Family research · Phase 16 of the world atlas

Flags of Pakistan

From the Bronze Age cities of the Indus Valley, through millennia of regional kingdoms and Islamic sultanates, Mughal rule, and the British Raj, to a state carved out of Partition in 1947 that briefly held two wings a thousand miles apart — and, after 1971, one contiguous republic flying the same green, white-striped, crescent-and-star flag it adopted on the eve of its own independence.

Pakistan shares its deep pre-1947 history with India: the Indus Valley Civilization, the long sweep of regional sultanates, the Mughal Empire, and the British Raj all cover ground that this atlas's India page also tells from its own side. This page compresses that shared span to keep the focus on the regions — Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, the North-West Frontier, and East Bengal — that became Pakistan, and on the state's own flag from 1947 onward.

Scope of this page: the lands that became the Dominion and then Islamic Republic of Pakistan, c. 3300 BCE–present, seven political entities. Pre-1947 history (Indus Valley Civilization, the long span of regional kingdoms and Islamic sultanates, and Mughal rule) is compressed here since it is shared with India and, for the Mughal period specifically, covered in full on this atlas's dedicated Mughal Empire page rather than duplicated. From 1947 onward the page follows Pakistan's own flag and state continuity, including the 1971 separation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. Part of a larger atlas — see the map and linked pages at the bottom.

Two wings, one government, 1947–1971

Pakistan's own real border, plus East Pakistan's (today Bangladesh, traced on its own real coastline) — the two pieces one government actually held a thousand miles apart, joined by nothing but shared rule, for the whole life of the 1947 dominion and the 1956 republic. Press play, or drag the slider.

This is the only country in the atlas whose "internal split" was never adjacent. West and East Pakistan shared one flag, one government, and no common border at all — separated the entire time by Indian territory. The 1971 war ends the arrangement for good: East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh, and this page's own territory continues as the western piece alone.

c. 3300 BCE

Indus Valley Civilization

Both shapes traced from real public coastal-vertex data. The eastern shape fades in only for the 1947–1971 united era and turns hatched (independent Bangladesh, off this page's scope) from 1971 onward.

green field, white crescent and star, white hoist stripe — unchanged since 1947

1971 – present

Islamic Republic of Pakistan (modern)

RepublicZulfikar Ali BhuttoIslam (state religion)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Afghan refugees (1979–)Emigration: labor migration to the Gulf & UK (1970s–)

Who & why: the 1971 crisis develops into a nine-month war between Pakistani forces and Bengali nationalist forces backed by Indian military intervention; East Pakistan achieves independence as Bangladesh in December 1971, roughly a quarter-century after Partition first joined the two wings under one state. Pakistan continues from this point as a single, geographically contiguous country, cycling between civilian government and periods of military rule (notably under Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s and Pervez Musharraf from 1999) while retaining and repeatedly amending its 1956 republican framework. Pakistan and India each administer parts of the disputed Kashmir region, a dispute dating to Partition that remains unresolved.

What it represents: the same green, white-striped, crescent-and-star flag adopted in 1947 continues unchanged into the present day — the flag has now outlasted every other political arrangement in Pakistan's own history.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3, with the white hoist stripe fixed at one quarter of the flag's length.

LayoutGreen field, white vertical stripe at hoist, white crescent and five-pointed star centered on the flag as a whole.

Green#01411C

White#FFFFFF

the same 1947 flag, flown over both West and East Pakistan

1956 – 1971

Islamic Republic of Pakistan (First Republic)

RepublicIskander MirzaIslam (state religion)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: labor migration to the United Kingdom

Who & why: Pakistan adopts its first constitution on 23 March 1956, becoming the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and ending Dominion status, with Iskander Mirza as first President; the new republic proves unstable, and General Ayub Khan takes power in a 1958 coup. Through this period West Pakistan and East Pakistan remain politically and economically unequal despite East Pakistan's larger population, and Bengali grievances over political representation, language policy, and economic disparity grow steadily. Tensions come to a head after the 1970 general election, in which the East Pakistan-based Awami League wins an overall majority but is denied the chance to form a government — the crisis that leads directly into 1971.

What it represents: the flag adopted in 1947 continues unchanged as the flag of the new republic; the change from Dominion to Republic alters Pakistan's constitutional status, not its flag.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3, with the white hoist stripe fixed at one quarter of the flag's length.

LayoutGreen field, white vertical stripe at hoist, white crescent and five-pointed star centered on the flag as a whole.

Green#01411C

White#FFFFFF

adopted 11 August 1947, three days before independence

14 Aug 1947 – 1956

Dominion of Pakistan

DominionMuhammad Ali JinnahNo official state religion (dominion era)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Muslim refugees from India (Partition, 1947)Emigration: Hindus & Sikhs to India (Partition, 1947)

Who & why: Pakistan is created by the Partition of British India, gaining independence on 14 August 1947 as a Dominion within the British Commonwealth, with the monarch represented by a Governor-General (Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes the first). Partition follows the All-India Muslim League's decades-long push for a separate Muslim-majority state and is carried out along boundaries drawn by the Radcliffe Line. Pakistan takes an unusual geographic form: West Pakistan (Sindh, West Punjab, Balochistan, and the North-West Frontier) and East Pakistan (East Bengal) are separated by roughly a thousand miles of Indian territory, joined only by a shared government and national identity. Partition displaces millions of people across the new India–Pakistan border and is accompanied by serious communal violence; the status of Kashmir, disputed between India and Pakistan from this same period, remains unresolved to this day.

What it represents: adopted 11 August 1947, based on the All-India Muslim League's own flag: a green field (representing Islam and the state's Muslim-majority character) with a white crescent and five-pointed star, plus a white vertical stripe at the hoist added to represent religious minorities.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3, with the white hoist stripe fixed at one quarter of the flag's length.

LayoutGreen field, white vertical stripe at hoist, white crescent and five-pointed star centered on the flag as a whole.

Green#01411C

White#FFFFFF

Star of India ensign — British India's red field, Union Jack canton, star badge

1857 – 1947

British Colonial Rule (British Raj)

ColonyQueen VictoriaOfficial religious neutrality

Migration & conquest:Emigration: indentured laborers to British colonies

Ruling house:House of HanoverHouse of Windsor

Who & why: following the 1857 rebellion, the British Crown assumes direct rule from the East India Company under the Government of India Act 1858, formally creating the British Raj. The regions that later form Pakistan — Sindh (annexed 1843), Punjab (annexed 1849), Balochistan (brought under British suzerainty through the late 19th century), the North-West Frontier (organized as its own province in 1901), and East Bengal — are administered as part of British India. The All-India Muslim League is founded in 1906 to represent Muslim political interests, and under Muhammad Ali Jinnah's leadership from the 1930s presses increasingly for a separate Muslim-majority state. The League's Lahore Resolution of 23 March 1940 formally calls for independent states in the Muslim-majority regions of British India, laying the political groundwork for Partition.

What it represents: the Raj's Star of India ensign — a red field with the Union Jack in the canton and the Star of India badge on the fly — represented British India as a whole rather than any one region; it is shown here as the governing flag over the future Pakistani territories through this period.

Paint guide

ProportionsTypically 1:2 as a maritime ensign; shown here as a plain rectangle.

LayoutRed field, Union Jack canton, white Star of India badge (simplified here as a star) on the fly.

Red#A4302A

Blue#1E2F96

White/silver#F4EFE1

Mughal imperial green, schematic — see the dedicated Mughal Empire page

1526 – 1857

Mughal Empire

EmpireBaburIslam (Mughal state religion)

Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Persia (Nader Shah's invasion, 1739)Immigration: Persian & Central Asian elites into Mughal service

Ruling house:Timurid dynasty (Mughal Empire)

Who & why: Babur's victory at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 establishes Mughal rule across northern India, including the Sindh, Punjab, and (later) Bengal regions that become part of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Mughal authority peaks under Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb, then fragments through the 18th century as regional powers and the British East India Company expand their own reach; the last Mughal emperor is exiled after the 1857 rebellion, formally ending the dynasty. This atlas covers the fuller lineage of Mughal flags and successor states on its dedicated Mughal Empire page rather than duplicating that detail here.

What it represents: Mughal imperial banners were typically green, associated with the dynasty's Islamic identity, though practice varied by era and commander; shown here as a schematic placeholder rather than a documented single state flag.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.

LayoutGreen field with a gold sun/star device, an informed reconstruction rather than a single settled design.

Green#2F6B3A

Gold#E8D9A0

placeholder maroon field — a long, genuinely fragmented span

c. 1300 BCE – 1526 CE

Successive regional kingdoms and Islamic sultanates

SultanateNo single ruler documentedHinduism / Buddhism, later Islam (varied by era)

Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Umayyad Caliphate (Sindh, 712 CE)Immigration: Turkic & Afghan Muslim rulers and settlers (from late 10th c.)

Who & why: after the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, the region passes through Vedic-era kingdoms, Achaemenid Persian and Indo-Greek rule, and the Maurya and Kushan empires, among other successive powers. Islam arrives with the Arab conquest of Sindh under Muhammad bin Qasim in 712 CE, and over the following centuries Sindh, Punjab, and Multan pass through a long succession of local and regional Islamic dynasties and sultanates, including periods under the Delhi Sultanate from the 13th century onward. This entry compresses roughly two and a half millennia of shifting rule into a single span rather than inventing false sub-periods; the region-by-region detail is properly a subject for other pages in this atlas.

What it represents: no single flag unites this long and fragmented span; regional rulers used their own banners and heraldic devices, none of which survive as a settled symbol for the territory that becomes Pakistan. Shown here honestly blank.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no single attested flag for the span.

placeholder maroon field — pre-literate-script era, no flag survives

c. 3300 – 1300 BCE

Indus Valley Civilization

Ancient civilizationNo single ruler documentedState religion unknown (script undeciphered)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: Indo-Aryan migration (by c. 1500 BCE)

Who & why: the Indus Valley Civilization flourishes in the basins of the Indus River, with major urban centers including Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in present-day Sindh and Punjab — one of the world's earliest urban civilizations, with organized city planning, trade networks, and a still-undeciphered script. The civilization declines and disperses gradually by around 1300 BCE, for reasons still debated among historians, including shifting river courses and climate change.

What it represents: no flag or comparable state symbol survives from this era; its script remains undeciphered and no heraldic or territorial banner can be attributed to it with any confidence. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

Ancient civilization — pre-state urban culture

Sultanate — regional Islamic dynastic rule

Empire — large multi-region imperial rule

Colony — governed as part of another power's territory

Dominion — self-governing, crown still head of state

Republic — sovereign state under its own constitution

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 Pakistan 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 Pakistan →

More of the atlas

This page is one lineage in a larger set. See the region-wide map and the other countries here:

Flags Atlas indexSearch every country and hub South Asia hubShared history, separate paths Mughal EmpireThe full imperial lineage, 1526–1857