Draft:Flags of the Kingdom of Beni Abbas

The Beni Abbas was a Kabyle, Berber state of North Africa. The Kingdom had a number of royal flags and standards, but did not use a national flag in the modern sense. There is no exhaustive study of the flags or emblems of the Ait Abbas kingdom, while various historical sources have reported flags attributed to the reigning family of the kingdom (the Mokrani).

Emirate of Béjaïa
The Emirate of Béjaïa was the predecessor of the Kingdom Beni Abbas. There are no known Muslim descriptions of the symbols of this country, but European sources agree that they show the reds the flag with the gold crossbow. The golden crossbow is shown in the Catalan Atlas (conventionally dated 1375) and in Castilian Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms from 1385. The same symbolism later appeared on various Portolan charts in the 15th century. Probably the last appearance of the red-gold flag in European sources dates back to 1511, i.e. a year after the end of the existence of the state.

Beni Abbès
In "Legendary Algeria" by Corneille Trumelet, the author described the flag of the lords of Medjana in the eighteenth century (the Mokrani ), as follows: a flag with three stripes, one green and two red, with their motto edged with gold in the center: "El-Kheir en-Nasirin" (God is the best helper).

In 1844, the French painter Adrien Dauzats mentioned in his painting "The Taking of Setif during the Conquest of Algeria, 21st October 1839, 1844", two flags in green and red. Flags that he attributed to the Khalifat of Medjana (Ahmed El Mokrani) in his book "Diary of the expedition of the Iron Gates".

The red and green flag is the most famous flag of Beni Abbas, but it is not known what its function was.

Paul Gaffarel indicates in "Algeria - History, Conquest and Colonization" that a Mokrani who had been invited by Napoleon III before 1871, carried a white flag with a golden fleur-de-lys. The Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Arras assures that the Mokrani family's coat of arms was the fleur de lys (⚜). Laurent-Charles Feraud indicates in the "Histoire Des Villes de la Province de Constantine" that during the period of the Bey and the first years of French colonization, the Mokrani had as their distinctive insignia, a silk standard, in the middle of which were written in gold letters "Help comes from God, and victory is near".

Flag captured in the Djurdjura mountains
Flag captured by the French army in the Djurdjura mountains during the conquest of Algeria and attributed to the kingdom of Kuku, but may also originate from Aït Abbas. The flag consisted of a red field with white hamsa in the center and four crescent moons in the corners. The symbols from this flag were adopted in the French army as the pennant of the 14th company in the 4th battalion.