Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina

What the Bosnia and Herzegovina flag looks like

The flag has a blue field with a width-to-height ratio of 1:2. On it is a large yellow right-angled triangle. Along the longest side of the triangle, the diagonal one, runs a row of white five-pointed stars. There are nine stars in total, and the first and last are cut off by the edges of the flag, which suggests that the line of stars continues beyond the flag.

The colors are blue, yellow and white. They are close to those of the flag of Europe, which was intentional. The yellow triangle sits in the middle of the flag, and it is the feature that makes the flag easy to recognize at a glance. You can see it in reduced form in the Bosnia and Herzegovina flag emoji.

Bosnia and Herzegovina flag meaning and symbolism

The three corners of the triangle are commonly said to stand for the three constituent peoples of the country: Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. The triangle also resembles the rough outline of the country on a map. The stars are a reference to Europe, and the endless row of stars is seen as a sign of the country's wish to be part of it. The blue and yellow colors are those of the European Union flag.

The flag was chosen with a political aim. It uses no symbol that is associated with a single religion, nation or earlier regime, since all of those were sensitive after the war of 1992-95. There is no official meaning for each separate color, and the explanations above are the commonly cited ones.

History of the Bosnia and Herzegovina flag

The medieval Kingdom of Bosnia used the royal symbol of the Kotromanic dynasty, a shield with golden lilies on a blue field. During the Ottoman period and under Austria-Hungary, which governed Bosnia from 1878, Bosnia had various banners and arms. After the Second World War, Bosnia and Herzegovina became one of the republics of Yugoslavia and used a red-white-green flag with a red star.

When the country declared independence in 1992, it adopted a new flag showing a white field with a blue shield and six golden lilies, drawn from the medieval arms. Many Serbs and Croats saw it as a symbol of the Bosniak side, and the war that followed ended with the Dayton Agreement in 1995. The agreement created a state made up of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

The state needed a common flag, and parliament could not agree on one. In February 1998, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carlos Westendorp, imposed the present design, which was one of the proposals drafted with international support. It replaced the lily flag on 4 February 1998. The two entities also have their own flags.

Flags that look like Bosnia's flag

The most similar flag is that of Kosovo, which is blue with a gold map of the country and a row of six white stars. Both flags were designed in the same period of Balkan history and use the star theme. The Bosnian flag is also sometimes confused with that of Ukraine because of the blue and yellow colors, but the layout is completely different.