Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina is blue, with a large yellow triangle and a diagonal row of white stars. It looks like no other flag in the Balkans, and that is on purpose: it was designed so that it would not represent one of its peoples but the whole country.

How it came about

Bosnia and Herzegovina became independent from Yugoslavia in 1992. A war immediately broke out between its three main peoples: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. Peace came with the Dayton Agreements in 1995, and the country needed a flag that none of the three would see as belonging to another.

Parliament could not agree. A team of experts led by the designer Mladen Kolobarić prepared three proposals. In February 1998, after a vote without agreement, the international High Representative for the country, the Spanish diplomat Carlos Westendorp, chose the most-voted one and imposed it provisionally. Only the tone of the blue was changed, darkened so that it would resemble the European flags.

How it has changed

Every stage of the country’s history has had its own flag.

1. 

   1908-1918

   Under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the province of Bosnia uses a red and yellow flag. Herzegovina used the same colours the other way round.

2. 

   1946-1992

   As a republic of socialist Yugoslavia, its flag is red, with the Yugoslav flag in the corner next to the flagpole.

3. 

   1992-1998

   After independence, the flag carries the coat of arms of the medieval Bosnian kings, with six fleurs-de-lis. Serbs and Croats see it as a symbol of the Bosniaks alone.

4. 

   1998

   Westendorp chooses the current design, which makes no reference to any king, religion or people.

What it means

The High Representative’s office explained the design like this when it was presented:

• Triangle

  its three points are the three peoples of the country: Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. Its silhouette also recalls the shape of the territory.

• Yellow

  the sun, symbol of hope.

• Blue and stars

  Europe, of which Bosnia and Herzegovina considers itself part.

• Cut stars

  the first and the last appear split by the edge because the row is imagined as infinite.

Fun facts

1. Unveiled at the Olympic Games

   The flag was seen in public for the first time on 7 February 1998, at the opening of the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, just three days after it was chosen.

2. Not even the spokesman was sure

   When journalists asked about the cut stars, the High Representative’s spokesman explained that the row is infinite and added that, if anyone understood it, better than he did.

3. A near-twin coat of arms

   Three months later, the country’s coat of arms was chosen in the same way and with the same drawing. The difference: the coat of arms has seven stars and the flag nine, counting the two cut ones.

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