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___New offical flag and coat of arms approved on February 4th, just before the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, where it was for the first time shown in public.
___Several committees had designed and created various suggestions which were always turned down by the Bosnian Parliament. Even this simple design did not get enough votes of the representatives, but it did, however, get the most.
___The flag was designed by an independent, multi-ethnic committee created by High Representative for Dayton Peace Agreement implementation, Carlos Westendorp.

___Yellow triangle: represents three nations of Bosnia, it reflects shape of Bosnia, it's the color of sun (whatever the heck that means). Blue background: stands for peace, color of UN and EU. White stars: obvious connection with EU's stars, thus stating that Bosnia is a part of Europe.

Click here to read Bosnian Flag Low

 

Bosnian Historical Flags and Coat of Arms

BOSNIAN FLAG DURING MIDLE AGES AND IN PERIOD 1992-1997

 

___Yellow lily flowers on blue background - coat of arms of the dynasty of Kotromanić, the bosnian king Tvrtko I and his sucsessors during midle ages (family of Kotromanics lived and ruled the areas of Bosnia and later parts of Serbia and Hungary (Croatia) from the 13th century until Bosnia state was overrun by the Turks).
___ The fleur de lys is supposed to be derived from the lily which is specific to Bosnia, Lilium Bosniacum, rather than from French origin.
This Coat of Arms is adopted again in 1992 as bosnian country coat of arms.
___Flag was white with the shield in the midle. Because Croats and especially Serbs associated the white flag with the blue shield as a Bosnian symbol, the country had to search for a new design after the war. (abandoned: 4th February 1998)

INDEPENDENT BOSNIA 1878

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___ Bosnia was virtually independent in 1878 for few months, after the Ottoman troops left, and before the Austrians came. The flag was in use for two months.

___ Similar flag was used by Hussein Kapetan Gradascevic during the Bosnian war for autonomy within the Ottoman Empire. That was in the 1830's.

 

PERIOD OF AUSTRIAN ADMINISTARTION

First Bosnian flag & coat of arms in Austria-Hungary (1878)

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___ In 1878 at the Congress of Berlin, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was assigned to Austrian-Hungarian administration under Turkish suzerainty. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908, which was a major contribution to the outbreak of the First World War. The coat of Arms is one of Stjepan Vukcic Hrvatinic, Bosnian noble and duke from 14. century. The original medieval coat of arms had a white background and two red stripes in the top of the shield. (source: FOTW Flags Of The World )

Bosnian flag after Austria-Hungarian annexation in 1908

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINA 1945-1992

 

___ Under socialist Yugoslav rule Bosnia and Herzegovina used a red flag with a small Yugoslav flag - with a small yellow fimbriation - in the canton.This was adopted 31 December 1946.