Flag Description
Five horizontal bands of red (top), white, blue (double width), white, and red
The national flag of Kingdom of Thailand since the year 2460 of the Buddhist Era; there are total of 3 colours:
Red represents the blood spilt to protect Thailand's independence and often more simply
described as representing the nation.
White represents the religion of Buddhism, the predominant religion of the nation
Blue represents the monarchy of the nation, which is recognized as the center of Thai hearts.
Flag History
The first flag used for Siam was probably a plain red one, first used under King Narai (1656–1688).
Naval flags later used different symbols on the red ground—a white chakra (the weapon of god Vishnu which use as
the symbol of the House of Chakri), or a white elephant inside the chakra.
Officially the first flag was created in 1855 by King Mongkut (Rama IV), showing a white elephant (a royal
symbol) on red ground, as the plain coloured flag was not distinct enough for international relations.
In 1916 the flag was changed to show a white elephant in royal regalia. In 1917, the current design, but with
the middle colour being the same red as the outer stripe, was defined as the civil ensign. The story goes that
during a flood King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) saw the flag hanging upside-down, and to prevent this from happening
again created a new flag which was symmetrical. Later in 1917 the middle colour was changed to dark blue, which
was similar in tone to indigo, which at the time was regarded as the auspicious colour for Saturday, the day
King Vajiravudh was born. According to other sources, the blue colour was also chosen to show solidarity with
the Allies of World War I, which also had the colours blue-red-white in their flags.
The flag resembles the flag of Costa Rica, which was adopted 11 years prior to Thailand's. The main difference
is that the blue and red colours are inverted; the flag of Costa Rica also has a different proportion of
3:5.
In the "reimagined" Battlestar Galactica television series in 2004, the color and layout of the flag of Caprica,
one of twelve colonies in the series, is closed resemble to Thailand's flag.