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- Emirate of the UAE
- absolutist monarchy
- own name: Imārat Umm al-Qaiwain
• Flag
• Historical Flags
• Meaning/Origin of the Flag
• Coat of Arms
• Map
• Numbers and Facts
• History
• Origin of the Country's Name
National and state flag,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Flags of the World, Wikipedia (EN)
to 1820, Ghafiri & Hinawi, in:,
Abu Dhabi, Umm Al Quwain, Ajman,
Source: Flags of the World
1820, "The White Pierced Red",
Flag of the maritime peace treaty,
ratio = 1:1,
Source, by: Flags of the World
1820–1961,
Flag of the maritime peace treaty,
ratio = 1:2 & 1:3...,
Source, by: Flags of the World
1820–1892,
War flag,
ratio = 1:2 & 1:3...,
Source: Flags of the World
The flag history of the country begins with the piracy of Arab tribes, who were able to develop into very successful pirates in the region due to the confrontation between the major naval powers in the Napoleonic Wars and the recovery in world trade after Napoleon's defeat. The most important representatives of piracy were the tribal organisations of the Hinawi (Sheikdom of Abu Dhabi, later also Dubai and Fujairah) and of the Ghafiri (in the sheikhdoms of Umm Al Quwain and Ajman) and the powerful Al-Qawasim dynasty, which ruled in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah and later in Sharjah too. The Hinawi and Ghafiri used single-coloured red flags without defined side lengths. The Al-Qawasim, as a powerful naval power, already had a more modern flag. It was horizontally striped green-white-red with an Arabic inscription in the centre "Nassr min Allah wa fatah karib" → "By Allah to victory and total subjugation". United Kingdom, as the major naval power, decided to take military action against piracy and defeated the Arab tribes of the region, who were forced to sign a maritime peace treaty in 1820 to end piracy. The Arabs were bound to peace, but their ships were given freedom of movement in trade and were allowed to call at British harbours unhindered. To do so, however, they had to use the treaty flag of the maritime peace treaty on land and at sea, the "White Pierced Red" used in the British navy, apparently a previous square signalling flag. However, in times of war, all signatories were allowed to revert to their previous flags. The treaty flag, the "White Pierced Red", was not very popular with the pacified Arabs, and when it was used, its shape was changed to an elongated form common in the region. However, the Al-Qawasim adopted the design as the flag of their emirates and it is still used there today. With the peace treaty, the competing Hinawi and Ghafiri sheikhs saw the Al-Qawasim as being more responsible than themselves. Over the years, it became clear to the sheikhs that they had to use the same flag as the Al-Qawasim, or even had to adopt their flag. Umm Al Quwain rejected the "White Pierced Red" for the reasons mentioned above and used a single-coloured red flag with a white stripe on the pole as treaty flag, as was used by Bahrain and Qatar at the time (perhaps modelled on their flag) and is used by Ajman and Dubai until today. The peace treaty is also said to have stipulated that the Ghafiri were allowed to use their single-coloured red flag as a war flag as usual. That old flag, which was permitted under the maritime peace treaty in the event of war, could have been used until 1892, because in that year United Kingdom established its protectorate and took over the foreign and defence policy of the contracting states. The current flag of Umm Al Quwain was introduced on 9th of May in 1961 by adopting the flag of the maritime peace treaty – the single-coloured red flag with the white stripe on the mast – as national and state flag. However, a crescent and star were added to the red field to distinguish the flag from those of other emirates. Before the introduction of the treaty flag of British origin in the colours white and red, single-coloured red flags were used by the Ghafiri and Hinawi, i.e. also in Umm Al Quwain. In the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf region, red is a traditional flag colour that is closely associated with Islam, as it is the colour of the sherifs of Mecca and is a symbol of the Islamic Kharijites living in eastern Arabia. All Islamic dynasties that refer to the origin of the Alawites (also called Alids, descendants of Ali → e.g. today's Morocco, former North Yemen) have or had red flags.
Source:
Wikipedia (EN),
Flags of the World,
World Statesmen,
Volker Preuß
Coat of arms of Umm Al Quwain,
Source: Felipe Fidelis Tobias, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons
Source: by UAE_en-map.png: Chumwa [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
Area: 292 square miles
Inhabitants: 73.000 (2015)
Density of Population: 250 inh./sq.mi.
Capital: Umm Al Quwain, 62.747 inh. (2023)
official Language: Arabic
other Languages: English, Hindi, Urdu, Farsi
Currency: 1 VAE-Dirham (Dh., AED) = 100 Fils
Time Zone: MEZ + 3 h
Source: Wikipedia (DE)
4th millennium B.C. · first settlement
ca. 1st millennium B.C. · settlement by Arabs
4th to 7th century A.D. · the area of the today's emirates belongs to the Persian Sassanid Empire
630 · introduction of Islam
632 · apostasy
634 · the area of the today's emirates is conquered by the Arab Caliphate, re-Islamization
middle ages · the area of the today's emirates belongs to Oman
16th century · military and commercial operations of the Portuguese
ca. 1650 · under the control of the Ottoman Empire
ca. 1750 · conquest by Bedouins, Beginning of piracy, the area is called "Pirate Coast"
1775 · establishing of the Emirate of Umm al-Quwain by the Al Mualla Family of the Al Ali Clan
1806–1819 · actions of the British navy against the pirates
1820 · Peace Treaty for the end of piracy
1834 · renewal of the peace treaty
1853 · renewal of the peace treaty, "Perpetual Maritime Truce", Umm al-Quwain becomes part of the "Trucial Oman", also called "Trucial States"
1892 · United Kingdom establishes its protectorate over the emirates
2nd of December 1971 · United Kingdom grants independence to the emirates, establishing of the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai and Umm Al Quwain)
Source:
Wikipedia (EN),
World Statesmen,
Discovery '97,
Volker Preuß
The emirate is named after its capital: "Umm Al Quwain". The origin of the name is largely unknown. One theory translates the name from the Arabic "umm liquatayn" as: "mother of two powers". The Arabic pronunciation is represented very differently in Latin script, so that there are different spellings, such as Umm al-Qaiwain, Umm Al Quwain, Umm al-Quwain, Umm al-Quwwayn, Umm al-Qiwain, Umm al-Qawain, Umm al-Qaywayn, Umm el-Qiwain.
Source: Wikipedia (EN), Volker Preuß
