Albania: Ottoman rule (15th century-1912)

Last modified: 2009-02-28 by ivan sache
Keywords: eagle: double-headed (black) | boletin (isa) | crescent (white) | civil ensign |
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• Civil ensign used by non-Muslim Albanians
• Civil ensign used by Muslim Albanians
• Flag used in the struggle for autonomy

See also:

• Albania
• Ottoman Empire

Civil ensign used by non-Muslim Albanians

Civil ensign used by non-Muslim Albanians - Image by Željko Heimer, 8 September 2005

In the first quarter of the 19th century, some Ottoman provinces where allowed to use their own flags for civil or merchant vessels. This was the case of Albania where the non-Muslim population used a red flag with a central black stripe, probably in proportions 2:3.

Jaume Ollé, 15 June 1996

Civil ensign used by Muslim Albanians

Civil ensign used by Muslim Albanians - Image by Jorge Candeias, 15 June 1996

The Muslim Albanians used the horizontally divided red-blue-red flag allocated by the Ottomans to the Greeks, with a white crescent added in the middle of the flag.

Jaume Ollé, 15 June 1996

Flag used in the struggle for autonomy

Struggle flag - Image by Jaume Ollé, 15 July 1996 (reconstructed flag)

Albania has been a Turkish possession since the 15th century. In the 19th century, the Albanian independentist circles used a red flag with the Byzantine double-headed eagle, supposedly used by the Albanian medieval hero Skanderbeg, and never forgotten in Albania.
This flag was also used by the Albanian chief Isa Boletin, when he rebelled against Turkey in 1910. When the Autonomous Government was proclaimed in Mirditë in June 1911, this was also the flag used.

Jaume Ollé, 15 July 1996