Flag of Thailand
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The Flag of Thailand shows five horizontal stripes in the colours red, white, blue, white and red. The middle blue strip is twice as wide as the other four. The three colours red-white-blue stand for nation-religion-king, an unofficial motto of Thailand. The flag was adopted on September 28 1917. The Thai name for the flag is ธงไตรรงค์ (Thong Trairong), which simply means tricolour flag.
The first flag used for Siam was probably a plain red one, first used under King Narai (1656-1688). According to some sources later different symbols were placed on the red ground - a white chakra (the Buddhist wheel), a white elephant inside the chakra, or a white disc with a sun inside.
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 the current design, but with the middle colour being the same red as the outer stripe. 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. In 1917 the middle color was changed to blue, the colour for Friday, the day King Vajiravudh was born. According to other sources the blue colour was chosen to show solidarity with the Allies of World War I, which also had the colours blue-red-white in their flags.
An interesting fact is that the flag is just like the flag of Costa Rica but with the blue and red colors inverted. Costa Rica often puts its coat of arms on it to avoid confusion from afar or in international settings.
| National flags | National coats of arms |
|---|---|
| Flags of sovereign states | Coats of arms of sovereign states |
| Flags of dependent territories Flags of unrecognized states | Coats of arms of dependent territories Coats of arms of unrecognized states |
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