Last modified: 2003-02-22 by joe mcmillan
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![[Flag of Alagoas (Brazil)]](../images/b/br-al.gif)
4:7
Adopted 23 September 1963
See also:
The colors of the flag of Alagoas are taken from the traditional colors of
the local folklore, adding the shield of the province to distinguish the
flag from other similar flags.
Jaume Ollé 28 June 1996
Article 2 of state law no. 2628 of 23 September 1963 defines the state flag as
"A rectangular flag, tierced in pale, red, white, and blue. On the center,
the coat of arms of the state, without the motto."
Joseph McMillan, 10 July 2002
The coat of arms contains branches of the cotton plant and sugar cane,
important in the region's economy.
Zeljko Heimer 13 March 1996
Article 1 of state law no. 2628 of 23 September 1963 says the following on
the coat of arms:
The coat of arms of the State of Alagoas, created by Decree no. 53 of 25 May 1894 and reestablished by Decree no. 373 of 15 November 1946 is hereby modified so as to have the following characteristics:Source: Isabel Loureiro de Albuquerque, Notas sobre a história de Alagoas (Maceió: SERGASA, 1989), p. 247, quoted at www.brasilrepublica.hpg.ig.com.br.
An antique Portuguese shield, in natural position, with a divided silver field. To the dexter, a rocky shore in red issuing from a wavy sea and extending from the point that supports a tower (which is the tower of Penedo), also in red. To the sinister, three red hills conjoined in fess, the center one the highest, issuing from a base barry wavy of eight, blue and white, which is the seafront of Pôrto Calvo. On a chief wavy blue, three silver Alagoas tench, one and two. For supporters, to the dexter a stalk of sugar-cane and to sinister a branch of cotton, with bolls and flowers, both proper. Above the shield, a silver five-pointed star as a crest. Below, a green scroll edged in yellow with the motto Ad Bonum et Prosperitatem in gold letters.
by Joseph McMillan
Alagoas had a different flag from 1894 to 1963, according to Flagscan 55.
Jaume Ollé, 8 December 1999
According to Arthur Luponi, "The Flags of the States of Brazil: Alagoas,"
Flag Bulletin IX:3
(Summer 1970), the State of Alagoas formerly flew a flag divided vertically red and white with the original
version of the state coat of arms (adopted by state decree no. 3 of 1894) on the center. It is
interesting to note that the merchant marine distinguishing flag for the
Province of Alagoas under the Brazilian Empire was also divided vertically red and white.
Luponi does not give an adoption date. In any case, there would be a gap in usage from 1937 to 1946 when all
state flags were banned; most states did not consider their flags to be restored
until they took legislative action of some kind after the enactment of the 1946 federal constitution.
I have found no such legislative action by Alagoas until the revised coat of arms and new flag were adopted in 1963.
Joseph McMillan, 17 August 2002
Clovis Ribeiro's 1933 magnum opus, Brazões e Bandeiras do Brasil, covers
the state flags in existence at the time in as much detail as Ribeiro could gather through correspondence
with the various state governments, and he says that Alagoas had not adopted a state flag. This is not necessarily
dispositive--he may not have had complete information, or a flag might have been in use unofficially.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting.
Joseph McMillan, 19 August 2002
by Joseph McMillan
Some states had old maritime ensigns in the 19th century, including Alagoas.
Jaume Ollé, 8 December 1999
The French Navy's Album de Pavillons of 1858 shows a set
of galhardetes
(normally translated pennants) flown by Brazilian merchant ships to indicate their province of origin.
The galhardetes were rectangular, approximately 1:6. They were all simple geometric
patterns, more or less like signal flags.
Joseph McMillan, 17 April 2001