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Sultanate of Tadjoura

Historical flag

Last modified: 2019-01-02 by bruce berry
Keywords: djibouti | tadjoura |
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Image by Ivan Sache, 26 April 2002

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Sultanate of Tadjoura

In his book "Les drapeaux de l'Islam" by Pierre Lux-Wurm (2001), [lux01] describes the flag of the Sultanate of Tadjoura (Tagorri).

The Sultanate of Tadjoura was located on the African coast along the Red Sea. As early as the XIIth century, the chronicles mentioned four small Sultanates which controlled the caravan traffic with Ethiopia.  Tadjoura was one of them. The Sultan of Tadjoura was called "Dardar". His power was represented by two "sacred drums", which were buried for one year after the Sultan's death. The Dardar of Tadjoura accepted a British Protectorate in 1840 and the Musha Island, in the Gulf of Tadjoura, was given to the United Kingdom.  In 1862, an envoy of the Dardar signed in Paris a treaty allowing the French vessels to moor in the port of Tadjoura. Tadjoura became an important port of call for the vessels sailing to Madagascar and Indochina, which were not allowed to moor in Aden following British colonization in 1839.  The Sultanate was later incorporated into the Republic of Djibouti.  

The flag was a 1:2 plain red flag.
Ivan Sache
, 26 April 2002

Dorling-Kindersley (1997) [rya97] explains the red colour of this flag as being associated with the Red Sea.  However, red flags were used by Muslim countries throughout North Africa and Arabia, not only (and absolutely independent to) those used in Oman and Zanzibar.
Santiago Dotor, 07 Feb 2003