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Historical Flags (Andalusia, Spain)

Introduction
Flag Proposal of the 1642 Revolt
Flag Proposals at the Antequera Congress 1883
Eastern Andalusia Proposal 1976-1977

See also:

Andalusia (Spain)
Spain

Introduction

The first flags proposed for Andalucía, intended to include Murcia and Badajoz, were designed at the Antequera Congress 27-29 October 1883. About 1900 a Federalist revolution in Casares flew a green over white flag. At the 1918 Ronda Federalist Assembly three proposals were suggested:

the most used flag, but changing the order of the stripes: horizontal black-red-green-white
horizontal black-green-white
horizontal green-white-green (white for the Umayid and green for the Guadiana and Guadalquivir rivers). The designer was Blas Infante.

The current design was made official by Organic Law 6/81 of 30th December 1981, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado 9th January 1982.

Jaume Ollé, 7 January 1999

Though the current Andalusian flag was first established by the nationalist movement in 1918, the use of green and white in flags can be traced in Andalusia back to the Middle Ages. In the battle of Alarcos (1195), marking the highest point of the Almohad power, the Andalusian volunteers fought under a green banner, and to celebrate their victory this banner was hoisted together with the Almohad's white one atop Seville's main minaret. This is the first time we have accounto of green and white waving together —though on different clothes— in Andalusia. There is also a Muslim legend saying that a holy man preaching in the villages of the Atlas Mountains had a vision of an angel showing to him an empire united on both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar, with the green paradise of Al-Andalus and the white Maghreb of the Almohads.

The last Muslim kingdom of Andalusia, that of Granada, is the only one that can be identified with a specifical flag or banner, being red. Nevertheless, it is to be noted that most of the banners taken by the Castilians from the Granadians in 1483 bore the withe and green colors.

With the launching of the American enterprise, where the Andalusians played an essential role, green and white striped flags began to be frequently seen on ships, as in those shown in the painting Virgen de los Navegantes (Virgin of the Sailors), by Alejo Fernández, preserved in Seville's Alcazar.

In 1521, the people of Seville, rioting against food shortage, marched behind a green banner taken from the Moors by Alfonso X, an episode known as "The Green Banner Riot".

And just the first and only serious attempt of making Andalusia a political entity separate from the Kingdom of Spain was led under a green and white flag. It was the rebellion of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who in 1642 tried to create an independent Andalusian kingdom, with himself as king. A flag vertically divided green and white would be the common sign of his alliance with