The Berber flag (
Berber language
The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight,, ber, label=Tuareg Tifinagh, ⵜⵎⵣⵗⵜ, ) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related languages spoken by Berber commun ...
: Akenyal Amaziɣ, ⴰⴾⴻⵏⵢⴰⵍ ⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵗ) or Amazigh flag is a
flag that has been adopted by many
Berber populations including protestors, cultural and political activists.
The flag was inaugurated in
Wadya, a town of
Kabylia
Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region
Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which ...
situated in
Tizi Ouzou
Tizi Ouzou or Thizi Wezzu (, Kabyle: Tizi Wezzu) is a city in north central Algeria. It is among the largest cities in Algeria. It is the second most populous city in the Kabylie region after Bejaia.
History
Etymology
The name ''Tizi Ouzou' ...
, a province of
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, by an elder Algerian Kabylian
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
,
Youcef Medkour.
History
Mohand Arav Bessaoud, Algerian activist and founder of
Berber Academy ''Académie Berbère d'Échange et de Recherches Culturels'', usually shortened to ''Académie Berbère'' or the Berber Academy was a Paris-based Kabyle cultural association formed in 1966 and officially authorized in March 1967 with the objective ...
, designed the flag in 1970.
It was used in demonstrations in the 1980s, and in 1997, the
World Amazigh Congress
The World Amazigh Congress (CMA) (in Tamazight ⴰⴳⵔⴰⵡ ⴰⵎⴰⴹⵍⴰⵏ ⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖ; ''Romanized'': Agraw Amaḍlan Amaziɣ) is an international non-governmental organization made up of Amazigh sociocultural and development ...
at Tafira on
Las Palmas
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...
in the
Canary Islands made the flag official.
Description
The flag is composed of blue, green, and yellow horizontal bands of the same height, and a
Tifinagh
Tifinagh ( Tuareg Berber language: or , ) is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuar ...
letter ''yaz'' or ''aza''.
Each colour corresponds to an aspect of
Tamazgha
Tamazgha (Berber: Tamazɣa, Arabic: تامازغا) is a fictitious entity and toponym in Berber languages denoting the lands traditionally inhabited by Berbers coined in the 1970s by the Berber Academy in Paris. The region claims the geographic ...
, the territory inhabited by the Berbers in
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
:
* Blue represents the sea.
* Green represents the mountains.
* Yellow represents the desert.
* The red of the letter ''z'' (
ⵣ in Tifinagh) represents resistance and the martyrs/free man of the Imazighen.
The letter ''z'' represents the word ''Amazigh'', the root of which it is taken from.
See also
*
Berberism
Berberism or Amazighism is a Berber political-cultural movement of ethnic, geographic, or cultural nationalism, started mainly in Kabylia (Algeria) and in Morocco, later spreading to the rest of the Berber communities in the Maghreb region of N ...
*
Berber latin alphabet
*
Tifinagh
Tifinagh ( Tuareg Berber language: or , ) is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuar ...
*
Berber mythology
The traditional Berber religion is the ancient and native set of beliefs and deities adhered to by the Berbers (Amazigh autochthones) of North Africa. Many ancient Amazigh beliefs were developed locally, whereas others were influenced over time th ...
*
Mohand Arav Bessaoud
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berber Flag
Flag
Berberism
Flags of indigenous peoples
Proposed flags
Ethnic flags
Flags introduced in 1998