Flag of Bangladesh

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National flag. Flag Ratio: 3:5

Civil ensign. Flag Ratio: 1:2

Naval ensign. Flag Ratio: 1:2

The national flag of Bangladesh was adopted officially on January 17, 1972. It is based on a similar flag used during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. This flag depicted a map of Bangladesh over a red sun. The map was later deleted from the flag, most likely to simplify the design. The current flag resembles the flag of Japan, except that it has a green field instead of a white one. A red disc is on top of the green field, offset slightly toward the hoist so that it appears centered when the flag is flying. The red disc represents the sun rising over Bengal, and also the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The green field stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh. ^[1]

The civil ensign and naval ensign place the national flag in the canton of a red or white field, respectively.

[edit] Origin

The first flag of an Independent Bangladesh with the country map that does not exist in the current flag.

The original flag was designed by painter Quamrul Hassan. On the 3 March 1971, the initial version of the flag was hoisted in Bangladesh for the first time at the Dhaka University. On the declaration of Independence on March 23, 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman flew the flag in his residence.

The flag was conceived so as to exclude the crescent and the star considered as symbols of West Pakistan's Islamist thinking. According to Flags of the World, the green used in the flag does not represent the traditional colours of Islam, contrary to some western sources (such as the CIA World Fact Book) ^[1][2] . Rather, the green colour was chosen to represent the lushness of the natural landscape of Bangladesh.

The Flag was used by the Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh Liberation War and was replaced by the current flag in 1972. One reason that the map was dropped from the flag was the difficulty in rendering the map correctly on both sides of the flag.

[edit] Official specifications

According to Bangladesh Government specifications ^[3], following is the specification of the national flag:

• The flag will be in bottle green and rectangular in size in the proportion of 10:6, with a red circle in the middle.
• The red circle will have a radius of one-fifth of the length of the flag. Its centre will be placed on the intersecting point of the perpendicular drawn from the nine-twentieth part of the length of the flag, and the horizontal line drawn through the middle of its width.
• The green base of the flag will be of Procion Brilliant Green H-2RS 50 parts per 1000. The red circular part will be of Procion Brilliant Orange H-2RS 60 parts per 1000.
• Depending on the size of the building the flag sizes will be 10´ x 6´; 5´ x 3´; 2½´ x 1½´. The size of the flag for car is 12½" x 7 ½", and the size of the table flag for bilateral conferences is 10" x 6".

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Flag of Bangladesh, Flags of the World.
2. ^ "Lonely Planet: Bangladesh", 4th Edition, Lonely Planet Publications,(December 2000), ISBN 0-86442-667-4.
3. ^ PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH FLAG RULES, 1972 (Revised up to March 1981), Government of Bangladesh, Cabinet Division

[edit] External link

• Bangladesh at Flags of the World
• Entry on National Flag, Banglapedia.