Family research · Phase 18 of the world atlas

Flags of Mongolia

This page is about modern Mongolia's own national flag lineage, not the thirteenth-century Mongol Empire — that vast, continent-spanning conquest state, built by Genghis Khan and fragmented among his successors, has its own dedicated deep-dive elsewhere in this atlas. This page instead picks the story up as the empire's fragments recede back to the Mongolian steppe itself: centuries under Qing Chinese suzerainty, an early-20th-century independence movement, the world's second Communist state, and a peaceful democratic transition.

For the empire's own formation, conquests, and banners under Genghis Khan and his immediate successors, see this atlas's Mongol Empire page.

Scope of this page: the territory of the modern state of Mongolia (historically "Outer Mongolia," distinct from Inner Mongolia, which remains part of China), from the Qing conquest of the 17th century to the present, five political periods. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

One border, five eras

Modern Mongolia's own real border, traced whole — this page's own scope note already draws the key line: it covers only historic "Outer Mongolia," since Inner Mongolia remains part of China and has never been part of the polities charted here. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held all of it, era to era.

This is a border that stayed remarkably constant while sovereignty over it changed completely. Every era shown here governed the whole of today's Mongolia at once, from Qing suzerainty through the Bogd Khanate, the People's Republic, and the modern democracy — there's no genuinely separate internal region of Outer Mongolia itself to carve out honestly.

1368

Post-imperial Mongol khanates

Real traced border of modern Mongolia — no internal partition, see the rule box above for why.

Soyombo on red, blue for the eternal sky — refined in 1992

1992 – present

Mongolia (modern democratic republic)

Parliamentary democracyPunsalmaagiin OchirbatSecular (no state religion)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: labor migrants to South Korea (1990s–)

Who & why: peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Ulaanbaatar in early 1990 force the ruling Communist party to give up its constitutional monopoly on power; Mongolia holds its first multi-party elections that same year and adopts a new democratic constitution in 1992, completing a remarkably bloodless transition away from seven decades of one-party Communist rule. The 1992 constitution also removes the Communist-era gold star from atop the flag's Soyombo emblem, the last change to the design.

What it represents: the Soyombo, a stacked national symbol combining flame, sun, moon, and yin-yang-like elements representing eternal prosperity, on the hoist-side red stripe; the wider blue center stripe stands for the eternal sky central to traditional Mongolian belief, flanked by red stripes for progress and prosperity.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutThree vertical stripes, red-blue-red (1:1.2:1 ratio); gold Soyombo emblem on the hoist-side red stripe, no star atop it.

Red#DA2032

Blue#0066B3

Gold#F9D616

the Soyombo, crowned with a Communist gold star

1924 – 1992

Mongolian People's Republic

Communist one-party stateDamdin SükhbaatarState atheism

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Chinese contract laborers (1950s–60s)

Who & why: with Soviet backing, Mongolian revolutionaries led by Damdin Sükhbaatar had already expelled occupying Chinese and White Russian forces by 1921; the theocratic Bogd Khanate that followed is then abolished and the Mongolian People's Republic proclaimed in November 1924, becoming the world's second Communist state after the Soviet Union itself. The MPR functions as a close Soviet satellite for nearly seven decades, undergoing its own Stalinist-style purges in the 1930s (including the destruction of most Buddhist monasteries) before the peaceful 1990 democratic movement ends one-party rule.

What it represents: the traditional Soyombo symbol, now crowned with a five-pointed gold star marking Communist rule, added to a flag otherwise carrying forward pre-revolutionary red-and-blue Mongolian color tradition.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2 (final 1945 version shown; earlier MPR flags varied).

LayoutSame three-stripe layout as the modern flag, but with a gold five-pointed star above the Soyombo emblem.

Red#DA2032

Blue#0066B3

the Soyombo on red, the Bogd Khanate's own emblem

1911 – 1921

Bogd Khanate of Mongolia

Theocratic monarchy, contestedBogd KhanTibetan Buddhism

Migration & conquest:Occupied by: Republic of China (1919–21)

Ruling house:Jebtsundamba Khutuktu line (Bogd Khans)

Who & why: as the 1911 Xinhai Revolution topples the Qing Dynasty in China, Mongolian nobles and Buddhist clergy declare independence that December, installing the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the head of Mongolian Buddhism, as the theocratic Bogd Khan. Republican China refuses to recognize the declaration and occupies the territory again from 1919 to 1921; Mongolian and allied Soviet-backed forces then expel both Chinese troops and a marauding White Russian force under Baron Ungern-Sternberg in 1921, restoring the Bogd Khan as a figurehead monarch under an increasingly Soviet-aligned revolutionary government until his death in 1924.

What it represents: the Soyombo emblem — already centuries old as a Mongolian Buddhist symbol, adapted by 17th-century scholar-monk Zanabazar — appears on a national flag for the first time here, on a plain red field.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio consistently recorded.

LayoutRed field, gold Soyombo emblem centered.

the Qing Yellow Dragon Flag, extended over Mongolia as suzerain territory

1691 – 1911

Outer Mongolia under Qing suzerainty

Suzerain territoryKangxi EmperorTibetan Buddhism (Qing-patronized)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Han Chinese merchants & settlers (esp. late 19th c.)

Ruling house:Jebtsundamba Khutuktu line (Bogd Khans)

Who & why: Khalkha Mongol nobles submit to the Qing Dynasty at the 1691 Dolonnor assembly, seeking protection against the rival Dzungar Khanate to the west; the Qing subsequently governs Mongolia through a system of banners and local princely rule rather than direct administration, while Mongolia's own Buddhist clergy retain significant local authority. Qing control weakens through the 19th century alongside the wider dynasty's decline, opening the path to the 1911 independence declaration once the Qing itself collapses.

What it represents: the wider Qing Empire's own Yellow Dragon Flag (see China's own page for its full history), extended over Mongolia as Qing territory rather than any flag distinct to Mongolia itself.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3 (from 1889).

LayoutImperial yellow field, blue five-clawed dragon, red flaming pearl.

Mongol imperial black — fragmented post-Yuan khanates

1368 – 1691

Post-imperial Mongol khanates (Northern Yuan and successors)

Fragmented khanatesToghon TemürTibetan Buddhism (revived from 16th c.)

Ruling house:Northern Yuan BorjigidsJebtsundamba Khutuktu line (Bogd Khans)

Who & why: after Ming rebellion drives the Mongol Yuan court out of China in 1368, the Mongol ruling line retreats to the steppe as the Northern Yuan, continuing to claim the old imperial title while actually controlling only Mongolia itself. The centuries that follow bring recurring fragmentation among rival Mongol groups — the Oirats (Western Mongols) and various eastern Mongol confederations chief among them — and repeated conflict, most consequentially with the rising Dzungar Khanate, before growing numbers of Mongol groups accept Qing overlordship from the mid-17th century, completed by the Khalkha's own 1691 submission.

What it represents: no single flag unifies this fragmented, post-imperial period; the earlier Mongol Empire's own banners and devices are covered fully on this atlas's dedicated Mongol Empire page rather than repeated here.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — see the Mongol Empire page for the empire's own earlier banners.

Reading the tags

Fragmented / suzerain territory — no independent Mongolian state

Theocratic monarchy, contested — independence declared but not universally recognized

Communist one-party state — sovereign under Communist Party rule

Parliamentary democracy — sovereign, multi-party constitutional rule

Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start

State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's

Find the records

Family history research for Mongolia lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.

Search Record Atlas for Mongolia →

More of the atlas

This page is one lineage in a larger set. See the region-wide hub and the related pages here:

Flags Atlas indexSearch every country and hub East Asia hubSix countries, dynasties to modern states Mongol EmpireGenghis Khan's 13th-century empire and its khanates ChinaQing suzerainty's other side of the story