Which flag is best?
1 ONE said:The United Arab Kingdom was carved out from the corpse of the Abyssinian Empire after the Great War (1920-25). Historically the Arabs never had an unified state. Their territories were subjugated and governed by Aksum, the Sassanid Empire, the Mongols, the Red Khanate, Gujarati and many other Indian empires, the Spanish, the Hansa and, ultimately, a burgeoning and reformed Abyssinian Empire. Eight different kingdoms formerly under the Solomonid dynasty have accepted to unite in a federal constitutional monarchy that, despite some foreign-backed secessionist and revolutionary movements in the XX century, managed to survive with most of its liberties intact.
Due to many foreign dominations the Arabs have developed a syncretic religiosity. Mecca have become the, some would say, religious capital of the world, with gurus, scholars and people from all over the world and all over the history coming to the Caaba sanctuary. This is reflected in the flag of the empire, with a black-golden rectangle representing the Caaba. The eight-pointed star represents what are considered main eight systems of belief in Arabia¹² and also its eight kingdoms.
Today the UAK is a prosperous oil-rich country. The amount of wealth have attracted many immigrants, creating a issue that may endanger the multicultural character of the very Arab nation itself.
Below the map of the UAK and other countries created after the Treaty of Alexandria.
¹ Arab traditional beliefs, Zoroastrism, Christianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Gnosticism, Jainism.
² The definition of the Eight Major Beliefs is rejected by many Arabs who view Arab spirituality as dogma free, the conjugation of all religions into the true one. Despite those univeralists, a neo-pagan movement have been growing among the Arab youth similarly to their Western counterparts OTL.
2 TWO said:SHREHRAIN
With the fragmentation of the Greater (or Second) Khmer Empire, a predominantly Arab area - almost 78% of the population being of Arab descent - bordering the Bay of Bengal became the independent nation of Shrehrain.
Arab traders were well known at the time of the First Khmer Empire and by the time of that Empire’s contraction a sizeable colony of Arabs existed, immigrants mainly from the Arabian Peninsula. For over a century, this colony was occupied by a succession of conquerors, e.g. Thai, Mogul, Burmese. The creation of the Second Khmer Empire was actively supported by the Arabs and as a result they were given special status within the Empire.
Shrehrain is a democratic republic, with an executive President directly elected every 6 years and a bicameral parliament with a normal life of 4 years. All males of 18 years and over and all females of 21 years and over have the vote.
Map- the golden area represents the maximum extent of the Greater Khmer Empire; the white area denotes Shrehrain (which used to form part of the GKE).
The Flag -
3 THREE said:CUBA
In TTL Spain undertook the conquest of North Africa during the sixteenth century.
The conquerors undertook a campaign of religious conversion which was not greatly successful. Under a Royal Edict of 1622, any Muslim under the age of 40 not converting to Christianity could be selected for transportation as a slave to the Spanish colony of Cuba, the edict being influenced by requests from the Governor of that island following the near extinction of the natives through European diseases.
Many thousands of Arabs were sent into slavery in Cuba as a result of this policy, to be joined by a lesser number of slaves taken from Africa.
Following a succession of failed revolts, in 1888 Spanish rule ended as a result of the US-Spanish War. Cuba was for over 20 years administered by the United States. Following full independence the Republic of Cuba came into being in 1909.
Its political system is based upon the American model, with a President and Upper and Lower Houses elected every 4 years.
The flag bears green and black stripes, for the majority Arab and minority African Cubans respectively. While the crescent and star is known as a Muslim symbol, the star is black in acknowledgment of the population of African descent.
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