Libya

3×5' nylon national flag of Libya.

Libya's flag came back from exile. Flown by the kingdom from 1951, banned for decades, it was raised again by the rebels of 2011 and restored as the national flag after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.

Design

Three horizontal bands of red, black and green, the black band twice the height of the others, with a white crescent and five-pointed star centered in the black.

History & Symbolism

The flag was created for the United Kingdom of Libya at independence on 24 December 1951. Each color stands for a historic region: red for Fezzan, black for Cyrenaica and its Senussi dynasty, and green for Tripolitania. The crescent and star stand for Islam. From 1977 Gaddafi's Libya flew a plain green flag, the only national flag of modern times with a single color and no design at all.

Flag Specifications

• Adopted: 24 December 1951; restored 2011
• Official proportions: 1:2
• Colors: red, black, green, white
• Emblem: crescent and star

Vexillographer's Note

Libya's restoration is one of the clearest modern examples of an old flag becoming a symbol of revolution, much as Estonia's and Latvia's did in 1990.

Humphrys Flag Company · Old City Philadelphia · Est. 1864