The Republic of Kazakhstan

The National Flag of Kazakhstan

Қазақстан байрағы

Kazakhstan as a region was slowly absorbed into the Russian Empire as it expanded eastward during the 18th century, and by the 19th, most of modern-day Kazakhstan was under Russian control. However, the Russians where not welcomed with open arms. The Russians tried to impose various forms of control, centralised administration, and various garrisons around the nation. However, by the end of WWI, the Russian Empire had collapsed.

With the collapse of the Empire, the Alash Autonomy was formed from the remnants of the Empire in 1917. Based round the Kazakh territory. The Alash Autonomy sided with the White Russian forces during the civil war in Russia. The Alash Autonomy created a simple flag for itself, a red banner with a gold star and crescent.

Unfortunately, the Red Russian forces where winning by 1919, and the Alash Autonomy entered into negotiations with the Red Forces. However, the Soviet Government simply marched in in 1920, disbanded the government, and created the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic. This existed from 1920 to 1925, when it was renaimed to Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

This underwent another change in 1936, changing to become the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The new flag was the standard Soviet banner of red, with the the golden hammer and sickle in the top corner. Under the hammer and sickle you have "Kazakh SSR" written in both Russian and in Latin.

In 1940, the flag had another change. This time, the text was moved from underneath, to alongside the hammer and sickle. This time, it had "Kazakh SSR" in Russian and Kazakh.

The final alteration of the flag saw the removal of the text from the flag, and replacing it with a light blue stripe running along the bottom.

Upon independence from the Soviet Union, the Kazakhstan Republic adopted its new flag on June 4, 1992. The new flag was designed by Shaken Niyazbekov. The new flag was sky blue, with a sun placed in the centre, with a Steppe Eagle soaring underneath. Running along the hoist edge of the flag is an ornamental design. One reported design had the sun and eagle in gold, and the ornamental strip in red.

One of the other choices that did not make it was again blue, with a gold star in the centre. 1 variant has the star as solid, and the other features a light blue disc in the centre.

However, it is unclear if this design ever made it out of committee! The flag that Kazakhstan adopted features a sky blue field, representing the various Turkic peoples that make up the various communities of Kazakhstan. Also, it has religious connotations, representing the Sky God Tengri. The sun represents wealth and abundance, and the eagle has been used by various Kazakh peoples on their flags for centuries as a symbol of  power. For modern Kazakhstan, the eagle represents freedom, independence, and a fight for the future.