Last modified: 2001-09-08 by santiago dotor
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Provinces have their own flags: the national flag with the provincial emblem in the center. I do not have good designs of this emblems or shields and I have not made the provincial GIFs. Dirk Schmöger [sic — Schönberger?] is working also in these GIFs and I hope that soon they will be added to his nice collection.
Jaume Ollé, 17 August 1997
For provincial flags, I am not so sure if the Ministry of Interior have them shown up at all. However, I think Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will have them.
Wisarut Bholsithi, 29 October 1999
The Ministry of Interior website is all in Thai characters, but the linked filenames are in English! I reached a regions' and provinces' page from which all the provinces can be reached. Unfortunately from here no further English information is available, since provincial filenames use their number code (102, 103...). However, I discovered that accessing any of them automatically downloads a Microsoft Word file 'logo.doc' containing the logo and flag of that province. Access to the provincial pages can also be obtained through clickable regional maps, where the provinces' geographical position is also identified. So comparing this with a provincial map of Thailand with English names, you can tell out which number stands for what province and hence identify the flags!
Santiago Dotor, 31 December 1999
The three-digit code of each province breaks up into a first digit for the region (1 Central, 2 North, 3 Northeast, 4 South) and two more digits for the province itself. These are consecutive from 01 through 76, alphabetically ordered (according to the Thai alphabet, I guess) only no. 29 appears to be missing, something like "Pha*" or "Pa*".
Santiago Dotor, 4 January 2000
There's a question about these Thai [provincial] flags. When have they been adopted? I thought before discovering the MOI website that the provincial flags in Thailand were white and black badges on the national flag, as shown in Pascal Gross's Atlas Geographique Mondial and (only for Nonthaburi) in Znamierowski 1999 [p. 231].
Olivier Touzeau, 5 January 2000
Bangkok metropolis is one of the few unknow[n] new flags of Thailand provinces. The emblem has a[n] elephant (see[n] from [the] front) with a man above. But I believe that exist a Bangkok city national capital (with flag?) and a Bangkok metropolitan province (with capital in Ton Buri?) and probably also a flag (the old one is national flag with emblem in center).
The Thai Ministry of Interior map shows 3 more provinces that in the last division that I know. I loaded this three provinces (but is very slow), and one of them at less it has adopted flag. The three new provinces can be Ban Sa Kaeo, Bua Lamphu and Amat Charoen (but I am not sure). I don't know if the two new provinces without flag use the national flag with emblem like other old provinces.
Jaume Ollé, 9 January 2000
The flag images on the Ministry of Interior Website were not reliable as far as the ratio is concerned. Many were photographs which were cropped so that you could not see the edges of the flags, as far as I remember. I tried to be as logical as possible in my rendition of the flags and to reproduce what I saw as exactly as possible, but as I was no expert in GIFfing... So it is possible that some flag ratios are rather strange in my drawings. That furthermore explains why you may find "real" ratios plus or minus 1 or 2 pixels.
Olivier Touzeau, 23 January 2001
When editing them into the website, I have assumed that several pixels' difference may be a drawing mistake. So, for instance, I have used "2:3" for any GIF with a length between 320 and 328 (given a 216 pixels' height of course), more or less. But a GIF with, for instance, dimensions 216 x 288 is obviously not the consequence of a drawing mistake (at least not Olivier Touzeau's mistake). And there are several cases where the images fit perfectly with simple regular ratios (3:4, 5:7 etc.). I have put a question mark on all ratios different from 2:3.
Santiago Dotor, 24 January 2001
I will try to find out more information about the provincial flags from the Ministry of Interior. The Thesaphiban system was officially adopted by the 1897 Local Administration Act even though the first Monthon (circle) was found in 1893 (Prachinburi Circle). Before 1915, there were 21 circles which contain 79 provinces in Siam. However, the circle number began to dwindle due to economic downturn before the abolition of Monthon level by the 1933 Local Administration of Kingdom of Siam Act. After 1933 law became effective, the number of province was reduced to 70 provinces. The ratio of the flag depends upon the officer's demands though. I should take a look at the book Thai Flags published by Khurusapha Press (the state enterprise which publishes textbooks for primary and secondary schools) so I can give you the answers for theose questions.
Wisarut Bholsithi, 24 January 2001
Previously to the present designs (many of them adopted in recent years) were adopted the emblems and used on the national flag.
Jaume Ollé, 9 January 2000
The old provincial flags were with emblem in center, but as far I know multicoloured instead [of] black and white. I know that they were pictured by Dirk [Schönberger?] and other vexillologists in black and white, but [that] is because the colours were then unknown (now they are known only thanks to the Thai Ministry of Interior Regions and Provinces). Jorge Hurtado in Madrid, and vexillologists in Italy, France and Germany did some enquiries in the Thai embassies requesting good colour images of the emblems, but no answer was provided. If I don't remember wrong the provincial emblems (black and white) were found in a thai book or magazine and photocopied, but photocopy quality is decreased after several copies and the copy I have has very bad quality.
Jaume Ollé, 15 January 2000