Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Use	National flag
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	4 February 1998; 26 years ago (1998-02-04) (updated 10 August 2001)[1]
Design	A medium blue field with a yellow right triangle separating said field; along the hypotenuse of the triangle, there are seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars at the top and bottom of the flag.
Designed by	Mladen Kolobarić [de]. The flag was proclaimed by the High Representative Carlos Westendorp

The three points of the triangle stand for the three main ethnic groups (or "constituent peoples") of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs.^[2] The triangle represents the approximate shape of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[3]

The stars, representing Europe, are meant to be infinite in number and thus they continue from top to bottom. The flag features colors often associated with neutrality and peace – white, blue, and yellow. They are also colors traditionally associated with Bosnian culture and history.^[3] The blue background is evocative of the flag of Europe.^[4][5]

The Bosnian national flag is often used also for official purposes by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the constituent entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

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Bosnian Banate from 1154 until 1377

Used by

• 
  Royal banner of the Banate of Bosnia

Bosnian Kingdom from 1377 until 1463

The flag of the

• 
  Royal banner of the Kingdom of Bosnia

Western Herzegovina 1760 flag

The green flag with the white

Bosnian Revolt of 1830s flag

In the 1830s revolt by Husein Gradaščević the green flag with a yellow crescent and star was used. The revolt's aim was for Bosnia to gain autonomy from the Ottoman Empire.

• 
  Bosnian Revolt Flag, 1831

Austro-Hungarian rule

When the

The coat of arms is one of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, Bosnian noble and duke from 14th century. The original medieval coat of arms had a white background and two red stripes in the top of the shield. It was Similar to the old flag of the Western Bosnian Flag.

• 
  Flag of the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina during Austro-Hungarian administration (the country was formally under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire) (1878–1908)
• 
  Flag of Bosnia after Austro-Hungarian annexation (1878–1908)
• 
  Flag of Bosnia after Austro-Hungarian annexation (1908)
• 
  Flag of Herzegovina after Austro-Hungarian annexation (1878–1918)
• 
  Flag of Bosnia after Austro-Hungarian annexation (1908–1918)

Yugoslav period

During the interwar period Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina had neither a status within it nor a flag to go with. It was not until after World War II in Yugoslavia and disestablishment of the monarchy that this changed, as Bosnia and Herzegovina became its own republic within the newly established federal Yugoslavia.^[6]

Without constitutional recognition, the mid-war

• 
  The flag of the Bosnian—Herzegovinian Partisans during World War II (27 November 1943)^[6]
• 
  The Flag of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia during World War II (1943–1946)
• 
  The Flag of the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II (16 December 1942)

Wide public discussion ahead of constitutional adoption resulted in the overall opinion that the state flag should be red, like the one initially flown by liberation movements, and not in national pan-Slavic tricolors of Serbs and Croats which were argued to have been an "import" from a later stage of the war.^[6] This discussion was in response to the first proposed flag from 15 November 1946, which matched the federal flag except with an additional golden star placed behind the existing gold-bordered red star in the centre, with their rays positioned interchangeably. Belgrade officials listened to the public opinion, but proceeded to add the federal Yugoslav tricolor to the canton of a plain red flag to symbolize the republic's affiliation to the Federation, and as such it was officially adopted on 31 December 1946.^[6] In the real-world usage, this flag had a variant with a much larger canton which was offset from the edges and bordered in white. This variant was eventually proposed sometime in 1947, but was never adopted.^[6]

Bosnia and Herzegovina also had

• 
  Proposed flag of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (15 November 1946)^[6]
• 
  The flag that was in an error reported as the new flag of BiH in one contemporary book^[6]
• 
  Proposed flag of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1947)^[6]
• 
  Flag of the SR of Bosnia and Herzegovina (31 December 1946 − 6 April 1992)^[6]

Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1998)

On 3 March 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from

• 
  Flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (3 March 1992 − 20 May 1992)
• 
  Flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (20 May 1992 − 3 February 1998)
• 
  Republika Srpska (1992-1995)
• 
  Flag of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Dayton Accords

The

• 
  Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina (4 February 1998 − present)
• 
  Construction sheet
• 
  Vertical flag.

Colors scheme

The official colors of the flag are:^[9]

Alternative flag proposals

The first flag that was proposed in the First Set of Proposals was the "Czech Pattern", similar to the

• 
  First alternative flag of first proposal
• 
  Second alternative flag of first proposal
• 
  Third alternative flag of first proposal

The Second Set of Proposals had flags that were truly representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. The first flag design was a diagonally striped tricolor pattern of red to white to blue (different colors but in the same pattern as the Flag of the Republic of the Congo). In the centre there would be a blue map of Bosnia and Herzegovina outlined in yellow in the middle inside a circle of 10 five-pointed yellow stars. The flag would have been a 1:2 ratio. The second flag proposed was very similar except it had 12 five-pointed stars to represent the European Union. The Flag of Europe has the 12 five-pointed stars. The third design was a bit more different from the first two designs. The diagonal tricolur shape was kept, but the diagonal white stripe was made wider so that the angle was not perfectly 45 degrees. In the center there was a yellow map of Bosnia and Herzegovina outlined in green and under it there were two green olive branches. The olive branch pattern was the same one that the United Nations uses in its flag. The final fourth design was kept the same emblem from the third design, but did not have the diagonal stripes. Instead it had a horizontal tricolor pattern of blue, white, and red (from top to bottom), similar to that of the former Yugoslavia.

• 
  First alternative flag of second proposal
• 
  Second alternative flag of second proposal
• 
  Third alternative flag of second proposal
• 
  Fourth alternative flag of second proposal

The first Westendorp alternative flag was a highly similar one to today's flag, a diagonally divided top-hoist to bottom-fly yellow over light blue flag with line of 9 white five-pointed stars in the light blue field along the diagonal. The only major difference was that the color of the background was UN blue. The second Carlos Westendorp alternative flag is a light blue flag (using the United Nations' flag's colors) with 5 bars interchangeably coming out of hoist and not reaching the other end. The colors are interchangeably yellow and white. In the third alternative flag, the field was light blue and had five narrow yellow bars.

• 
  First Carlos Westendorp alternative flag proposal
• 
  Second Carlos Westendorp alternative flag proposal
• 
  Third Carlos Westendorp alternative flag proposal

Westendorp's decision ended up being the first alternative flag. However, it was changed slightly to a darker blue, evocative of the European Union's flag.^[5]

Flags of administrative divisions

Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• 
  Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (5 November 1996 – 14 June 2007)
• 
  Flag of Republika Srpska (6 April 1992 – present)

See also

• List of Bosnian and Herzegovinian flags
• Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Flag of Republika Srpska
• Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Flag of Kosovo

References