![[Mauritania]](Mauritania/mr.gif)
![[National flag and ensign]](Oman/oooooo.gif)
2:3
by Zeljko Heimer 27 December 1995, colours corrected by
Antonio Martins 2000
Flag
adopted 1 April 1959, coat of arms adopted 3 August 1960.
The Flag of Mauritania
Adopted on 1 April 1959, Mauritania's flag emphasizes its African
location, its majority Islamic faith and the name of the nation -
Republique Islamique de Mauritanie. The colors green and gold are
two of the Pan-African colors which reflect Mauritania's position as
an African nation. The star and crescent are well-known Islamic
symbols. The flag's proportion is 2:3.
Sources: Smith, Flags and Arms across the World, 1980
[smi80]; Talocci, Guideto the Flags of the World, 1982
[tal82]; Crampton, Flags of the World, 1990
[cra90i]
Paige Herring, 13 June 1998
Carr 'Flags of the World', 1961,
[car61] mentions "the Decree [on the adoption of the flag]
signed on April 1st 1959". Rabbow, in 'DTV-Lexikon politischer
Symbole', 1970
[rab70] states: 'The flag is anchored in the Constitution of 22
March 1959.'
Carr (op. cit.) has this: "An emerald green flag, proportion
three to two, bearing a crescent and five-pointed star, in gold, in
the center thereof." Znamierovski
[zna99] has this: "The green and the crescent are both symbols
of Islam; the green also represents hope for a bright future. The
yellow stands for the Sahara Desert."
Jarig Bakker, 5 July 2000
According to a friend from Mauritania, the flag was selected
(perhaps also designed) personally by the former president Mukthar
Ould Dada.
Jaume Oll?/i>, 11 July 2000
It appears there is no existing official specification of the
construction sheet. In most examples, it seems that the larger
circle forming the crescent very roughly (depending on the source)
matches the "73 of the hoist. The inner circle, at least in
Album 2000, seems to match 60% of the hoist. The star seems to
be inscribed in a circle with diameter around 1/4 of the hoist.
Also, it seems that the horizontal line of the star if extended
would just touch the horns of the crescent - but these are all
speculations.
Zeljko Heimer, 19 June 2002
![[Mauritania construction sheet]](Oman/mr'.gif)
by Zeljko Heimer
Christopher Southworth posted me a construction sheet of the
Mauritanian national flag. His source is the Flag Institute
specification as collected by Dr. Crampton. The specification gives
a hoist of 192 units. It also shows the fly length as 192 units, but
this must simply be an error or typo introduced at some point, as
Christopher agrees, so I dismiss that and take the fly length as 288
(as 2:3 ratio is clearly stated). On the vertical median, 56 units
from top is the center of a circle in which the star is inscribed,
radius of it being 24. The same point is also center of the circle
determining the upper edge of the crescent, with radius 60. The
lower circle determining the crescent is 16 units lower (i.e. 72
from top) with radius 62.
Somewhat arranging these dimensions to get a nicer order on the
sheet, and changing the unit by factor 4 (which gives smaller but
still whole numbers), one gets a rather nice construction sheet that
yields a quite well balanced flag. Of course, the question is where
did Crampton got these dimensions?
Zeljko Heimer, 27 January 2003
![[Mauritania fin flash]](Oman/mr_round.gif)
by Zeljko Heimer
A note in Album 2000 indicates the national flag is painted on
the fin.
Zeljko Heimer, 19 June 2002
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