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Algeria: Star of North Africa (Independentist movement, 1926)

Etoile nord-africaine

by Jaume Ollé

Description of the flag
Algerian People's Party (1937)

See also:

Description of the flag

In 1928, an independence movement that had been created in 1926 used a flag attributed to Abdelkader. The movement (Star of North Africa) had little success for the moment, but the flag was destined to endure and to be converted into the national flag in 1962. Note that the star had the same position as in the present flag, but the emblem as a whole was not as wide.

This flag was designed by the nationalist leader Messali Hadj. As a matter of supposition, it may be noted that Hadj was aware that the colors of Abdelkader were green and white, and as the only flag he had seen was that of France, he arrayed these colors vertically. The crescent moon and the star already appear as a local symbol on a 1927 postage stamp, and the line of separation between the green and the white is used as the the base of the star (whose upper point is toward the fly). I suspect that the emblem was really drawn with the flag in a vertical position, with the white upward, to copy the symbol in other flags (as for example the military flag described above). In that case, the area of the emblem would be one-third and it would be centered.

Jaume Ollé, 24 December 2001, translated from Spanish by Joe McMillan

Algerian People's Party

The nationalist movement moved forward and in 1937 the Algerian People's Party (Parti du peuple algérien) was created to replace the Star of North Africa.
Its flag was the same as that of the 1928 movement, or with minor differences.

Jaume Ollé, 24 December 2001, translated from Spanish by Joe McMillan