The national flag of Algeria consists of two equal vertical bars, green and white, charged in the center with a red star and crescent, a symbol of Islam as the nation's prominent faith. The flag was adopted on 3 July 1962. A similar version was used by the Algerian government in exile from 1958 to 1962. The Western blazon is per pale vert and argent; a crescent and star gules.
Description 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.org, cited in 1999, the features of the flag are set down precisely, being described as:
Construction Sheet
Symbolism
There is no disagreement among Algerian, Islamic, and even foreign sources that the reference for the green color is Islamic. Ottoman admiral and ruler of the regency of Algiers Hayreddine Barbarossa adopted this color as an Islamic emblem in his wars against the Christian powers. The same color was later adopted by Algerian corsair Raïs Hamidou, and later by the leader of the Algerian resistance Emir Abdelkader, and the chief of the 1871 Kabyle uprising Hadj Mokrani. In the twentieth century, it was again taken up by the Algerians who demonstrated in the city of Skikda in 1910. It also appeared in the banner raised following the uprising in southern Constantine in 1917. In 1920 the French deputy Motier referred to it when addressing the Algerian-French elected representatives, saying: “Your policy will drive the Muslims to gather behind their green flag.” The Étoile Nord-Africaine later adopted it in 1934, and key national figure Messali Hadj considered this color to be the flag of Islam.
The color red carries the meaning of jihad. According to Professor Abdeljelil Temimi, the origin of this choice goes back to the Rightly Guided Caliphs and then specifically to Caliph Umar. Red was the color of the flags of the Ottoman Sipahi cavalry in early modern times. It is also worth noting in European sources that the red hat called "fez" remained a symbol of the Islamic caliphate until its fall after the First World War and adorned the heads of millions of people across the Islamic world. Hadj Messali remained faithful to this tradition until his death.
The white color is also religious and related to jihad. The Prophet Muhammad gave a white banner to the Companion Mus‘ab ibn ‘Umayr at the Battle of Badr. In modern times, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I used flags combining red and white when he conquered Egypt in 1517. White was also introduced into the Algerian flag from the eighteenth century onward, as the flag of Ahmed Bey contained white, and so did the banner of Emir Abdelkader.
The shapes that appear on the national flag are represented first with the crescent as a symbol of Islam since it is the basis of the Hijri calendar. The flag of Ottoman Algerian Ibrahim Bey was decorated with a half-crescent. The Christians themselves regard the crescent as a symbol of Islam: American historian John Wolf wrote that “(…) in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, when the crescent stood face to face with the cross in the Mediterranean and the Danube basins.” The French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault likewise considered it as such.
The origin of the star accompanying the crescent on the Algerian flag is unquestionably Ottoman-Islamic. It goes back to the banners of the corsair captains, which were studded with stars. Although it is unknown whether those stars were five-pointed or of another form, as no further information has been found beyond what was reported by Wolf. According to Algerian specialist in the history of the Ottoman period in Algeria, Nacereddine Saïdouni, the five-pointed star symbolized either the five pillars of Islam or the five daily prayers. The star then appeared accompanying the crescent on the Arab-Ottoman flag raised by Algerian protestors in 1912. It later figured on the membership stamp of the Étoile Nord-Africaine, then of the Parti du Peuple Algérien, and also at the top of the newspaper El Ouma, always together with the crescent.
There are still different interpretations of the Algerian flag elements. According to Malek Chebel, green represents Islam and white represents purity. For Pierre Lux-Wurm, green and white bring to mind the ancient banners of Islam from the time of the Prophet Muhammad, while the crescent and star can be seen as symbols of light. According to Khaled Merzouk, the green stripe represents the earth and agriculture, the white stripe represents peace and the crescent and star are symbols of Islam. The star represents the five pillars of Islam. Benjamin Stora suggests that the three colors of the flag originally represented the three countries of the Maghreb and the ideas of union.
History Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, various Islamic dynasties governed regions that are now part of modern-day Algeria, each controlling different territories over time. Unlike today, national flags in the modern sense did not exist. Instead, dynastic banners were used, and their colors often reflected political and religious affiliations. Black banners were commonly associated with Sunni Abbasid suzerainty and were used by the Aghlabids, Zirids, and Almoravids. In contrast, white banners symbolized caliphal authority and were favored by the Umayyads, Fatimids, and their earlier Zirid vassals, as well as the Almohads, and their successor states—the Hafsids, Zayyanids, and Marinids.
It is possible to distinguish, using various sources, certain constants, such as the presence of a crescent with variable orientation and the presence of the colors red, blue and white. Drapeaux des Hafsides souverain de Tunis et Béjaïa
Regency of Algiers Red, yellow and green flags
According to the historian ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Jilali, Aruj Barbarossa liberated Algiers from Spanish control in 1516 and consolidated his rule by raising a symbolic flag composed of green, yellow, and red colors. This early flag signaled a rupture from the Christian power of Spain and laid the foundation for a new Islamic polity. Al-Jilali emphasizes that while Hayreddin Barbarossa was engaged in campaigns elsewhere, Aruj secured the city and adopted this tricolor as a mark of his authority. Historians Ahmed Tewfik El Madani and Othman Kaak add that Aruj became the sole authority in Algiers and “raised his banners of three colors above its walls and castles,” further noting the symbolic assertion of rule by minting coins bearing his emblem and the inscription “Minted in Algiers.” Similarly, the historians Nadir Assari and Mouloud Gaïd confirm that during the Turkish period, the flag consisted of three horizontal silk bands in these colors.
The flag’s presence was not limited to the battlefield or palace gates. It also appeared in art and cartography. Tarek Kahlaoui reports that a 1551 Ottoman atlas by Al-Sharafi depicts Algiers under a flag with horizontal red, yellow, and green stripes—a rare early example of Algerian symbolism in Islamic cartography. The red-yellow-green tricolor, though locally adopted by the Barbarossa brothers, likely held layered meanings. As Historian Jeanette M. Fregulia observes, the flag's resemblance to those found in other Ottoman administrative centers suggests a dual identity: an expression of local autonomy within a broader Ottoman imperial context. The flag may have marked the seat of the Pasha, the Sultan’s representative in Algiers, while simultaneously asserting the military and political authority of the Regency itself. One variant was considered a war flag according to Bertrand Dubreuil.B. Dubreuil, Les pavillons des États musulmans, Publications de la Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines de Rabat, 1965,
Foreign travelers and chroniclers also observed the flag. American prisoner in Algiers in the late 18th century James Leander Cathcart describes the flagstaff on the Dey’s palace, topped with a gilt crescent and used to fly both "the national banners and those of the Ottoman Sultan and the Prophet Muhammad" on Fridays and festivals. 19th century French historian Léon Galibert, cited by Historian Mouloud Kacem Naît Belkacem, describes the "great national flag of Algiers" as consisting of three bands of silk—red, green, and yellow—displayed majestically above the Bab-Azoun gate.
According to 19th century French authors, this flag flew from prominent locations across the city throughout the 16th and 17th centuries: over gates like Bab Azoun, atop the Djennina Palace, and across terraces overlooking the sea. The Fondation de la régence d'Alger, a chronicle based on 16th-century Arabic sources, confirms that the standard of red, yellow, and green floated over the Djenina palace—a visual assertion of power visible from land and sea. In his 1887 work L'Algérie qui s'en va, Marius Bernard gives further specificity: the flag’s arrangement featured red at the top, green in the middle, and yellow at the bottom, flown on a long pole “on which the insolent flag of the Regency flew for so long.”
Dey-Pasha flags Multiple historical sources affirm the prominence of an all-red flag as the primary emblem of the Algerian state. Achour Cheurfi notes that “in 1830, when the French invaded the country, Hussein Dey’s army flew an all-red flag.” Similarly, Historian Moulay Belhamissi describes a large, plain red flag raised above the Dey’s belvedere, mounted on a mast topped with a copper ball. This flag, according to Belhamissi, was hoisted on holidays across ports, while on the Kasbah, a green standard embroidered with gold was sometimes raised for ceremonial occasions. Historian Abd al-Rahman al-Jilali, writing in Arabic, adds a critical dimension to the flag’s political symbolism: it was “devoid of any symbol, a deliberate departure from the Ottoman imperial flags, which bore crescents and stars.” According to him, this absence represented the regency’s assertion of de facto independence. While the Dey maintained formal recognition of Ottoman authority, the distinct red banner underscored local power. Occasionally, a crescent alone was added, and other flags with various emblems were used to distinguish sea vessels. Historian Dane A. Morrison similarly references the lowering of a "federal flag of the United States" and the hoisting of "the red pennant of Algiers" highlighting its symbolic humiliation inflicted to U.S. Captain William Bainbridge prior to the start of the First Barbary War.
The red banner’s placement atop the Kasbah was particularly meaningful. Older authors such as Camille Rousset recounts a moment during Dey Ali Khodja's rule, when the people of Algiers were surprised to find the red flag—typically flown over the Djennina palace—now at the summit of the Kasbah citadel, signaling the Dey's new seat of power. During the bombardment of Algiers, a Royal Navy officer onboard HMS Queen Charlotte recalled seeing an enormous crimson flag "waving slowly and majestically" over the Dey’s palace. It was rumored to be made of silk and decorated with silver stars and crescents, though the officer admitted they could not clearly discern these elements. The flag was reported to have been taken by the French army from atop the Kabah citadel during the invasion of Algiers in 1830.
Naval flags