On August 14th, 1947, the South Asian country of Pakistan achieved its independence from the United Kingdom. It took with it the flag below, which was adopted a few days earlier, on August 11th. In this article we’ll explore some of the symbolism behind this flag.

The main components of the flag are the white band on the left (which may be difficult to see, depending on the context!), the green field on the right, and the crescent and five-pointed star.

Pakistan was and remains a Muslim-majority country; more than 90% of the over 200 million people in the country are Muslim. This was incorporated into the design of the flag, which was based off of the flag for the Muslim League:

In both flags, the crescent is said to represent progress, while the star represents light and knowledge. However, in the flag of Pakistan, the white band is added to represent the religious minorities that exist within the country. A graphic representing this symbolism is below:

Although the flag is simple, it is also symbolic and memorable, and remains unchanged to this day!