The national flag of Bangladesh was adopted officially on 17 January 1972. It consists of a red circle on top of a dark green banner. The red circle is offset slightly toward the hoist so that it appears centred when the flag is flying. While there are numerous interpretations, the green of the flag symbolises the lush landscape of Bangladesh, and the red circle, reminiscent of the rising sun, represents the sacrifice made by the people during the Liberation War of 1971. The flag is based on a similar flag used during the Bangladesh War of Independence of 1971, which had a yellow map of the country inside the red disc. In 1972, this map was removed from the flag. One reason given was the difficulty for rendering the map correctly on both sides of the flag. The civil ensign and naval ensign place it in the canton of a red or white field, respectively.

Origin

The first version of the flag was designed and made by a section of student leaders and activists of Swadheen Bangla Nucleus on 6 June 1970, at room 108 of Iqbal Hall (now Sergeant Zahurul Haq hall), Dhaka University; students involved with the design were namely Kazi Aref Ahmed, ASM Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, Manirul Islam (Marshal Moni), Swapan Kumar Choudhury, Quamrul Alam Khan Khasru, Hasanul Haq Inu, and Yousuf Salahuddin Ahmed. The flag was made from clothes donated by Bazlur Rahman Lasker, the owner of Apollo Tailors, Dhaka New Market. A map of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was first traced on a tracing paper from an atlas by Hasanul Haq Inu, Yousuf Salahuddin Ahmed and Enamul Haq, at Enamul's room (312) in Quaid-I Azam Hall (now Titumir Hall), EPUET (now BUET). Later, the map was painted in the red circle by Shib Narayan Das. On 2 March 1971, this initial version of the flag was hoisted in Bangladesh for the first time at Dhaka University, by student leader A. S. M. Abdur Rab, the then Vice President of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU). The flag was conceived so as to exclude the star and crescent considered as symbols of West Pakistan (now Pakistan). On 25 July 1971, Zakaria Pintoo, captain of the Shadhin Bangla Football Team became the first person to hoist the Bangladesh flag on foreign soil, before a match in Nadia district of the Indian state of West Bengal. On 13 January 1972, the flag was modified. The map from the centre was removed, and the red disk moved towards the hoist so as to be visually centred when the flag is in flight on a mast.

Symbolism

According to CIA World Fact Book and official descriptions, the green used in the flag represents the lushness of the green landscape of the country and the red disk of the flag represents the blood the Bengalis shed during the Bangladesh Liberation War and the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. An alternative description says that the green background represents the youth power and progress, while the red disk represents the revolution and renaissance. The circularity of the red design indicates the rising sun, similar to the Japanese flag.

Design

According to Bangladeshi government specifications, following is the specification of the national flag:

Protocol

The national flag of Bangladesh is flown on all working days on important government buildings and offices, e.g., the president house, legislative assembly buildings, etc. All ministries and the secretariat buildings of Bangladesh, offices of the high court, courts of district and session judges, offices of the commissioners of divisions, deputy commissioner/collectors, chairman, upazila parishad, central and district jails, police stations, primary, secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions and other buildings notified by the government from time to time. Ministers of state and persons accorded the status of a minister of state, deputy ministers and persons accorded the status of a deputy minister while on tour outside the capital within the country or abroad are entitled to fly the flag on their motor vehicles and vessels.

Official residences

The following persons must fly the flag on their official residence:

Motor vehicles and vessels

The following persons are entitled to fly the flag on their motor vehicles and vessels:

Display

The national flag of Bangladesh is flown on public and private buildings throughout Bangladesh and the office premises of Bangladeshi diplomatic missions and consular posts on the following days and occasions:

Half-mast

The national flag of Bangladesh is flown at half-mast on the National Martyrs Day, on 21 February, and all other days notified by the Government of Bangladesh.

World record

On 16 December 2013, the 42nd Victory Day of Bangladesh, 27,117 people gathered at the National Parade Ground in Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and created a "human flag" which was recorded in Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest human national flag. This feat was short, however, as India topped the record on 7 December 2014 with 43,830 people participating to achieve the new world record for largest human national flag. In July 2021, Saimon Imran Hayder used 16,000 envelopes to create a 240m2 Bangladesh flag at the InterContinental Dhaka which was also a Guinness World Records attempt.

Historical flags

Pre-colonial states

British India and independence