Cambodian Flag History

This presentation is mainly based on an article in Flag Bulletin (No. 133, p. 3-15; title: New flags - State of Cambodia; author: presumably Whitney Smith). Further sources: Flaggenbuch, Die Zeichen der Menschen und Völker: Unsere Welt in Fahnen und Flaggen and Lexikon Flaggen und Wappen. Especially difficult are, of course, the political circumstances leading to the fact, that at certain times (at least) three flags of different governments and counter-governments had been used to represent Cambodia.

ca. 1863-1948 (Kingdom of Cambodia under French protection): The first Cambodian flag probably came into existence around 1863 and was used, with only variations, until 1948. It was a red field with a blue border and a white representation of Angkor Wat in the center. The image is based on the image in Flaggenbuch; a different variant is shown in the Flag Bulletin article: the Angkor Wat is drawn like in the current flag.

On 20 October 1948 a new flag was adopted, namely a horizontal triband (1+2+1) of red, blue and red with the Angkor Wat in white in the centre. The Angkor Wat is usually shown outlined in red (Flags Through the Ages and Across the