The Secret History Behind Bahrain's Flag
The zigzag on Bahrain's flag was added so that it would not be confused with a neighbor's.
The flag has a red field with a white band at the hoist, separated by a serrated line. The white band was added after a treaty with Britain in 1820, and the zigzag line came in 1932, to tell the flag apart from similar ones used by neighboring states. Back then the line had many more points than it does today, and over the years the number was reduced until it reached the five points of the present flag.
The five white points are commonly linked to the five pillars of Islam, and white is read as peace. The meaning of the red is less settled: it is often explained as the blood of martyrs and the battles of Bahrain, and it is also the traditional color of the flags of the Gulf states.
The date printed on every Bahrain design in our catalog, August 15, 1971, is Independence Day.
Five white points on a field of red.
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