime that Abrahamic religious groups, should be allowed to practice their own religion, provided that they paid the jizya taxation. The welfare state of both the Muslim and the poor started by Umar ibn al Khattab had also continued, financed by the zakat tax levied only on Muslims. Muawiyas wife Maysum was also a Christian, the relations between the Muslims and the Christians in the state were stable in this time. Prominent positions were held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families that had served in Byzantine governments, the employment of Christians was part of a broader policy of religious assimilation that was necessitated by the presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, as in Syria. This policy also boosted Muawiyas popularity and solidified Syria as his power base, the rivalries between the Arab tribes had caused unrest in the provinces outside Syria, most notably in the Second Muslim Civil War of AD 680–692 and the Berber Revolt of 740–743. During the Second Civil War, leadership of the Umayyad clan shifted from the Sufyanid branch of the family to the Marwanid branch. A branch of the family fled across North Africa to Al-Andalus, where they established the Caliphate of Córdoba, according to tradition, the Umayyad family and Muhammad both descended from a common ancestor, Abd Manaf ibn Qusai, and they originally came from the city of Mecca. Muhammad descended from Abd Manāf via his son Hashim, while the Umayyads descended from Abd Manaf via a different son, Abd-Shams, the two families are therefore considered to be different clans of the same tribe. However Muslim Shia historians suspect that Umayya was a son of Abd Shams so he was not a blood relative of Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. Umayya was later discarded from the noble family, Sunni historians disagree with this and view Shia claims as nothing more than outright polemics due to their hostility to the Umayyad family in general. While the Umayyads and the Hashimites may have had bitterness between the two clans before Muhammad, the rivalry turned into a case of tribal animosity after the Battle of Badr. The battle saw three top leaders of the Umayyad clan killed by Hashimites in a three-on-three melee and this fueled the opposition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, the grandson of Umayya, to Muhammad and to Islam. Abu Sufyan sought to exterminate the adherents of the new religion by waging another battle with Muslims based in Medina only a year after the Battle of Badr and he did this to avenge the defeat at Badr. The Battle of Uhud is generally believed by scholars to be the first defeat for the Muslims, as they had incurred greater losses than the Meccans
14.
Fatimid Caliphate
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The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shia Islamic caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The dynasty ruled across the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the centre of the caliphate, at its height the caliphate included in addition to Egypt varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz. The Fatimids claimed descent from Fatima bint Muhammad, the daughter of Islamic prophet Muhammad, in 921 the Fatimids established the Tunisian city of Mahdia as their new capital. In 948 they shifted their capital to Al-Mansuriya, near Kairouan in Tunisia, in 969 they conquered Egypt and established Cairo as the capital of their caliphate, Egypt became the political, cultural, and religious centre of their empire. The ruling class belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shiism, as did the leaders of the dynasty, the existence of the caliphate marked the only time the descendants of Ali through Fatimah were united to any degree and the name Fatimid refers to Fatimah. The different term Fatimite is sometimes used to refer to the caliphates subjects, after the initial conquests, the caliphate often allowed a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Ismaili sects of Islam, as well as to Jews, Maltese Christians, and Egyptian Coptic Christians. The Fatimid caliphate was also distinguished by the role of Berbers in its initial establishment and in helping its development, especially on the military. During the late eleventh and twelfth centuries the Fatimid caliphate declined rapidly and he founded the Ayyubid dynasty and incorporated the Fatimid state into the Abbasid Caliphate. The Fatimid regime lasted until the twelfth century, though its leaders made little headway in persuading the Egyptian population. The Fatimid Caliphates religious ideology originated in an Ismaili Shia movement launched in the 9th century in Salamiyah, Syria by their eighth Imam and he claimed descent through Ismail, the seventh Ismaili Imam, from Fatimah and her husband ʻAlī ibn-Abī-Tālib, the first Shīʻa Imām. Thus his name was al-Fātimiyyūn Fatimid, the eighth to tenth Imams, remained hidden and worked for the movement against the periods times rulers. According to legend, Abdullah and his son were fulfilling a prophecy that the mahdi would come from Mesopotamia to Sijilmasa. They hid among the population of Sijilmasa, then an independent emirate, for four years under the countenance of the Midrar rulers, al-Mahdi was supported by dedicated Shiite Abu Abdullah al-Shii, and al-Shii started his preaching after he encountered a group of Muslim North African during his hajj. These men bragged about the country of the Kutama in western Ifriqiya, and the hostility of the Kutama towards, and their independence from. This triggered al-Shii to travel to the region, where he started to preach the Ismaili doctrine, the Berber peasants, who had been oppressed for decades by the corrupt Aghlabid rule, would prove themselves to be a perfect basis for sedition. Instantly, al-Shii began conquering cities in the region, first Mila, then Sétif, Kairouan, and eventually Raqqada, in 909 Al-Shii sent a large expedition force to rescue the Mahdi, conquering the Khariji state of Tahert on its way there. After gaining his freedom, Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah became the leader of the state and assumed the position of imam. The Fatimids existed during the Islamic Golden Age, the dynasty was founded in 909 by the eleventh Imam ʻAbdullāh al-Mahdī Billah
15.
Caliphate
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A caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph —a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many Muslim states, the Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a caliph should be an Imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt, before the advent of Islam, Arabian monarchs traditionally used the title malik, or another from the same root. The term caliph, derives from the Arabic word khalīfah, which means successor, steward, however, studies of pre-Islamic texts suggest that the original meaning of the phrase was successor selected by God. There was no specified procedure for this shura or consultation, candidates were usually, but not necessarily, from the same lineage as the deceased leader. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual heir, Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr was chosen by the community and that this was the proper procedure. Sunnis further argue that a caliph should ideally be chosen by election or community consensus, the Shia believe that Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, was chosen by Muhammad as his spiritual and temporal successor as the Mawla of all Muslims in the event of Ghadir Khumm. The caliph was often known as Amir al-Muminin, Muhammad established his capital in Medina, after he died, it remained the capital during the Rashidun Caliphate, before Kufa was reportedly made the capital by Caliph Ali. At times there have been rival claimant caliphs in different parts of the Islamic world, according to Sunni Muslims, the first caliph to be called Amir al-Muminin was Abu Bakr, followed by Umar, the second of the Rashidun. Uthman and Ali also were called by the title, while the Shia consider Ali to have been the only truly legitimate caliph. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk officially abolished the system of Caliphate in Islam as part of his secular reforms, the Kings of Morocco still label themselves with the title Amir al-Muminin for the Moroccans, but lay no claim to the Caliphate. Some Muslim countries, including Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia, were never subject to the authority of a Caliphate, with the exception of Aceh, consequently, these countries had their own, local, sultans or rulers who did not fully accept the authority of the Caliph. Abu Bakr, the first successor of Muhammad, nominated Umar as his successor on his deathbed, Umar, the second caliph, was killed by a Persian named Piruz Nahavandi. His successor, Uthman, was elected by a council of electors, Uthman was killed by members of a disaffected group. Ali then took control but was not universally accepted as caliph by the governors of Egypt and he faced two major rebellions and was assassinated by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Khawarij. Alis tumultuous rule lasted only five years and this period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war. The followers of Ali later became the Shia minority sect of Islam, the followers of all four Rashidun Caliphs became the majority Sunni sect. Under the Rashidun each region of the Caliphate had its own governor, Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman and governor of Syria, succeeded Ali as Caliph
16.
Hashemites
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The House of Hashim, better known as the Hashemites Hashmi, are the royal family of the Hejaz, Iraq, and Jordan. Their eponymous ancestor is Hashim ibn Abd Manaf, great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet and his sons Abdullah and Faisal assumed the thrones of Jordan and Iraq in 1921. The dynasty is the oldest ruling dynasty in the Islamic World, the early history of the Hashemites saw them in a continuous struggle against the Umayyads for control over who would be the caliph or successor to Muhammad. The Umayyads were of the tribe as the Hashemites, but a different clan. After the overthrow of the Umayyads, the Abbasids would present themselves as representatives of the Hashemites, as they claimed descent from Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of Muhammad. Muhammads father had died before he was born, and his mother died while he was a child, so Muhammad was raised by his uncle Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, chief of the Hashemites. From the 10th century onwards, the sharif of Mecca and its Emir was, by traditional agreement, before World War I, Hussein bin Ali of the Hashemite Dhawu-Awn clan ruled the Hejaz on behalf of the Ottoman sultan. For some time it had been the practice of the Sublime Porte to appoint the Emir of Mecca from among a group of candidates. In 1908, Hussein bin Ali was appointed to the Emirate of Mecca and he found himself increasingly at odds with the Young Turks in control at Istanbul, while he strove to secure his familys position as hereditary Emirs. Sharif Hussein bin Ali rebelled against the rule of the Ottomans during the Arab Revolt of 1916. Between 1917 and 1924, after the collapse of Ottoman power, Hussein bin Ali ruled an independent Hejaz, of which he proclaimed himself king and his supporters are sometimes referred to as Sharifians or the Sharifian party. Hussein bin Alis chief rival in the Arabian Peninsula, the king of the Najd, Ibn Saud, annexed the Hejaz in 1925 and established his own son, Faysal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the region was later incorporated into Saudi Arabia. Hussein bin Ali had five sons, Ali, who succeeded to the throne of Hejaz before its loss to the Saud family in 1925. Abdullah, became the amir of Transjordan in 1921 and king of Jordan in 1946, Faisal, briefly proclaimed King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria in 1920, became King of Iraq in 1921. Prince Zeid bin Hussein, who moved to Jordan when his brothers grandson, King Faisal II of Iraq, was overthrown, hassan, died at a young age. Line of succession to the Jordanian throne Line of succession to the Iraqi throne Hashemite Lineage
17.
Arab nationalism
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Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world. It rose to prominence with the weakening and defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, pan-Arabism is a related concept, in as much as it calls for supranational communalism among the Arab states. Arab nationalists believe that the Arab nation existed as an entity prior to the rise of nationalism in the 19th–20th century. The Arab nation was formed through the establishment of Arabic as the language of communication and with the advent of Islam as a religion. Both Arabic and Islam served as the pillars of the nation, within the Arab nationalist movement are three differentiations, the Arab nation, Arab nationalism, and pan-Arab unity. Local patriotism centered on individual Arab countries was incorporated into the framework of Arab nationalism starting in the 1920s, the word qawmiyya has been used to refer to pan-Arab nationalism, while wataniyya has been used to refer to patriotism at a more local level. In the post-World War years, the concept of qawmiyya gradually assumed a leftist coloration, the creation of revolutionary Arab unity. Groups who subscribed to this point of view advocated opposition, violent and non-violent, against Israel, the person most identified with qawmiyya was Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, who used both military and political power to spread his version of pan-Arab ideology throughout the Arab world. While qawmiyya still remains a potent political force today, the death of Nasser, the current dominant ideology among Arab policy makers has shifted to wataniyya. Throughout the late 19th century, beginning in the 1860s, a sense of loyalty to the Fatherland developed in intellectual circles based in the Levant and Egypt and it developed from observance of the technological successes of Western Europe which they attributed to the prevailing of patriotism in those countries. The Ottomans, on the hand, had deviated from true Islam. The reforming Ottoman and Egyptian governments were blamed for the situation because they attempted to borrow Western practices from the Europeans that were seen as unnatural, arabism and regional patriotism mixed and gained predominance over Ottomanism among some Arabs in Syria and Lebanon. Ibrahim al-Yazigi, a Syrian Christian philosopher, called for the Arabs to recover their lost ancient vitality, a secret society promoting this goal was formed in the late 1870s, with al-Yazigi as a member. The group placed placards in Beirut calling for a rebellion against the Ottomans and this distinction between fatherland and nation was also made by Hasan al-Marsafi in 1881. By the beginning of the 20th century, groups of Muslim Arabs embraced an Arab nationalist self-view that would provide as the basis of the Arab nationalist ideology of the 20th century. This new version of Arab patriotism was directly influenced by the Islamic modernism and revivalism of Muhammad Abduh, Abduh believed the Arabs Muslim ancestors bestowed rationality on mankind and created the essentials of modernity, borrowed by the West. Thus, while Europe advanced from adopting the modernist ideals of true Islam, one of Abduhs followers, Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, openly declared that the Ottoman Empire should be both Turkish and Arab, with the latter exercising religious and cultural leadership. In 1911, Muslim intellectuals and politicians throughout the Levant formed al-Fatat
18.
Amman
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Amman is the capital and most populous city of Jordan, and the countrys economic, political and cultural centre. Situated in north-central Jordan, Amman is the centre of the Amman Governorate. The city has a population of 4,007,526, today, Amman is considered to be among the most liberal and westernized Arab cities. It is a major tourist destination in the region, particularly among Arab, the earliest evidence of settlement in the area is a Neolithic site known as Ain Ghazal. Its successor was known as Rabbath Ammon, which was the capital of the Ammonites, then as Philadelphia and it was initially built on seven hills but now spans over 19 hills combining 27 districts, which are administered by the Greater Amman Municipality headed by its mayor Aqel Biltaji. Areas of Amman have either gained their names from the hills or valleys they lie on, such as Jabal Lweibdeh, East Amman is predominantly filled with historic sites that frequently host cultural activities, while West Amman is more modern and serves as the economic center of the city. Approximately 2 million visitors arrived in Amman in 2014, which ranked it as the 93rd most visited city in the world, Amman has a relatively fast growing economy, and it is ranked Beta− on the global city index. Moreover, it was named one of the Middle East and North Africas best cities according to economic, labor, environmental, the city is among the most popular locations in the Arab world for multinational corporations to set up their regional offices, alongside Doha and only behind Dubai. It is expected that in the next 10 years these three cities will capture the largest share of multinational corporation activity in the region. Amman derives its name from the 13th century BC when the Ammonites named it Rabbath Ammon, over time, the term Rabbath was no longer used and the city became known as Ammon. The influence of new civilizations that conquered the city changed its name to Amman. In the Hebrew Bible, it is referred to as Rabbat ʿAmmon, however, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Macedonian ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who reigned from 283 to 246 BC, renamed the city to Philadelphia after occupying it. The name was given as an adulation to his own nickname, in the outskirts of Amman, one of the largest known ancient settlements in the Near East was discovered. The site, known as Ain Ghazal which is situated on a valley-side, dates back to 7250 BC and it was a typical average sized aceramic Neolithic village that accommodated around 3,000 inhabitants. Its houses were rectangular mud-bricked buildings that included a main square living room, the site was discovered in 1974 as construction workers were working on a road crossing the area. By 1982 when the excavations started, around 600 meters of road ran through the site, despite the damage brought by urban expansion, the remains of Ain Ghazal provided a wealth of information. These statues are human figures made with white plaster, the figures have painted clothes, hair, and in some cases ornamental tattoos. Thirty-two figures were found in two caches, fifteen of them full figures, fifteen busts, and two fragmentary heads, three of the busts were two-headed, the significance of which is not clear
19.
RGB color model
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The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three primary colors, red, green and blue. Before the electronic age, the RGB color model already had a theory behind it. Thus an RGB value does not define the same color across devices without some kind of color management, typical RGB input devices are color TV and video cameras, image scanners, video games, and digital cameras. Typical RGB output devices are TV sets of technologies, computer and mobile phone displays, video projectors, multicolor LED displays. Color printers, on the hand are not RGB devices. This article discusses concepts common to all the different color spaces that use the RGB color model, to form a color with RGB, three light beams must be superimposed. Each of the three beams is called a component of color, and each of them can have an arbitrary intensity, from fully off to fully on. The RGB color model is additive in the sense that the three beams are added together, and their light spectra add, wavelength for wavelength. This is essentially opposite to the color model that applies to paints, inks, dyes. When the intensities for all the components are the same, the result is a shade of gray, darker or lighter depending on the intensity. When the intensities are different, the result is a colorized hue, a secondary color is formed by the sum of two primary colors of equal intensity, cyan is green+blue, magenta is red+blue, and yellow is red+green. The RGB color model itself does not define what is meant by red, green and blue colorimetrically, and so the results of mixing them are not specified as absolute, but relative to the primary colors. When the exact chromaticities of the red, green and blue primaries are defined, the normal three kinds of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in the human eye respond most to yellow, green, and violet light. As an example, suppose that light in the range of wavelengths enters the eye. Light of these wavelengths would activate both the medium and long wavelength cones of the retina, but not equally—the long-wavelength cells will respond more, the difference in the response can be detected by the brain, and this difference is the basis of our perception of orange. Thus, the appearance of an object results from light from the object entering our eye and stimulating the different cones simultaneously. The first experiments with RGB in early color photography were made in 1861 by Maxwell himself, to reproduce the color photograph, three matching projections over a screen in a dark room were necessary
20.
Hexadecimal
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In mathematics and computing, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, Hexadecimal numerals are widely used by computer system designers and programmers. As each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits, it allows a more human-friendly representation of binary-coded values, one hexadecimal digit represents a nibble, which is half of an octet or byte. For example, a byte can have values ranging from 00000000 to 11111111 in binary form. In a non-programming context, a subscript is typically used to give the radix, several notations are used to support hexadecimal representation of constants in programming languages, usually involving a prefix or suffix. The prefix 0x is used in C and related languages, where this value might be denoted as 0x2AF3, in contexts where the base is not clear, hexadecimal numbers can be ambiguous and confused with numbers expressed in other bases. There are several conventions for expressing values unambiguously, a numerical subscript can give the base explicitly,15910 is decimal 159,15916 is hexadecimal 159, which is equal to 34510. Some authors prefer a text subscript, such as 159decimal and 159hex, or 159d and 159h. example. com/name%20with%20spaces where %20 is the space character, thus ’, represents the right single quotation mark, Unicode code point number 2019 in hex,8217. In the Unicode standard, a value is represented with U+ followed by the hex value. Color references in HTML, CSS and X Window can be expressed with six hexadecimal digits prefixed with #, white, CSS allows 3-hexdigit abbreviations with one hexdigit per component, #FA3 abbreviates #FFAA33. *nix shells, AT&T assembly language and likewise the C programming language, to output an integer as hexadecimal with the printf function family, the format conversion code %X or %x is used. In Intel-derived assembly languages and Modula-2, hexadecimal is denoted with a suffixed H or h, some assembly languages use the notation HABCD. Ada and VHDL enclose hexadecimal numerals in based numeric quotes, 16#5A3#, for bit vector constants VHDL uses the notation x5A3. Verilog represents hexadecimal constants in the form 8hFF, where 8 is the number of bits in the value, the Smalltalk language uses the prefix 16r, 16r5A3 PostScript and the Bourne shell and its derivatives denote hex with prefix 16#, 16#5A3. For PostScript, binary data can be expressed as unprefixed consecutive hexadecimal pairs, in early systems when a Macintosh crashed, one or two lines of hexadecimal code would be displayed under the Sad Mac to tell the user what went wrong. Common Lisp uses the prefixes #x and #16r, setting the variables *read-base* and *print-base* to 16 can also used to switch the reader and printer of a Common Lisp system to Hexadecimal number representation for reading and printing numbers. Thus Hexadecimal numbers can be represented without the #x or #16r prefix code, MSX BASIC, QuickBASIC, FreeBASIC and Visual Basic prefix hexadecimal numbers with &H, &H5A3 BBC BASIC and Locomotive BASIC use & for hex. TI-89 and 92 series uses a 0h prefix, 0h5A3 ALGOL68 uses the prefix 16r to denote hexadecimal numbers, binary, quaternary and octal numbers can be specified similarly
21.
CMYK color model
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The CMYK color model is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four used in some color printing, cyan, magenta, yellow. Though it varies by print house, press operator, press manufacturer, the K in CMYK stands for key because in four-color printing, cyan, magenta and yellow printing plates are carefully keyed, or aligned, with the key of the black key plate. Some sources suggest that the K in CMYK comes from the last letter in black and was chosen because B already means blue. Some sources claim this explanation, although useful as a mnemonic, is incorrect, the CMYK model works by partially or entirely masking colors on a lighter, usually white, background. The ink reduces the light that would otherwise be reflected, such a model is called subtractive because inks subtract brightness from white. In additive color models such as RGB, white is the combination of all primary colored lights. In the CMYK model, it is the opposite, white is the color of the paper or other background. To save cost on ink, and to produce deeper black tones, unsaturated and dark colors are produced by using black ink instead of the combination of cyan, magenta, with halftoning, a full continuous range of colors can be produced. To improve print quality and reduce moiré patterns, the screen for each color is set at a different angle. Common reasons for using black ink include, In traditional preparation of color separations, in some cases a black keyline was used when it served as both a color indicator and an outline to be printed in black. Because usually the black plate contained the keyline, the K in CMYK represents the keyline or black plate, also sometimes called the key plate. A combination of 100% cyan, magenta, and yellow inks soaks the paper with ink, making it slower to dry, causing bleeding, adding black ink absorbs more light and yields much better blacks. Using black ink is less expensive than using the corresponding amounts of colored inks. When a very dark area is desirable, a colored or gray CMY bedding is applied first, then a black layer is applied on top, making a rich, deep black. A black made with just CMY inks is sometimes called a composite black, the amount of black to use to replace amounts of the other ink is variable, and the choice depends on the technology, paper and ink in use. Processes called under color removal, under addition, and gray component replacement are used to decide on the final mix. CMYK or process color printing is contrasted with spot color printing, some printing presses are capable of printing with both four-color process inks and additional spot color inks at the same time
22.
Flag of the Arab Revolt
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The Flag of the Arab Revolt was a flag used by the Arab nationalists during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The flag was designed by the British diplomat Sir Mark Sykes, the horizontal colors stand for the Abbasid, Umayyad and Fatimid Caliphates. The red triangle refers to the Hashemite dynasty, the Hashemites were allies of the British in the conflict against the Ottoman Empire. After the war ended, the Hashemites achieved or were granted rule in the Hejaz region of Arabia, Jordan, formally known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, briefly in Greater Syria, Greater Syria was dissolved after only a few months of existence, in 1920. The Hashemites were overthrown in the Hejaz in 1925 by the House of Saud, and in Iraq in 1958 by a coup detat, but retained power in Jordan. A 60m x 30m version of the flag flies from the Aqaba Flagpole, currently the sixth tallest freestanding flagpole in the world, located in Aqaba. The flag contains the four Pan-Arab Colors, black, white, green, there is also a red triangle on the hoist side of the flag. Pan-Arab colors Flag of Saudi Arabia Kingdom of Hejaz Palestinian flag https, //www. britannica. com/topic/Arab-Revolt-Flag
23.
Flag of Palestine
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The Palestinian flag is based on the Flag of the Arab Revolt, and is used to represent the State of Palestine and the Palestinian people. The flag is a tricolor of three horizontal stripes overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. Prior to being the flag of the Palestinian people, it was the flag of the short lived Arab Federation of Iraq, the flag of the Arab Revolt had the same graphic form, but the colours were arranged differently. The flag used by the Arab Palestinian nationalists in the first half of the 20th century is the flag of the 1916 Arab Revolt, the origins of the flag are the subject of dispute and mythology. Yet another version is that the flag was designed by Sir Mark Sykes of the British Foreign Office, whatever the correct story, the flag was used by Sharif Hussein by 1917 at the latest and quickly became regarded as the flag of the Arab national movement in the Mashriq. On October 18,1948, the flag of the Arab Revolt was adopted, a modified version has been used in Palestine at least since the late 1930s and was officially adopted as the flag of the Palestinian people by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964. On November 15,1988 the PLO adopted the flag as the flag of the State of Palestine, on the ground the flag became widely used since the Oslo Agreements, with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1993. Today the flag is flown widely by Palestinians and their supporters, in 1967, immediately following the Six Day War, the State of Israel banned the Palestinian flag in the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank. A1980 law forbidding artwork of political significance banned artwork composed of its four colours, since the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993, the ban has been abolished
24.
Kingdom of Hejaz
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The Kingdom of Hejaz was a state in the Hejaz region in the Middle East ruled by the Hashemite dynasty. The new kingdom had a life and then was conquered in 1925 by the neighbouring Sultanate of Nejd under a resurgent House of Saud, creating the Kingdom of Hejaz. On 23 September 1932, the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd joined the Saudi dominions of Al-Hasa and Qatif, the Sharif of Mecca was an office appointed by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in their capacity as Caliph. The role went to a member of the Hashemite family, but the Sultans typically used inter-familial rivalry to pick and choose from among contenders and so ensure that the Sharif remained weak. The British already had a series of treaties with other Arab leaders in the region and were fearful that the Hejaz could be used as a base to attack their shipping to. The British though, were compromised by their agreement to give the French control of Syria and did not, in Husseins eyes, nevertheless, they did eventually create Hashemite-ruled kingdoms in Jordan and Iraq alongside Hejaz. Hussein thus refused to conclude a treaty of friendship with the British who then later felt powerless to intervene when another British client, Hussein bin Ali Ali bin Hussein Sharif of Mecca Hashemite History of Saudi Arabia Hejazi dialect T. E. Lawrence Palestinian flag
25.
Central Intelligence Agency
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As one of the principal members of the U. S. Intelligence Community, the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is focused on providing intelligence for the President. Though it is not the only U. S. government agency specializing in HUMINT and it exerts foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Special Activities Division. Despite transferring some of its powers to the DNI, the CIA has grown in size as a result of the September 11 attacks. In 2013, The Washington Post reported that in fiscal year 2010, the CIA has increasingly expanded its roles, including covert paramilitary operations. One of its largest divisions, the Information Operations Center, has shifted focus from counter-terrorism to offensive cyber-operations, when the CIA was created, its purpose was to create a clearinghouse for foreign policy intelligence and analysis. Today its primary purpose is to collect, analyze, evaluate, and disseminate foreign intelligence, warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, with Pakistan described as an intractable target. Counterintelligence, with China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, the Executive Office also supports the U. S. military by providing it with information it gathers, receiving information from military intelligence organizations, and cooperates on field activities. The Executive Director is in charge of the day to day operation of the CIA, each branch of the military service has its own Director. The Directorate has four regional groups, six groups for transnational issues. There is a dedicated to Iraq, regional analytical offices covering the Near East and South Asia, Russia and Europe, and the Asian Pacific, Latin American. The Directorate of Operations is responsible for collecting intelligence. The name reflects its role as the coordinator of intelligence activities between other elements of the wider U. S. intelligence community with their own HUMINT operations. This Directorate was created in an attempt to end years of rivalry over influence, philosophy, in spite of this, the Department of Defense recently organized its own global clandestine intelligence service, the Defense Clandestine Service, under the Defense Intelligence Agency. This Directorate is known to be organized by regions and issues. The Directorate of Science & Technology was established to research, create, many of its innovations were transferred to other intelligence organizations, or, as they became more overt, to the military services. For example, the development of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was done in cooperation with the United States Air Force, the U-2s original mission was clandestine imagery intelligence over denied areas such as the Soviet Union. It was subsequently provided with signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence capabilities, subsequently, NPIC was transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
26.
Flags of the World
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Flags of the World is an Internet-based vexillological association and resource. Its principal project is the Internets largest website devoted to vexillology, containing information about all kinds of flags. The mailing list began as a group in about September 1993, while the website was founded by Giuseppe Bottasini in late 1994. FotW became the 56th member of the FIAV in 2001, both the website and the mailing list operate in the English language, though there are members from around the world and as such information from many languages is translated and included. The mailing list is monitored by the FOTW Listmaster, while work on the website is coordinated by the FOTW Editorial Director, the website is updated once a week with fresh material, some mirrors update monthly. Due to the amount of material there is an editing backlog. There are also some mirrors that have not been updated for varying periods of time, the source for material on the FOTW website are contributions to the FOTW mailing list, which has over 1000 members, of which some 100 are active contributors. The mailing list has notable minorities of Portuguese, French, Dutch, a staff of three unpaid volunteers manages and moderates the list. An affiliated Flags of the World Facebook group has established, inaugurated by Edward Mooney. As of November 2016 the group is run and moderated by a team of ten administrators, FOTW displays standardized flag images in GIF format, usually at a height of 216 pixels. While the GIF file format is capable of displaying 256 colours, the organizations flag is a design by Mark Sensen, which was selected over 10 challengers in a poll of FOTW mailing list members and was adopted 8 March 1996. Since then, March 8 has been regarded as FOTWs Flag day, Sensen described its symbolism, White on the hoist stands for peace, blue on the fly for progress. The six colours of the stars are the colours used in flags. The stars help to make one bigger symbol, the way the stars are all connected to each other represents the Internet. The flag is used as a rare representation of the Internet on a flag. List of flags List of flags by country Gallery of country flags Flags of the World Dictionary of Vexillology Flag Days Of The World FOTW mailing list
27.
Flag of Algeria
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The national flag of Algeria consists of two equal vertical bars, green and white, charged in the center with a red star and crescent. The flag was adopted on 3 July 1962, a similar version was used by the Algerian government in exile from 1958–1962. The Western blazon is per pale Vert and Argent, a crescent, Algerian ships fly it as their ensign, except for ships of the Algerian National Navy, which use one charged with two white crossed anchors in the canton as the naval ensign. Formerly, the two crossed anchors in the canton were red, according to algeria-un.411 and the position 600 on the normal spectre. Algeria at Flags of the World http, //www. flagscorner. com/algeria-flag/
28.
Flag of Bahrain
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The national flag of Bahrain consists of a white band on the left, separated from a red area on the right by five triangles that serve as a serrated line. The five white triangles symbolize the 5 pillars of Islam and it is sometimes mistaken for the flag of Qatar, but that flag is maroon, not red, has more points, and normally has a much greater length-to-width ratio. The white color comprises 13⁄40 of the area, while the red color comprises 27⁄40 of the area. The color specification is red, Pantone 186 c / CMYK C0 – M90 – Y80 – K5 The flag is used on land and at sea as a national, civil and war ensign. In 2002, the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, article II, The King shall have his own flag, for which a royal order shall be issued to determine its shape, measures, and places. Article III, The Flag of the Kingdom of Bahrain shall be hoisted on the Royal Court, Palaces, governmental buildings, public establishments, embassies, Bahraini bureaus abroad, and Bahraini ships. Article V, The Flag shall be hoisted on governmental buildings, public institutions during public holidays, article VI, The Flag of the Kingdom of Bahrain shall not be hoisted on vehicles, except on the official protocol vehicles. Article VII, The Flag of the Kingdom of Bahrain shall be hoisted half mast at the state of mourning, article VIII, The Flag of the Kingdom of Bahrain shall not be used for commercial purposes. The earliest known flags of Bahrain were plain red, in 1932, a serrated edge was added to the flag in order to differentiate it from those of its neighbours. The flag originally had twenty-eight white points, but this was reduced to eight in 1972, on 14 February 2002, the number was again reduced to five, so that each of the points could stand for one of the Five Pillars of Islam
29.
Flag of Chad
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The national flag of Republic of Chad is a vertical tricolor consisting of a blue, a gold and a red field. The basic design is the same as that of the flag of Romania, the flag of Chad is a vertical tricolour consisting of a blue, a gold and a red column. These were intended to be a combination of the colours of blue, white and red as seen on the Flag of France with the Pan-African colours of green, yellow and red. Furthermore, the blue represents the sky and hope, the gold is the sun and desert, the flag was adopted by law #59/13 for the autonomous republic and retained on independence in 1960, and in the constitution of 1962. Despite many political upheavals within Chad since independence, the flag has not been changed and this may be because the flag is not associated with any of the main power rivals within Chad, which had no sense of national identity before independence, and little after independence. The flag of Chad is almost identical to Romanias flag, during their Communist-era of the second half of the 20th Century, Romanias flag featured an insignia in the middle of the flag on top of the tricolour. The issue of Romania and Chad sharing similar flags has concerned the Chadian government on occasion, in response, Romanian President Ion Iliescu stated to the media, The tricolour belongs to us. We will not give up the tricolour, coat of arms of Chad Chad at Flags of the World
30.
Flag of the Comoros
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The national flag of the Union of the Comoros was designed in 2001 and officially adopted on January 7,2002. It continues to display the crescent and four stars, which is a motif that has been in use in various forms since 1975 during the independence movement. In its constitution, the government of the Comoros refers to the insigne as lemblème national, or the national emblem, the design consists of a white crescent with four white five-pointed stars inside of a green triangle. The flag has four stripes, representing four islands of the nation, yellow is for Mohéli, white is for Mayotte, red is for Anjouan, the four stars on the flag also symbolize the four islands of the Comoros. The star and crescent symbol stands for Islam, which is the major religion. The first official flag of Comoros was designed and adopted for use in 1963 by Suzanne Gauthier. It had a crescent at upper hoist facing the fly, four stars in a diagonal. This design continued to be used after independence in 1975, the flag changed in 1975 under Ali Soilih. The crescent was moved and the stars were rearranged into a diamond, two thirds of the flag became red and symbolized the regimes socialist ideology. When Ahmed Abdallah was returned to the presidency in 1978, the flag changed again and it returned to being completely green, with the crescent moving to the center of the flag and the stars forming a line between its horns. Information about the proportions of this variant suggest either a 1,2,2,3, with the adoption of a new constitution in 1992, the flag changed again such that the crescent and stars were rotated to face upward rather than down and to the right. The adoption of yet another constitution chaned the flag again in 1996, rotating the flag to face the fly and adding an inscription to the lower hoist. The inscriptions are writen in simplified Arabic with the former reading Muhammed, the proportions of this flag was reported to be 21,15. This flag was changed by referendum in 2001 to the modern one, star and crescent Comoros Comoros at Flags of the World
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Flag of Djibouti
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The national flag of Djibouti was adopted on 27 June 1977, following the countrys independence from France. No clan are mentioned in the national anthem, before the establishment of French Somaliland, the flag of the Sultanate of Tajoura was the only ensign used in the territory. The flag of Djibouti was later created in 1972, adopted in 1977, the national flag was an adaptation of the flag of the Ligue Populaire Africaine pour lIndependence, a political party that led Djibouti to independence. The LPAI flag had a red triangle with a white star, for the national flag, the star was placed in an upright rather than a slanted position, and the proportions of the flag were lengthened. White, green, and light blue are the colors of the LPAI, the flag of Djibouti was raised for the first time upon independence on 27 June 1977, by the head of police Yacine Yabeh Galab. It is today flown on governmental buildings. The flag of Djibouti features two horizontal bands of blue and green, with a white isosceles triangle based on the hoist side. The triangle bears a red star in its centre, which represents unity, each colour symbolizes something different, namely, the earth, the sea and sky, peace, and unity. The light blue represents the Sky, and the green represents the green of the earth. The red star signifies the unity of the state, the following are the flags historically used in the territory of present-day Djibouti, History of Djibouti Djibouti CIA World Factbook - Djibouti Djibouti at Flags of the World
32.
Flag of Egypt
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The flag of Egypt is a tricolour consisting of the three equal horizontal red, white, and black bands of the Arab Liberation flag dating back to the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. The flag bears Egypts national emblem, the Eagle of Saladin centered in the white band, the Free Officers who toppled King Farouk in the Revolution of 1952 assigned specific symbolism to each of the three bands of the Arab Liberation flag. The red band symbolizes the period before the Revolution, a characterized by the struggle against the monarchy. The white band symbolizes the nature of the Revolution itself. The black band symbolizes the end of the oppression of the Egyptian people at the hands of the monarchy, Egypts use of the Arab Liberation flag inspired its adoption by a number of other Arab states. The same horizontal tricolour is used by Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, the development of the modern Egyptian flag was determined first by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, under whom Egypt was united with Sudan, and later by the rise of Arab nationalism. When Muhammad Ali successfully seized power in Egypt, the country was officially an Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire, however, throughout his reign, and that of his sons and grandsons, Egypt enjoyed virtual independence as a Khedivate. The meaning of the three stars and crescents has been suggested that this was to symbolise the victory of his armies in three continents, and his own sovereignty over Egypt, Sudan, and Hejaz. The similarity with the flag of the Ottoman Empire was deliberate, as Muhammad Ali harbored grandiose ambitions of deposing the Ottoman dynasty, Egypt retained this flag even after formal Ottoman sovereignty was terminated in 1914, when Egypt was declared to be a sultanate, and a British protectorate. After the Urabi Revolt in 1882, British forces occupied the country and this reached a peak in the Revolution of 1919, when both the red flag introduced by Muhammad Ali, and a special green banner bearing a crescent and cross were used in protests against the British. In 1922, Britain agreed to formally recognize Egyptian independence, but only on the condition that the Sultan of Egypt, Fuad I, change his title to King. Upon so doing, the now King Fuad issued a Royal Decree formally adopting a new flag of a white crescent with three white stars on a green background in it. It has also suggested that the three stars represented the three religious communities of the country, Muslims, Christians and Jews. This earlier version of the eagle differs somewhat from the one later adopted, in 1958, Egypt and Syria united as the United Arab Republic and adopted a national flag based on the Arab Liberation flag, with two green stars replacing the Eagle of Saladin in the white band. A modified version of the Eagle of Saladin was adopted as the UARs coat of arms. Though Syria withdrew from the U. A. R. in 1961, Egypt continued to use the name of the United Arab Republic until 1971. In 1972, when Egypt formed the Federation of Arab Republics along with Syria, and Libya, the U. A. R. flag was replaced by a common flag for the Federation, once again based on the Arab Liberation flag. The two green stars in the band were replaced by the Hawk of Qureish, which had been the coat of arms of Syria prior to the formation of the U. A. R. in 1958
33.
Flag of Iraq
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The flag of Iraq includes the three equal horizontal red, white, and black stripes of the Arab Liberation flag. This basic tricolor has been in use since 1963, with changes to the green symbols in the central white stripe. The first flag of modern Iraq was the Kingdom of Iraq and it was a black-white-green horizontal flag, with a red trapezoid extending from the mast side, inspired by the flag of the Arab Revolt. Two seven-point white stars on the triangle denoted the two peoples of the kingdom, the Arabs and the Kurds. The design also reflected the newly installed Hashemite Dynasty in Iraq, as such, it was similar to the flags of Hashemite Jordan, and the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz. Prior to Iraqi independence in 1932, this flag was used by the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Today, it is used by pro-Hashemite monarchists in Iraq, in 1958, in response to the merger of Egypt and Syria in the United Arab Republic, the two Hashemite kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan established the Arab Federation, a confederation of the two states. The flag of the union was essentially that of Jordan but without seven pointed star in the red chevron and this flag is identical to the flag of Palestine adopted in 1964, and almost identical to the flag of the Baath Party. The union lasted less than six months, being terminated by the Iraqi Revolution of 1958 in July, the black, white, green, and red are the pan-Arab colours, representing pan-Arabism, while the yellow sun represented the Kurdish minority. In addition, the red star was used to represent Iraqs ancient heritage, after Qassim was overthrown by the Baath Party in 1963, the new Baathist government adopted a modified version of the Arab Liberation flag as the new flag of Iraq on 31 July 1963. This horizontal tricolour of red, white, and black bands formed the basis of the flag of the United Arab Republic, though the UAR broke up in 1961, hopes for Arab unity persisted. Sharing this goal, Syria adopted the new Iraqi flag as its own later that same year and this remained the flag of Syria until 1971, when the green stars were replaced by the Hawk of Qureish. The Iraqi Flag Law No.28 of 1963 was replaced by Flag Law No, on 13 January 1991, the flag was modified by Flag Law No.6 of 1991. At the instigation of Saddam Hussein, the takbīr was added in green between the stars, the form of the takbīr was said to be Saddams own handwriting. As with other flags inscribed with Arabic script, the hoist is to the right of the obverse of the flag. The basic form of the flag was retained, however. The modified flag was unveiled at the marking the technical handover of power from the Coalition Provisional Authority occupation forces to the U. S. -appointed administration on 28 June 2004. On 22 January 2008, a new design for the flag was confirmed by Law 9 of 2008, in this current version, the three stars were removed
34.
Flag of Kuwait
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The flag of Kuwait was adopted on September 7,1961, and officially hoisted November 24,1961. Before 1961, the flag of Kuwait was red and white, like those of other Persian Gulf states at the time, with the field being red, until 1899, the flag consisted solely of a red field. Between 1915 and 1956, the crescent and star were removed, the present flag is in the Pan-Arab colours, but each colour is also significant in its own right. Black represents the defeat of the enemy, while red is the colour of blood on the Kuwaiti swords, white symbolizes purity, and green is for the fertile land. Vertically, The black stripe should be on the side of the flag. In 2005, it became the design of the worlds largest kite at a size of 1019 square metres. It was made in New Zealand by Peter Lynn, launched to the public for the first time in 2004 in the United Kingdom, officially launched in Kuwait in 2005, the current Amir of Kuwait is not known to have a personal royal standard. It is a possibility that he uses the flag as his own. In photographs he appears with the flag with a golden fringe. Formerly the flag of the Amir was the one with a yellow crown on the green stripe. Kuwait at Flags of the World Naval Jack
35.
Flag of Lebanon
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The flag of Lebanon is formed of two horizontal red stripes enveloping a horizontal white stripe. The white stripe is to be two times a red one —a Spanish fess, the green cedar in the middle touches each of the red stripes and its width is one third of the width of the flag. Presence and position of the Cedar in the middle of the flag is inspired by the mountains of Lebanon cedar. The Cedar is a symbol of holiness, eternity and peace, as an emblem of longevity, the cedar of Lebanon has its origin in many biblical references. They know the history of the earth, better than the story itself, antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who loved the cedars and also had visited Lebanon in 1935, wrote in his work Citadel he peace is a long growing tree. We need, as the cedar, to rock its unity, for the Lebanese, the cedar is a symbol of hope, freedom and memory. In 1920, in a text of the proclamation of the State of Greater Lebanon, it was said, although oppressed, never conquered, the cedar is its rallying. By the union, it will break all attacks, the white color on the flag represents the snow as a symbol of purity and peace. The two red stripes refer to the Lebanese blood shed to preserve the country against the successive invaders, according to the Article 5 of the constitution of Lebanon, The Lebanese flag shall be composed of three horizontal stripes, a white stripe between two red ones. The width of the white stripe shall be equal to that of red stripes. In the center of and occupying one-third of the stripe is a green cedar tree with its top touching the upper red strip. It was similar to the flag of France but with a green cedar in the middle. The present Lebanese flag was adopted just prior to independence from France in 1943, seeking independence, the actual flag was first drawn by member of parliament Henri Pharaon in the Chamber of deputies Saeb Salams house in Mousaitbeh by the deputies of the Lebanese parliament. It was adopted on December 7,1943, during a meeting in the parliament, and the green cedar in the middle of the white part touches each of the red stripes is added because Lebanon is sometimes metonymically referred to as the Land of the Cedars. The Austrian flag is the second oldest in the world, dating to the 13th century when it first probably appeared after the Siege of Acre during the Third Crusade
36.
Flag of Libya
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The flag of Libya was originally introduced in 1951, following the creation of the Kingdom of Libya. The flag of the Kingdom of Libya was adopted when Libya gained full independence in 1951 and it consisted of a white star and crescent on a triband red-black-green design, with the central black band being twice the width of the outer bands. The design was based on the banner of the Senussi dynasty from Cyrenaica, which consisted of a field and star and crescent design. According to Pelt, during deliberations of the Libyan National Constitutional Convention, the design was composed of three colors, red, black and green, with a white Crescent and Star centered in the middle black stripe. Mr. Shennib informed the delegates that this design had met the approval of His Highness Emir of Cyrenaica, the assembly subsequently approved that design. This flag represented Libya from its independence in 1951 until the 1969 Libyan coup détat and it brings back to our minds the story of Hijra of our Prophet Mohammed from his home in order to spread Islam and teach the principles of right and virtue. The Star represents our hope, the beauty of aim and object. In 2011, interviews with Ibtisam Shennib and Amal Omar Shennib, the star and crescent were placed within the black central strip of the flag as a reference to the Senussi flag and the role of King Idris in leading the country to independence. The National Transitional Council, formed on 27 February 2011, adopted the previously used in the Kingdom of Libya between 1951 and 1969 as the emblem of the Libyan Republic. On 10 March 2011, France was the first country to recognize the council as the government of Libya. In the following many other Libyan embassies replaced the green flag of Gaddafi with the tricolor flag. All Libyan diplomatic posts, such as embassies and consulates, use the flag of Libya. The flag of Libya is described in Article 7 of the Constitution of 7 October 1951 and it was officially adopted on 24 December 1951. Both the precise shade and legal construction is described in an issued by the Ministry of Information. The passage reads, The exact particulars of the Libyan National Flag prescribed by Article 7 of the Constitution shall be as follows, The red shall be red. The Crescent shall be on the side of the star. The star shall be in the end of the crescent. The maximum width of the 270 crescent shall equal 1⁄6 of its outside diameter which is 1⁄4 of the width of the flag
37.
Flag of Mauritania
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The flag of Mauritania is the common name for the national flag of Mauritania in north-west Africa. The flag was adopted on April 1,1959 and it was introduced under the instructions of Moktar Ould Daddah, and the subsequent constitution of 22 March 1959. It is almost unique among national flags as it not contain any of the three most common flag colours, red, white, or blue – a distinction only shared with Jamaica. The colors green and gold are considered Pan-African colors, green is also used to symbolize Islam, and the gold for the sands of the Sahara desert. The crescent and star are symbols of Islam, which is the religion in the nation. Some writers have speculated that green symbolises a bright future. There is no official specification or construction sheet for the exact measurements of the star and crescent. The design acts as the flag of Mauritania, and is also used in circular form as an aircraft roundel. However, the flag has its basis in the earlier constitution of 22 March 1959. A Referendum scheduled for January 2017 by the President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz contained amidst others constitutional amendments a modification of the national flag. Two red bands would be added, one on the upper side, the referendum was canceled by the government on 30 December 2016, judging it too expensive in a difficult economic context. The Parliament would have called into Congress to vote on the proposed reforms. Seal of Mauritania Mauritania at Flags of the World
38.
Flag of Morocco
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The flag of Morocco is made of a red field with a black-bordered green pentagram representing the Seal of Solomon. Red has considerable significance in Morocco, proclaiming the descent of the royal Alaouite family from the Islamic prophet Muhammad via Fatimah, the wife of Ali. Red is also the color that was used by the sharifs of Mecca, from the 17th century on, when Morocco was ruled by the Alaouite dynasty, the flags of the country were plain red. In 1915, during the reign of Mulay Yusef, the green interlaced pentangle was added to the national flag, while Morocco was under French and Spanish control, the red flag with the seal in the center remained in use, but only inland. Its use at sea was prohibited, when independence was restored in 1955, it once again became the national flag. On May 8,2010, a Moroccan flag with a size of 60,409.78 square metres, weighing 20 tonnes, was set in Dakhla and it was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest flag ever draped
39.
Flag of Oman
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The national flag of Oman consists of three stripes with a red bar on the left that contains the national emblem of Oman. Until 1975, Oman used the red banner of the indigenous people. In 1970, the Sultan introduced a new set of national flags. Bands of green and white were added to the fly, and the national emblem and this depicts crossed swords over a khanjar, a traditional curved dagger. White has been associated historically with the Imam, the leader of Oman. Green is traditionally associated with the Jabal al Akdar, or Green Mountains, red is a common color in Gulf state flags. The national emblem is said to back to the 18th century. A curved dagger is fastened over a pair of crossed swords, an ornate horsebit links the weapons. Between 1970 and 1995, the size of the band of the triband was slimmer than the other two, making up approximately one fifth of its height, the other bands two-fifths. The naval ensign shows a field, with the Oman in the canton or top-left quarter. The standard of the Sultan of Oman shows a red fly, with a green border whose width is about one-sixth of the height of the flag and it bears the countrys emblem as a charge in the center, colored gold. Oman at Flags of the World
40.
Flag of Qatar
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The flag of Qatar is in the ratio of 11,28. It is maroon with a broad white serrated band on the hoist side and it was adopted shortly before the countrys declaration of independence from Britain on September 3,1971. The flag is similar to the flag of the neighbouring country Bahrain, which has fewer points, a 3,5 proportion. Qatars flag is the national flag having a width more than twice its height. Qatars historic flag was red, in correspondence with the red banner traditionally used by the Kharjite Muslims. In the 19th century, the country modified its entirely red flag with the addition of a vertical stripe at the hoist to suit the British directive. After this addition, Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani officially adopted a patterned purple-red, several additions were made to the Qatari flag in 1932, with the nine-pointed serrated edge, diamonds and the word Qatar being integrated in its design. The maroon color was standardized in 1949, in the 1960s, Sheikh Ali Al Thani removed the wording and diamonds from the flag. The flag was adopted on July 9,1971 and was virtually identical to the 1960s flag. Nine serrated edges separate the colored and white portions and they signify Qatars inclusion as the 9th member of the reconciled Emirates of the Persian Gulf at the conclusion of the Qatari-British treaty in 1916. The shade of Qatars colored portion is referred to as Qatar maroon, the history of purple dye in the country dates back several centuries. It has been asserted that Qatar was the site of the earliest known production of shellfish dye during the rule of the Kassites due to the presence of a purple dye industry on Al Khor Islands. Qatar was also known for its production of purple dye during the rule of the Sasanian Empire. Mohammed bin Thani, who ruled from 1847 to 1876, proposed the creation a flag with a color in order to unify the state. In 1932, the British Navy suggested an official flag should be designed and they proposed that the flag be white and red, but Qatar rejected the red coloring and continued using a mixture of purple and red instead. Due to the countrys subtropical desert climate, the colors were prone to being tinted darker by the sun. The white portion of the flag symbolizes the peace procured from signing anti-piracy treaties with the British, Qatar National Day Flag of Qatar Qatar at Flags of the World
41.
Flag of Saudi Arabia
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The flag of Saudi Arabia is the flag used by the government of Saudi Arabia since March 15,1973. It is a flag featuring in white an Arabic inscription. The inscription is the Islamic creed, or shahada, the green of the flag represents Islam and the sword stands for the strictness in applying justice. The flag is manufactured with identical obverse and reverse sides, to ensure the shahada reads correctly, from right to left, the sword points to the left on both sides, in the direction of the script. The flag is hoisted, meaning that it is hoisted to the left of the flagpole. The flags green is Pantone 349 C Because the shahada is considered holy, Saudi Arabia protested against its inclusion on a planned football to be issued by FIFA, bearing all the flags of the participants of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Saudi officials said that kicking the creed with the foot was completely unacceptable, the flag is never lowered to half-mast as a sign of mourning, because lowering it would be considered blasphemous. Similarly, the flags of Afghanistan, Somaliland, and Iraq are also never at half-mast The normal flag cannot be hoisted vertically according to Saudi legislation. Special vertical flags are manufactured both the inscription and the emblem are rotated, although this is rare, as most Arab countries traditionally do not hoist flags vertically. The Al Saud, the family of Saudi Arabia, has long been closely associated with the Wahhabi religious movement. The Wahhabis, since the 18th century, had used the shahada on their flags, in 1902 Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Saud, leader of the Al Saud and the future founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, added a sword to this flag. The design of the flag was not standardized prior to March 15,1973, by 1938, the flag had basically assumed its present form, except the sword had a different design and it, along with the shahada above, took up more of the flags space. The precursor states to Saudi Arabia were Nejd and Hejaz, the state flag of Nejd followed todays Saudi flag pattern very closely. The state of Hijaz followed the patterns seen in countries like Palestine, from 1744 a crescent was present. From 1902 until 1921 a different Arabic inscription was used, one of the primary opponents to the Saudis was the Al Rashid family in the north of the peninsula, until their defeat in 1921. The civil ensign, for use by merchant vessels at sea, is a flag with the state flag in the canton with a white border. The royal standard is the flag with the palm tree. Saudi Arabia at Flags of the World World Flags Information, Saudi Arabian page Saudi Arabian flag and associated information
42.
Flag of Western Sahara
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It has been used since the disengagement of the Spanish forces in 1976, when the Polisario proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, as the state that represents the territory. The flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a combination of the Pan-Arab colors of black, green, white, and red, on 27 February 1976 the flag was adopted as the official flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. It was slightly modified in June 1991 and it is said to be designed by El Uali Mustapha Sayed, the first president of the SADR. This flag is referred to as the flag of Western Sahara. The flag is a tricolor of three horizontal stripes overlaid by a red triangle issuing from the hoist. There is a red star and crescent in the middle stripe, the flag is extremely similar to the flags of the Baath Party, Jordan, Palestine, and the Arab Federation all of which draw their inspiration from the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule. Prior to being the flag of Palestine, it was the flag of the short lived Arab Federation of Iraq, the flag of the Arab Revolt had the same graphic form, but the colours were arranged differently. Its design is based on that of the Palestinian flag, which in turn was derived from the used in the Arab Revolt. The star and crescent are considered symbols of Islam, and can be seen on flags of other neighbouring Islamic countries such as Algeria and Mauritania, Morocco has not adopted a flag for Western Sahara and uses the national flag of Morocco. On May 8,2010, a Moroccan flag with a size of 60,409.78 meters squared and it was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest flag ever draped until it was bested by a Lebanese flag. In the late 19th-century, Western Sahara became a Spanish colony, after the Madrid Accords of 1975, Spain disengaged itself leaving the territory to Morocco and Mauritania, who split the territory, giving two thirds to the former. The Polisario Front rejected this and declared in exile, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as the representing a independent Western Sahara. In 1979, Mauritania signed a treaty with the Polisario front. A U. N. -brokered ceasefire was signed in 1991 between the two parties, but the sovereignty of the territory remains unresolved pending ongoing peace-talks, in the 1976–1997 provincial division of Morocco, three provinces included parts of Western Sahara. The provinces were, however, reorganized in 1997, consequently, some of these flags are no longer in official use. Flag of Morocco Coats of arms of Western Sahara Gallery of flags with crescents Western Sahara at Flags of the World
43.
Flag of Somalia
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The Flag of Somalia, also known as the Somali Flag, is the official flag of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Adopted on October 12,1954, it was designed by Mohammed Awale Liban the flag was used for the nascent Somali Republic and it was originally conceived and serves as an ethnic flag for the Somali people. The flag of Somalia was created in 1954 during the trusteeship period of the nations history. It was personally designed by the Somali scholar Mohammed Awale Liban, the flag was first used in the Trust Territory of Somaliland and the short-lived, which united on July 1,1960, to form the Somali Republic. The Somali flags light blue backdrop was originally influenced by the flag of the United Nations, however, it now officially denotes the sky as well as the Indian Ocean, which flanks the country. The flags blazon, or heraldic description, is, Azure, a mullet Argent
44.
Flag of Somaliland
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The flag of Somaliland is used in Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia. Having established its own government in 1991, the regions self-declared independence remains unrecognized by any country or international organization. It contains the Pan-Arab colors of green, black, white, on the green stripe, there is the Sunni Shahada in white script, similar to that of the Saudi Arabian flag. The Constitution of Somaliland, as approved on May 31,2001, by referendum, Article 7, The Flag, the Emblem, the government set out principles on how to use the flag. It should be treated with respect and used carefully and sensitivity. Because the Shahada has huge importance in Islam, the first pillar of Islam etc and it is forbidden for Somalis to fly the flag at half mast because it has the Shahada written on it so it will be an un-Islamic and disrespectful way to treat the flag. Even if the President or someone with a high Somaliland governmental status dies, moreover, if a person is seen lowering the flag at half-mast, they might be taken to jail or to court and it would be considered as a criminal offense. Similar rules, for the reason, also apply to the flags of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia. Although the aforementioned Article 7 clearly states that the bottom of the flag is red, another variation is the orientation of the star, many Somaliland flags have the star pointing the opposite direction from other flags, this upside-down star version is used quite widely. Some flags have a green band, without the Shahada, hence may be exempt from the half-mast rule. Most Somaliland flags are of the ratio 2,1 and it is based on the official ratio of the Union Flag of the United Kingdom, the former colonial power. Pictures of flags on the internet etc. often erroneously show a shorter flag, when the British annexed and occupied northwestern present-day Somalia in 1903, they established a protectorate and made it part of the British Empire. The British adopted a new flag for the region, like many Commonwealth countries, the flag had a defaced Blue Ensign, a blue field with the Union Flag in the upper hoist quarter of the flag. There was an image of a Kudu on a white disc, the flag was flown on ships owned by residents of British Somaliland or on government buildings in the territory. In 1950 The Protectorate of British Somalilands badge and flag changed, the flag still had the Union flag on the quarter-hoist. The Kudus head and shoulders were retained and taken off to form the most dominant feature on the new arms, between its horns, the Royal crown was inserted to symbolize the Royal family and the British Empire in general. The green portion contained an image of a white minaret, moreover, on the blue quarter, an Arabian dhow in full sail on waves of the sea, with a golden anchor in the base. The Kudus head was facing forward to the observer instead of facing left on the earlier version, above, the Kudu was the Royal Crown between the horns
45.
Flag of Sudan
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The flag of Sudan was adopted on May 20,1970, and consists of a horizontal red-white-black tricolor, with a green triangle at the hoist. The flag is based on the Arab Liberation Flag shared by Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, prior to the 1969 military coup of Gaafar Nimeiry, a blue-yellow-green tricolor design was used. According to World Flags 101, Red, white, black and green are called the colors and have been historically linked to the Arab people. The colors stand for Arab unity and independence, the red stripe represents Sudans struggle for independence and many other struggles, and the sacrifices of the countrys martyrs. The white represents peace, light and optimism and it also represents the White Flag League which was a nationalist group that rose up against colonial rule in 1924. The black represents Sudan, in Arabic Sudan means black and it also represents the black flag of nationalists who fought colonial rule during the Mahdist Revolution, late in 19th century. Green represents Islam, agriculture and the prosperity of the land, in 1881, at the beginning of the Mahdist War, the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad appointed Abdallahi ibn Muhammad as one of his four caliphs and handed him a black flag. Abdallahi used his black flag to recruit Baggara Arabs and other tribes from the west, the other caliphs used differently colored flags. The black horizontal stripe in the current Sudanese flag is a reference to this Mahdist-era black flag, between 1899 and 1956, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was administered jointly as a condominium by Egypt and the United Kingdom. The condominium did not have its own flag, instead the flag of Egypt, a flag did exist as a rank flag for the British Governor General of the Sudan. As no badge or coat of arms existed for Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, upon independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom on 1 January 1956, Sudan adopted a blue-yellow-green tricolor as its national flag. This flag remained in use until 1970, when the current flag was adopted, the colours of the flag represented the River Nile, the Sahara Desert and farmlands. They were chosen as they were neutral between ethnic groups and political parties, Sudan Emblem of Sudan Flag of South Sudan Sudan at Flags of the World
46.
Flag of Syria
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As a result of the ongoing Syrian civil war, there are currently two governments claiming to be the de jure government of Syria, using different flags to represent the state. The current flag was first adopted in 1958 to represent Syria as part of the United Arab Republic, since its first adoption, variations of the red-white-black flag have been used in various Arab Unions of Syria with Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Iraq. Although Syria is not part of any Arab state union, the flag of the United Arab Republic was readopted to show Syrias commitment to Arab unity. The usage of the flag has become disputed because it is associated with the Baath Party and has come to represent parties loyal to Assads government in the Syrian civil war. The Syrian flag is described in Article 6 of the Syrian Constitution, the first paragraph of the Article states, The flag of the Syrian Arab Republic consists of three colours, red, white and black, with two green stars, of five angles each. The flag is rectangular, with its width measuring two thirds of its length and it is divided into three rectangles of identical dimensions and have the same length as the flag. The upper one is red, the middle being white and the one is black. The modified independence flag began to be used as a display of the protesting opposition in late 2011. The opposition wanted to distinguish themselves from the current Syrian government, khaled Kamal, an official from the Syrian National Council, now believes this flag to also represent independence and the end of Bashar al-Assads government. Today the flag is used in areas controlled by the Syrian National Coalition. The use of the independence flag is similar to the Libyan rebels use of the pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag from the era of the Kingdom of Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafis green flag. The original 1,2 aspect ratio flag has been used by the opposition unofficially on several occasions, the first native Syrian flag was that of the short-lived Kingdom of Syria. The Ottoman flag had been used in Syria until Ottomans left the country on 18 September 1918, in 1918, the official flag of Syria was the Faysal flag, the flag of the Arab revolt between 1916 and 1918. It was officially adopted by the Hashemite family on 30 September 1918, the Faysal flag was then redesigned with the 7-pointed white star and was in use until 24 July 1920. This flag was, however, was adopted by Jordan somewhat later, the kingdom lasted for just over 4 months in 1920 before being occupied by France and formally incorporated into the French colonial empire for some 12 years. The last French troops left Syria in August 1946, the Faysal flag was abandoned with the arrival of French colonials to Syria. The French High Commissioner for Syria, General Henri Gouraud adopted the new flag of the French Mandate of Syria on 24 July 1920, gourauds flag was in use until 1 September 1920, after which Syria was split into separate territories, each eventually given its own flag. The Prime Minister of Syria under French Mandate, Jamil al-Ulshi and this flag was in use until 1930
47.
Flag of Tunisia
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The red and white flag of Tunisia, adopted as national flag in 1959, has its origins the naval ensign of the Kingdom of Tunis adopted in 1831 by Al-Husayn II ibn Mahmud. The star and crescent recalls the Ottoman flag and is therefore an indication of Tunisias history as a part of the Ottoman Empire, the current official design dates to 1999. Until the mid-18th century, the design and significance of maritime flags flying on ships in Tunis were unknown, thereafter, and until the early 19th century, the flag was composed of horizontal blue, red and green stripes, identifying the Ottoman regency in Tunis. According to Ottfried Neubecker, the bey of Tunis also had his own flag. This flag was most likely a simple personal banner of the ruler, as it floated above the Bardo Palace, the Citadel of Tunis, on navy ships, and also in the center of the coat of arms in Tunisia. It was used at a number of public ceremonies—including at the proclamation of the Ottoman constitution on 21 March 1840—until the abolition of the Bey monarchy on 25 July 1957. Featured in the center of the stripe was the Zulfiqar, the legendary Islamic sword of Ali, with the blade in white. The red and yellow stripes each contained five equidistant symbols, whose order was alternated between each stripe, 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 is identical to the first, with the exception that the star in its center is white, while the fourth stripe is identical to the second stripe. Several Muslim countries along the south coast of the Mediterranean Sea used a red flag similar to the flag of the Ottoman Empire, during the era of the French protectorate in Tunisia, French authorities did not change the Tunisian flag. In the same vein, vexillologist Whitney Smith stated that the addition of the French flag was modification of the unofficial Tunisian national flag and he added, Tunisia, a French protectorate, retained its national flag on land and at sea. Nevertheless, in the late 19th Century or early 20th Century an unofficial version of the flag was used with the tricolor canton, in 1925 a formal proposal was made to adopt that flag as official, but no action was taken. That flag, featured on the cover of issue, does not appear to have been illustrated in any vexillological source. 99-56 of 30 June 1999, adopted on 3 July by the Chamber of Deputies, formalized the Tunisian flag for the first time in law, the flag is in the form of a red rectangle with a width equal to two-thirds of its length. In the middle of the flag is a disk whose diameter is equal to one-third of the length of the rectangle. A red five-pointed star is located to the right of the disk, the location of the stars five points is determined by an imaginary disk centered on the stars center, its diameter equal to roughly 15% the length of the flag. The points of the star are equidistant from each other, in addition, at the top of the flag used by the President of the Republic, the words for the nation are written in gold. For the Tunisian embassy in France, the red represents the blood of martyrs killed during the Turkish conquest of Tunisia in 1574
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Flag of the United Arab Emirates
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The flag of the United Arab Emirates contains the Pan-Arab colors red, green, white, and black, which symbolize Arabian unity. It was adopted on December 2,1971, merchant ships may fly the alternative civil ensign, a red flag with the national flag in the canton. Each of the seven emirates within the United Arab Emirates has its own flag, except for Fujairah, the flags are derived from the red flags traditionally used by the different Arab emirates around the Persian Gulf. Under the protection of the British Empire from 1820, it was decided to add a field at the hoist of the flag. The same basic pattern can be seen in the flag of Bahrain, the flag of Abu Dhabi is an otherwise plain-red flag with a white canton, i. e. a small white rectangle in the upper hoist of the flag. The flags of Ajman and Dubai are identical and they are both plain red with a white bar at the hoist, i. e. closest to the flag staff. Before 1952, the flag of Fujairah was plain red, in 1952, the emirates name was added to the flag, and a red flag with a white border was adopted as an ensign. This continued to be the flag until Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi abolished the red flag. The flags of Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah are identical as they are ruled by two branches of the same house. They show a red rectangle on a white background. The Flag of Umm al-Quwain consists of a red background, a bar at the hoist similar the flags of Ajman and Dubai. Emblem of the United Arab Emirates Trucial States First raising of the flag on 2 December,1971 United Arab Emirates at Flags of the World
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Flag of Yemen
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The Flag of Yemen was adopted on May 22,1990, the day that North Yemen and South Yemen were unified. The flag is essentially the Arab Liberation Flag of 1952, introduced after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 in which Arab nationalism was a dominant theme. The Arab Liberation Flag served as the inspiration for the flags of both North and South Yemen prior to unification, as well as for the current flags of Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria. According to the description, the red stands for the unity and the bloodshed of martyrs. However, the fact that the design is equivalent to an inversion of the design of the flag of the German Empire has caused some controversy. Before Yemen was unified into the present-day Republic of Yemen in 1990, the North used the flag on the right from 1927 to 1962, when it became the Yemen Arab Republic. The flag of the Yemen Arab Republic was the Arab Liberation Flag with a star in the center of the white band. The flag of the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen in the South was the Arab Liberation Flag with a chevron with a red star next to the hoist. Emblem of Yemen Pan-Arabism Pan-Arab colors Yemen at Flags of the World
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Arab League
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The Arab League, formally the League of Arab States, is a regional organization of Arab countries in and around North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Arabia. It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members, Kingdom of Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. Currently, the League has 22 members, but Syrias participation has been suspended since November 2011, the League has served as a platform for the drafting and conclusion of many landmark documents promoting economic integration. One example is the Joint Arab Economic Action Charter, which outlines the principles for economic activities in the region, each member state has one vote in the League Council, and decisions are binding only for those states that have voted for them. Furthermore, the signing of an agreement on Joint Defence and Economic Cooperation on 13 April 1950 committed the signatories to coordination of military defence measures. In March 2015, the Arab League General Secretary announced the establishment of a Joint Arab Force with the aim of counteracting extremism, the decision was reached while Operation Decisive Storm was intensifying in Yemen. Participation in the project is voluntary, and the army intervenes only at the request of one of the member states. The growing militarization of the region and the increase in violent civil wars as well as terrorist movements are the reason behind the creation of the JAF, financed by the rich Gulf countries. In the early 1970s, the Economic Council of the League of Arab States put forward a proposal to create the Joint Arab Chambers of Commerce across the European states and that led, under the decree of the League of Arab States no. Following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945 and it aimed to be a regional organisation of Arab states with a focus to developing the economy, resolving disputes and coordinating political aims. Other countries later joined the league, each country was given one vote in the council. It was followed by the creation of a defence treaty two years later. A common market was established in 1965, the Arab League member states cover over 13,000,000 km2 and straddles two continents, Africa and Asia. The area largely consists of deserts, such as the Sahara. The area comprises deep forests in southern Arabia and parts of the worlds longest river, the Charter of the Arab League, also known as the Pact of the League of Arab States, is the founding treaty of the Arab League. Adopted in 1945, it stipulates that the League of Arab States shall be composed of the, starting with only six members in 1945, the Arab League now occupies an area spanning around 14 million km² and counts 22 members, and 4 observer states. The 22 members today include three of the largest African countries and the largest country in the Middle East, there was a continual increase in membership during the second half of the 20th century, with an additional 15 Arab states being admitted. Syria was suspended following the 2011 uprising, as of 2016, there are a total of 22 member states
