The national flag of the Lao People's Democratic Republic consists of 3 horizontal stripes, with the middle stripe in blue being twice the height of the top and bottom red stripes. In the middle is a white disc, the diameter of the disc is the height of the blue stripe. The flag ratio is 2:3. The flag was first adopted in 1945 under the Lao Issara government of 1945–46, then by the

Pathet Lao The Pathet Lao (), officially the Lao People's Liberation Army, was a communist political movement and political organization, organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group ultimately gained control over the entire country of ...

Overview

From 1973 to 1975, the Pathet Lao formed part of the government coalition, before assuming power directly and prompting the abdication of the king. Their flag was adopted as the national flag. According to the original creator of the flag, Maha Sila Viravong, the white disk in the center symbolizes the unity of the Lao people (and the future reunification of the 2 Laotian regions of Laos and Northeastern Thailand that are divided by the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

) under 1 nation. It is said to represent a full moon against the Mekong River. The red stripes stand for the blood shed by the Lao people on both banks of the Mekong River (the multi-ethnic people of Laos and the Isan people of Northeastern Thailand) in their struggle for freedom and independence from the French, and the blue symbolizes the Mekong River itself, a symbol of the nation's prosperity.

History

The flag was designed in 1945 by Maha Sila Viravong, an intellectual, and scholar of literature, history, and culture. As a member of the Lao Issara movement, he was tasked with creating a new Lao national flag that was to be distinct from the royalist red flag with the white 3-headed elephant. Viravong drew inspiration from Thailand's 1917 adoption of a red-white-blue tricolour, replacing the traditional royal flag (a red flag with a white elephant). After the establishment of the Lao Issara government and the adoption of the first Lao constitution on October 12, 1945, Viravong's flag was selected by the government as its national flag, lasting until the reassertion of French control in 1946. The Lao Issara, as a political movement, continued to use the flag in exile until its dissolution in 1949. Its communist-led successor, the Pathet Lao, chose Viravong's flag to represent their movement until the fall of the royal government in 1975, when the Pathet Lao took power and adopted it as the national flag. From 1952 until the fall of the royal government in 1975, the country had a red flag, with a white 3-headed elephant (representing the Hindu god Erawan) in the middle. On top of the elephant is a 9-folded umbrella, while the elephant itself stands on a 5-level pedestal. The white elephant is a royal symbol in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, including in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. This flag was adopted by the royal monarchy of

Luang Prabang Luang Prabang (Lao language, Lao: wikt:ຫຼວງພະບາງ, ຫຼວງພະບາງ, pronounced ), historically known as Xieng Thong (ຊຽງທອງ) and alternatively spelled Luang Phabang or Louangphabang, is the capital of Lu ...

since the beginning of the 20th century under French rule, inspired by its similar flag (red flag with the single white elephant) in Thailand during that time. The flag remains in use by the Royal Lao Government in Exile and Laotian opposition groups. In 2015, the city of Smithfield, Rhode Island passed a resolution to adopt the royalist flag as its "Heritage and Freedom" flag.

Historical flags

File:Flag of the Kingdom of Vientiane (1707 - 1828).svg, Flag of

Kingdom of Vientiane The Kingdom of Vientiane was formed in 1707 as a result of the split of the Lan Xang, Kingdom of Lan Xang. The kingdom was a Konbaung Dynasty, Burmese vassal from 1765 to 1779. It then became a Rattanakosin Kingdom, Siamese vassal until 1828 whe ...

(1707–1828) File:Flag of the Kingdom of Luang Phrabang (1707-1893).svg, Flag of the Kingdom of Luang Phrabang (1707–1893) File:Flag of the Kingdom of Champasak (1713-1947).svg, Flag of the Kingdom of Champasak (1713–1904) File:Flag of French Laos.svg, Flag of

French protectorate of Laos The French protectorate of Laos () was a French protectorate in Southeast Asia of what is today Laos between 1893 and 1953—with a brief interregnum as a Japanese puppet state in 1945—which constituted part of French Indochina. It was estab ...

(1893–1947) File:Flag of Laos (1952-1975).svg, Flag of the

Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was the form of government in Laos from 1947 to 1975. Located in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, it was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the sou ...

(1947–1975)

Colour schemes

Construction sheet

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flag of Laos

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Flags with circles Flags with blue, red and white Horizontally symmetrical flags

National symbols of Laos