French Mandate of Greater Lebanon 1920-1943 (Lebanon)

Grand-Liban

Last modified: 2001-09-08 by santiago dotor
Keywords: lebanon | greater lebanon | grand-liban | historical | cedar | tree |
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by Santiago Dotor and Zeljko Heimer

• Description
• Variants

See also:

• History of Syrian flags up to 1932
• Lebanon

Other sites:

• The Lebanese Flag and its Evolution Throughout History at the Lebanese Parliamentary Elections 2000 website

The French organized Syria into five states under the Mandate. One of them was the French Mandate of Greater Lebanon 1920-1932 (May 1920). Its flag was the French flag with a cedar centered on the white stripe. In June 1922 France established a loose federation between the four Syrian puppet states and Lebanon was considered a separate entity thereafter. Sources and Credits.

Grand Larousse Encyclopedique du XXe Siecle (1929) shows the version with green cedar.

Ivan Sache, 15 January 1999

The Constitution of Lebanon promulgated on 23rd May 1926 said, "Article 5: The Lebanese flag is blue, white, red with a cedar in the white part".

Pascal Vagnat, 22 April 1999

According to The Lebanese Flag and Its Evolution Throughout History at the Lebanese Parliamentary Elections 2000 website, adapted from Lebanese historian Joseph Nehme's book, "the Lebanese flag during the French Mandate was similar to the blue, white and red French Flag with a green cedar in the middle, and was designed by the president of the Lebanese Nahda (renaissance) Movement, the late Naoum Mukarzel".

Santiago Dotor, 26 September 2000

by Santiago Dotor and Zeljko Heimer

A fully black cedar was used on the French tricolour.

Zeljko Heimer, 12 August 1996

by Santiago Dotor and Zeljko Heimer, modified by Ivan Sache

This variant appears in a flag chart in a 1941-odd edition of Embarque garçons - Livret scout-marin, Les scouts de France, Editions La Hutte, Paris, 1937.

Joan-Francés Blanc

Flaggenbuch 1939 shows a new variant, with green "foliage" and brown "trunk" (as often but erroneously shown for the current Lebanese flag).

Ivan Sache, 15 January 1999

According to a photo taken in the Mandate era, all three variations are incorrect. The tree had another look and was mainly black.

Jaume Ollé, 17 January 1999

The first design of the Kataeb Party flag might be what Jaume refers to.

António Martins, 11 May 1999