Flag of Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Use	State flag and ensign
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	November 27, 1906
Design	Five horizontal bands of blue, white, red (double width), white and blue with the white elliptical disk placed toward the hoist-side of the red band bearing the National Coat of Arms.
Designed by	Pacífica Fernández
Variant flag of Costa Rica
Use	Civil flag and ensign
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	November 27, 1906
Design	Five horizontal bands of blue, white, red (double width), white and blue.
Designed by	Pacífica Fernández

The national flag of the Republic of Costa Rica is based on a design created in 1848. It is also used as the military ensign, and includes the coat of arms of Costa Rica. The civil ensign, commonly used as an unofficial national flag, omits the coat of arms.

The flag was officially adopted on November 27, 1906, including a slight modification to the placement and design of the entrenched coat of arms. The flag was updated to reflect concurrent modifications to the national coat of arms in 1964 and 1998.

The flag of Thailand is similar to the Costa Rican flag, with the blue and red stripes being reversed.

During most of its colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which was nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (i.e., Mexico), but which in practice operated as a largely autonomous entity within the Spanish Empire. As such, the land of present Costa Rica was covered by the various flags of the Spanish and Mexican Empires until 1823.

Costa Rica was part of the Federal Republic of Central America (originally known as the "United Provinces of Central America"), a sovereign state in Central America, which consisted of the territories of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala. A republican democracy, it existed from July 1823 to 1841. During this period, Costa Rica used the flag of the United Provinces of Central America, augmented by variations specific to the State of Costa Rica within the United Provinces of Central America (a blue and white striped United Provinces flag, with the Costa Rican State Seal added).

When the Federal Republic of Central America unofficially dissolved by 1841, Costa Rica made a further modification to its specific variation of the United Provinces of Central America flag.