Thai Flag

The Thai people are fiercely proud of their national flag, and why wouldn't they be. It can be seen flying outside nearly residence throughout the kingdom. Every time a member of the royal family is around, thousands of paper flags emerge as if from nowhere, and are enthusiastically waved.

The Thai flag (Thong Trairong) consists of five horizontal stripes - red, white, blue, white, red, with the middle blue stripe being twice as wide as the others. The flag was adopted on October 28th 1917. It is thought the first flag used for Siam was plain red circa 1656, but was changed as was deemed not distinct enough for international relations.

Changes to the national Thai flag

1680 - Plain red flag.

1782 - Rama I added a white chakra in to center.
1817 - Rama II further added a hoist-facing white elephant inside the chakra.
1855 - Rama IV removed the chakra and enlarged the elephant.
1916 - Rama VI added items to the elephant, rotated it towards the fly and put it on a pedestal.
1917 (early) - Rama VI changed the flag to 5 equal red, white, red, white, red horizontal stripes.
1917 (late) - The central red stripe was replaced by a blue one.

As a sub note, the white elephant is connected to the mythological origin of the founding dynasty of Thailand, and is an emblem of the Royal family.