Last modified: 2024-02-17 by rob raeside
Keywords: shield: pentagonal | coat of arms | banner of arms | schwenkel | tongue | chief: national flag | star: 5 points (green) | pentagram |
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* Editorial note: Since the Moroccan government considers Western Sahara as a part of its own territory, it has included it in its administrative divisions’ structure, wich we reflect on this page and on those linked to it. This does not necessarily imply any partiality on the territorial issue in question, as also doesn’t the existence of our page about the flags of sahrawi independentists and RASD.
Here is an update on the Moroccan administrative divisions, based on the Dahir cherifien (Royal decree) bearing law #1.74.688 from 3 April 1975:
Morocco is divided into 16 regions, themselves divided into provinces. Let us take as example for the lower divisions the province of Tiznit, part of the region of Sous-Massa-Draa. The province of Tiznit is divided into the five circles of Sidi Ifni, Tafraout, Anezi, Lakhssais and Tiznit. The lower level is made of 14 kaidates, divided into 4 pashaliks (Tiznit, Sidi Ifni, Lakhssais and Tafraout) and 40 rural municipalities. (Map available on line)
In Northern Africa, a kaid (from Arabic "al-qa’id | ال قعيد", the leader) was a civil servant with extended duties in justice, administration and police. In the Ottoman Empire, a pasha (a Turkish word) was a province governor. The matching administrative division, a pashalik, was also called a sandjak (that is, literally, a banner).
Ivan Sache, 31 Oct 2004I spent in September one week in the south of Morocco. As I had
reported it during my first visit in Marrakesh
some ten years ago,
I have not been able to see any other [territorial] flag than the
national flag of Morocco.
Several bodies (municipalities, police, army) have coat of arms
displayed on shields, entrance gates etc., but apparently not used
on flags of any kind.
Ivan Sache, 31 Oct 2004
In 1976, an administrative reform in Morocco was carried out with the
annexation of the Western Sahara* (November 1975). These new provinces
stocked flags with horizontal stripes and a pentagonal shield of the
coats of arms. Some coats of arms have become unchanged. Other coats of arms
were modified or were new created. They were valid until 1997.
Jens Pattke, 29 Jun 2001
The images of the flags of this former provinces are
shown in Flaggenmitteilungen 131
[fml].
Falko Schmidt, 29 Jan 2001
I have the following flags of Moroccan provinces and municipalities (the old ones: 37 provinces, 5 municipalities):
Looking at the flags it is hard not to notice the strange pentagonal
sheld of the coats of arms. Is there any explanation / tradition / story to
tell? One idea would be the “imitation” of the Solomon’s seal — the pentagon
of the national flag.
Željko Heimer, 14 Jan 1999
Why is it that many coats of arms in these flags do not match the coats
of arms of the wilayas as shown in the
Moroccan
government website?
Maybe these latter are still the old Spanish/French coats of arms? Certainly
many of these have Spanish heraldic features, like bordures with charges,
pomegranates etc.
Santiago Dotor, 21 Jan 1999
image by Jens Pattke, 01 Jun 2005
On 3 March 1968 H.M. King Hassan II of Morocco established coats of arms for the provinces of that country. The design include some traditional emblems but are for the most part modern creations. A few are related to the arms of the principle city of the province. The provincial flags are of a uniform pattern. Each is square with the arms of the province surmounted by a red schwenkel bearing a green pentagram, representing the national flag.
Incidentally means Falko Schmidt, the reform of the administrative
structure was not in the year 1976 but only in the year 1983. The means,
the flags were used longer?
Jens Pattke, 28 Jun 2001
image by Jens Pattke, 01 Jun 2005
At the beginning of the 1960ies, the Royal Heraldic Office of Morocco established coats of arms for the cities of the kingdom. The design includes some traditional emblems but are for the most part modern creations. The muncipial flags are of a uniform pattern. Each is square with the arms of the muncipality (without surmounted schwenkel).
The municipal flags reported in use in the early 1960s were/are
banners of arms, which mostely include an identical chief: gules a
moroccan royal crown — golden, closed, four
visible stems,green bonnet, topped by silver pentagram. This design is common
for all reported municipal flags, except for
Tanger, which doesn’t include
the crown on red at all, and Casablanca, which
though includes the royal crown in roughly the same place and size, also on
red.
António Martins, 01 Jun 2005
The actual coat-of-arms is on a pentagonal shield. The complete
coat-of-arms exists with postament, crest, supporter and motto.
The flags are the shape of the shield on quadratic cloth
(Armorial Banner).
Jens Pattke, 04 Jul 2001