Use | National flag |
---|---|
Proportion | 1:2 |
Adopted | 4 February 1998 (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 . The flag was proclaimed by the High Representative Carlos Westendorp |
The national flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a medium blue field with a yellow right triangle separating said field, and there are seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom along the hypotenuse of the triangle.
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.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(January 2017) |
Used by Stjepan II Kotromanic.
The flag of the Kingdom of Bosnia was based on coat of arms of the Bosnian dynasty Kotromanić, king Tvrtko I and his successors. The flag of medieval Bosnia was white with the coat of arms of the Kotromanić dynasty in the middle which consisted of a blue shield with six gold fleur de lys displayed around a white bend.
The green flag with the white crescent and star pointing to the left was used by Bosniak landlords in border parts in southern and western Herzegovina. The flag was most commonly used in wars. It also accompanied the troops of the Eyalet of Bosnia during the second siege of Khotyn in Moldavia. It differs from Ottoman flag by size and direction of crescent, as well as its swallow-shape, similar to some West-European jacks and ensigns.
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.
When the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina the flag was changed. The province of Bosnia used a flag that was a horizontal bicolour of red and yellow, but the province of Herzegovina used the same flag but with reversed colors (yellow and red).
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.
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 Federal State of Bosnia and Herzegovina first adopted the flag flown by Bosnian-Herzegovinian Partisans during the war—a wholly red flag with a narrowly gold-bordered red star in its centre, both symbolizing socialism and communism. [6] The flag was usually accompanied on official buildings by the flag of the federal Yugoslavia and the flag of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. A smaller version of the flag served as the civil ensign while an elongated banner version was seen flown in front of the Yugoslav parliament.[ citation needed ]
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 a new coat of arms during Yugoslav rule; it was a symbol of Bosnian industrialism at the time. A red flag with central elements of this coat of arms in the canton was erroneously reported in one contemporary book to have been the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina. [6]
On 3 March 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Initially the newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to use the flag of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina until a new flag was adopted on 20 May 1992. The flag picked was the arms of the Kings of Bosnia Kotromanić dynasty, who ruled from 1377 until 1463 over the area that is present day Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia, consisted of a blue shield with six golden lilies displayed around a white bend; the golden lily is the Lilium bosniacum, which is a native lily to the area. The flag chosen in 1992 has a white background with the Bosnian lily in the center. It was and it still is the main Bosniak national flag. Though it is no longer an official flag of the state, the flag continues to be used unofficially by Bosniak civilians as their ethnic flag, [5] used at football games, as part of political rallies, and other such events. [7]
The Bosnian Serbs, before and after the signing of the Dayton Agreement, viewed the flag with the six fleurs-de-lys as only representing the Bosniaks (i.e. Bosnian Muslims) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The flag of the state was eventually changed into the current, post-1998 flag. The current flag was introduced by the UN High Representative Carlos Westendorp after the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina could not decide on a solution that was acceptable to all parties. [8] Aside from the colors, the current flag contains no historical or other references to the Bosnian state. [5] The flag is rarely ever seen in Republika Srpska, [5] whose residents prefer to fly either that entity's regional flag or the Serbian national flag instead. [5] Some Bosniaks dislike or have no particular affinity for the flag, preferring the former Bosnian national flag used from 1992 to 1998, [5] or the former socialist-era Yugoslav flag instead. [5]
Colors | Pantone | CMYK | RGB | Hexadecimal |
---|---|---|---|---|
Blue | Reflex Blue C | 100, 87, 0, 20 | 0, 20, 137 | #001489 |
Yellow | 116 C | 0, 10, 98, 0 | 255, 205, 0 | #FFCD00 |
The first flag that was proposed in the First Set of Proposals was the "Czech Pattern", similar to the flag of the Czech Republic. It was intended to represent all three constitutive nations living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The next proposal was the "Laurel branch". It is based on the light blue color of the United Nations Flag. It would have had a golden olive branch in the middle. The olive branch is taken from the United Nations emblem. The flag would have only one branch. The branch was rotated around 30 degrees counterclockwise. The third proposal was the "Map" proposal. It would also use the United Nations light blue color; however, there would be the addition of a white outline map of Bosnia and Herzegovina. No official text was ever published specifying the color of the outline, but it probably would have been white.
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.
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.
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]
The national flag of Slovenia features three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red, with the coat of arms of Slovenia located in the upper hoist side of the flag centred in the white and blue bands. The coat of arms is a shield with the image of Mount Triglav, Slovenia's highest peak, in white against a blue background at the centre; beneath it are two wavy blue lines representing the Adriatic Sea and local rivers, and above it are three six-pointed golden stars arranged in an inverted triangle which are taken from the coat of arms of the Counts of Celje, the great Slovene dynastic house of the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
Doboj is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of the Bosna river, in the northern region of Republika Srpska. As of 2013, it has a population of 71,441 inhabitants.
The flag of Serbia, also known as the Tricolour, is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands, red on the top, blue in the middle, and white on the bottom, with the lesser coat of arms left of center. The same tricolour, in altering variations, has been used since the 19th century as the flag of the state of Serbia and the Serb people. The current form of the flag was adopted in 2004 and slightly redesigned in 2010.
The pan-Slavic colors—blue, white and red—were defined by the Prague Slavic Congress, 1848, based on the symbolism of the colors of the flag of Russia, which was introduced in the late 17th century. Historically, however, many Slavic nations and states had already adopted flags and other national symbols that used some combination of those three colors. Slavic countries that use or have used the colors include Russia, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, whereas Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland and Ukraine use different color schemes.
Republika Srpska is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the northern and eastern parts of the country and had a population of 1,228,423 according to the 2013 census. The largest city and administrative center is Banja Luka, situated on the Vrbas River.
The coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted in 1998, replacing the previous design that had been in use since 1992 when Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence. It follows the design of the national flag. The three-pointed shield is used to symbolize the three major ethnic groups of Bosnia, as well as allude to the shape of the country.
There is currently no official flag for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The federation is part of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The federation adopted its own flag in 1996, but the flag and associated coat of arms were deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007 and now it is considered to be a "de facto" flag. The federation has not yet adopted a new flag, anthem or coat of arms; instead the symbols of the central state are used for official purposes as a provisional solution.
Šamac, formerly Bosanski Šamac is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are also small, uninhabited, parts located in the municipalities of Odžak and Domaljevac-Šamac, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, often referred to as Bosnian Serbs or Herzegovinian Serbs, are native and one of the three constituent nations of the country, predominantly residing in the political-territorial entity of Republika Srpska. Most declare themselves Orthodox Christians and speakers of the Serbian language.
The flag of Republika Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted on 12 May 1992. The flag is a rectangular tricolor with three equal horizontal bands of red, blue and white. It is almost identical to the civil flag of Serbia, but with different aspect ratio of 1:2 instead of 2:3 and slightly different color shades. The flag is very similar to that of Misiones Province, Argentina and the Russian flag upside down.
Four major international peace plans were proposed before and during the Bosnian War by European Community (EC) and United Nations (UN) diplomats before the conflict was settled by the Dayton Agreement in 1995.
This article is about the Demographic history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and deals with the country's documented demographics over time. For an overview of the various ethnic groups and their historical development, see Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Glamoč is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Glamoč in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the foothills of Staretina and Velika Golija mountains, and on the edge of the central part of the Glamočko Polje.
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a state in Southeastern Europe, existing from 1992 to 1995. It is the direct legal predecessor to the modern-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The flag of the Republic of Kosovo was adopted by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo immediately following the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo on 17 February 2008. The flag design emerged from an international competition, organized by an informal group from the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government known as the Kosovo Unity Team, which attracted almost one thousand entries. The winning design was proposed by Muhamer Ibrahimi. It shows six white stars in an arc above a golden map of Kosovo, all on a blue field. The stars symbolize Kosovo's six major ethnic groups: Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Turks, Romani, and Gorani.
The Seal of Republika Srpska contains the flag of Republika Srpska and the Cyrillic letters "РС" ("RS") with the red-blue-white tricolor in the center of the seal, twisted with golden oak leaves, a traditional pre-Christian symbol sacred to most Slavs. On the edge of the seal there is an inscription Republika Srpska. The open crown of Kotromanić is shown in the bottom of the seal and the seal itself is topped with a heraldic royal crown.
Bosnia and Herzegovina vehicle registration plates have held their current form since 2 February 1998. Currently the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) vehicle registration plate format consists of seven characters: five numbers and two letters arranged in the following order: X00-X-000. The plates are uniform across the country and do not denote the place where the vehicle is registered, as was the case prior to 1998. Likewise the plates do not contain any heraldic symbols. The plates use only letters which are represented equally in Latin and Cyrillic script.
The flag of Yugoslavia was the official flag of the Yugoslav state from 1918 to 1992. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from the Pan-Slavic movement, which ultimately led to the unification of the South Slavs and the creation of a united south-Slavic state in 1918.
Day of Republika Srpska is a national holiday of the former Republika Srpska, which has been proclaimed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The holiday is celebrated on 9 January, and its unofficial patron saint is Saint Archdeacon Stephen—historically being patron saint of medieval Kotromanić dynasty kings bearing their first name after him—which falls on the same day.