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Flags of Uzbekistan

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Family research · Phase 22 of the world atlas · Central Asia

Flags of Uzbekistan

From ancient Sogdian merchant city-states along the Silk Road, through the Samanid golden age and Timur's empire built from Samarkand, three rival Uzbek khanates, Russian Turkestan, and Soviet rule, to independence in 1991 — eight flags across the deepest Silk Road heritage of any Central Asian republic.

Uzbekistan is the region's most populous state today, home to Samarkand and Bukhara, cities whose Registan and centuries of Islamic scholarship still stand as monuments to their respective golden ages.

Scope of this page: the lands of present-day Uzbekistan, antiquity–present, eight political entities. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

One border, eight rulers

Uzbekistan's own real border, traced whole — another page in this atlas without an internal split to show. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held all of it, era to era.

This is one of the countries in the atlas that doesn't split internally. Two of these eras — the three-khanate span (Bukhara, Khiva, Kokand) and the 1917–24 transitional patchwork of the Turkestan ASSR and the Bukharan and Khorezm People's Soviet Republics — genuinely covered multiple, differently-governed polities at once. The timeline above already treats both honestly as single bridging entries rather than inventing precise sub-borders, and this map follows the same rule rather than drawing lines the record doesn't support.
antiquity
KAZAKHSTAN TURKMENISTAN ARAL SEA TAJIKISTAN UZBEKISTAN
Ancient Sogdiana and Bactria

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

How we know this. 7 of 8 eras on this page carry an evidence panel (1 attested, 6 not yet checked). Only the ones marked attested are confirmed by the sources named under them; where sources disagree or a claim could not be confirmed, the panel says so. Eras without a panel have not been looked at yet.
light blue, white, green bands with red fimbriations; crescent and twelve stars
1991 – present

Republic of Uzbekistan

Republic, independentIslam KarimovNo established state religion (secular)
Migration & conquest:Emigration: Russian, German & Jewish minorities (1990s)Emigration: labor migrants to Russia & Kazakhstan

Who & why: Uzbekistan declared independence in the closing days of the Soviet Union's collapse, on 31 August/1 September 1991. It is the most populous of the five Central Asian republics.

What it represents: light blue, white, and green horizontal bands separated by thin red fimbriations, with a white crescent moon and twelve white stars in the canton, adopted in November 1991.

Attestedhow we know this

Wikipedia's infobox gives the adoption as 18 November 1991. FOTW's Uzbekistan page says the flag was adopted 18 November 1991 under the Law on the state flag (Official Gazette no. 141 of 28 November 1991), with the state emblem following in July 1992, and gives the construction sheet.

Not established: Design and swatch colours were not checked against the construction sheet.

Paint guide
Proportions1:2.
LayoutLight blue, white, green horizontal bands with thin red fimbriations between them; white crescent and twelve stars in canton.
Light blue#0099B5
Green#1EB53A
Red fimbriation#C8102E
Soviet red with hammer & sickle, light-blue stripe near the base
1924 – 1991

Uzbek SSR

Soviet republicFayzulla KhodjaevState atheism
Migration & conquest:Immigration: deported Soviet Koreans (1937)Immigration: deported Crimean Tatars (1944)

Who & why: the Uzbek SSR was created in 1924 as part of the Soviet "national delimitation" of Central Asia, carved out of the former Turkestan ASSR and the Bukharan and Khorezm People's Soviet Republics. It remained a Soviet republic until 1991.

What it represents: the flag of 1952-91 was red with a hammer, sickle and star at the upper hoist and a light-blue bar edged in white across the middle of the field; Wikipedia and Flags of the World both date it to 1952 (FOTW: decree of 29 August 1952). Before that, FOTW lists plain red flags with yellow initials or the republic's name in the upper hoist (1925, 1926, 1931, 1937, 1941). The stripe 'near the base' and gold emblem once described here are not borne out by those sources.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

Wikipedia says the Uzbek SSR flag was approved in 1952 with a blue stripe one-fifth of the width, white-edged. FOTW says the striped flag was adopted by decree on 29 August 1952: red, with a blue bar fimbriated white across the middle (stripes 20+1+8+1+20), a hammer and sickle and a star in the upper hoist. Earlier flags (1925, 1926, 1931, 1937, 1941) were plain red with yellow initials or the republic's name in the upper hoist.

Not established: The drawing puts the blue stripe near the base with no white edging and shows a hammer-and-sickle-like emblem in the canton in gold; both sources put the stripe across the middle with white edging, and FOTW gives no colour for the emblem. The drawing needs redrawing and the 1924-52 flags are not the one drawn.

Paint guide
Proportions1:2.
LayoutRed field, gold hammer-and-sickle-and-star canton, light-blue stripe near the base.
Red#A4302A
Soviet red, transitional Turkestan-era administration
1917 – 1924

Turkestan ASSR, Bukharan & Khorezm People's Soviet Republics

Autonomous republicFayzulla KhodjaevSunni Islam (nominal, under growing Soviet pressure)
Migration & conquest:Emigration: Basmachi refugees to Afghanistan

Who & why: the 1917 Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war brought Soviet power to the region in stages: the Turkestan ASSR was established in 1918, and the last Emir of Bukhara and Khan of Khiva were deposed in 1920, giving way to the nominally independent Bukharan and Khorezm People's Soviet Republics. All were absorbed into the newly delimited Soviet republics in 1924, including the Uzbek SSR above.

What it represents: Flags of the World (citing Sokolov and Ivanov) describes the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic flags as red with a crescent and star (1920), green over red with a crescent and star bearing a hammer and sickle (1921) and plain red (October 1923), and the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic flag as red with a green canton holding a crescent and star (1920-23). Wikipedia says the Bukharan flag combined the hammer and sickle with the crescent. These were crescent-bearing variants, not simply Soviet red flags with a hammer and sickle; the Turkestan ASSR flag is not described by the sources read.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

FOTW (after Sokolov and Ivanov) gives the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic a red flag with crescent and star in 1920, a green-over-red flag with a yellow crescent and star bearing a red hammer and sickle in 1921, and a plain red flag from October 1923; the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic flew a red flag with a green canton holding a yellow crescent and star (1920-23). Wikipedia's article on the Bukharan republic says its flag combined the hammer and sickle with the crescent.

Not established: The Turkestan ASSR flag is not described by any source read (Wikipedia's infobox shows only an image). The page's general statement of Soviet red flags with a hammer and sickle fits Bukhara in 1921 only; Khorezm used a crescent and star without a hammer and sickle.

Paint guide
Proportions1:2.
LayoutRed field, gold hammer-and-sickle emblem.
Red#A4302A
Russian imperial tricolor over Turkestan
1865 – 1917

Russian Turkestan

Empire provinceKonstantin von KaufmanRussian Orthodox (imperial); Sunni Islam (local)
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Slavic settlers (1880s–)

Who & why: Russian imperial conquest of the region proceeded in stages: Tashkent fell in 1865, the Khanate of Kokand was annexed outright in 1876, and the Emirate of Bukhara and Khanate of Khiva became Russian protectorates by the mid-1870s, retaining nominal local rulers under Russian oversight. This staged conquest is treated here as one honest bridging entry.

What it represents: the Russian imperial tricolor, flown across the Governorate-General of Turkestan; the protected khanates of Bukhara and Khiva continued to fly their own local flags under Russian suzerainty. The sources read do not cover Russian Turkestan or its flags.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

Neither Wikipedia's Flag of Uzbekistan nor FOTW's Uzbekistan pages describe the Russian tricolour over Turkestan; FOTW says the emir's flag of Bukhara is known from the early 20th century (a museum flag, green with a red border and white hand, crescent and stars), and that the Khiva flag displayed in its museum dates from 1917-22 with earlier flags unknown.

Not established: Wikipedia's Russian Turkestan article has no flag in its infobox or text. Wikipedia's Turkestan ASSR infobox lists the Russian flag of 1896-1918 as the predecessor image, which is not text evidence. Which Russian flag flew over the governorate-general is not established; nor is a khanate flag before 1900.

Paint guide
Proportions2:3, three equal horizontal bands.
LayoutWhite, blue, red horizontal bands.
Blue#0039A6
Red#D52B1E
Bukhara's green field with crescent, representative of the three khanates
c. 1500 – 1865

The Uzbek khanates

KhanateMuhammad ShaybaniSunni Islam
Ruling house:Shaybanid dynastyManghit dynasty

Who & why: following the Timurid empire's collapse, the Shaybanid dynasty (Uzbek in origin) founded the Khanate of Bukhara around 1500. The region subsequently fragmented among three rival khanates — Bukhara, Khiva, and, from the 18th century, Kokand — each with its own ruling dynasty and none in a genuinely unified state. This long, multi-khanate era is treated here as one honest bridging entry rather than invented precise sub-periods.

What it represents: a green field with a white crescent, associated with the Khanate of Bukhara, shown here as representative of the era's Islamic khanates generally rather than a single fixed regional banner. The sources read mention the khanates only as links and give no flag for them.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

FOTW says the Bukhara emirate's national flag 'remains elusive' and shows only the emir's flag of the early 20th century and a museum flag (green, red border, white hand of Fatima, crescent and three stars); for Khiva it knows only a 1917-22 flag. Wikipedia's Khanate of Bukhara article gives no flag image, and its Emirate article shows an exile-published 1929 flag.

Not established: A green field with a white crescent as the flag of the 1500-1865 khanates is not stated by any source read; the nearest evidence is early 20th century. Kokand has an infobox image only.

Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded.
LayoutGreen field, white crescent.
Green#0B6E3F
the Timurid standard's three rings, reconstructed
1370 – c. 1500

Timurid Empire

Empire, independentTimur (Tamerlane)Sunni Islam
Migration & conquest:Immigration: artisans forcibly relocated to Samarkand
Ruling house:Timurid dynasty

Who & why: Timur (Tamerlane), a Turco-Mongol conqueror claiming descent from Genghis Khan's line, built his empire from Samarkand beginning in 1370; the city's Registan and Timurid architecture still stand as the era's monument. His descendants, including the astronomer-king Ulugh Beg, ruled a gradually shrinking realm into the early 1500s, before conquest by the Shaybanid Uzbek dynasty.

What it represents: the three-circle motif is the Timurid emblem Clavijo described and a three-circle flag may appear in the Catalan Atlas, according to Wikipedia's Timurid Empire article, which stresses that there is little certainty about the empire's flag and that Timur's armies are thought to have used red banners with a crescent. Flags of the World, citing Znamierowski, says only that blue was Tamerlane's colour. The blue field with three rings shown here is a reconstruction.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

FOTW says, citing Znamierowski and undated, that blue was Tamerlane's colour. Wikipedia's Timurid Empire has a Flag section: little certainty about the empire's flag; Timur's armies are thought to have used red banners with a crescent, and a flag with three circles in the Catalan Atlas may relate to Timurid lands (per Yuka Kadoi), though Kadoi calls the evidence scant and ambiguous.

Not established: The sources disagree on the colour (blue against red or brown/silver); the three-circle motif is tentative. The blue field with three rings drawn here is a reconstruction not stated by either source.

Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded — informed reconstruction.
LayoutBlue field, three gold rings.
Blue#1A3A6B
Gold#C9A13C
plain black, the Abbasid-suzerainty color under which the Samanids first governed
8th c. – 1220

Islamic conquest through the Samanid golden age to the Mongol conquest

Caliphate / EmpireQutayba ibn MuslimSunni Islam
Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Mongol Empire (1220)
Ruling house:Samanid dynasty

Who & why: Arab armies completed the Islamic conquest of Transoxiana (Sogdiana) in the early-to-mid 8th century, bringing the region under Umayyad and then Abbasid suzerainty. Out of Abbasid-appointed governorship arose the Persianate Samanid Empire (819–999, capital Bukhara), a major Silk Road golden age of science, literature, and Islamic scholarship. Samanid rule gave way to the Turkic Karakhanid and Khwarezmian dynasties through the 11th and 12th centuries, ending abruptly with the Mongol conquest and the sack of Samarkand and Bukhara under Genghis Khan in 1220.

What it represents: plain black, the color associated with Abbasid banners under which the Samanids initially governed, is shown here as representative of this long, dynastically varied span rather than a single fixed regional flag. The sources read do not cover this era or the colour black.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

Wikipedia's Black Standard article says the Abbasid Revolution adopted black banners, which became associated with the Abbasid Caliphate. Neither Wikipedia's Flag of Uzbekistan nor FOTW's Uzbekistan page mentions the Samanids or any flag before the Timurid note.

Not established: That the Samanids flew plain black as Abbasid-suzerain governors is not stated by any source read; Wikipedia's Samanid Empire article has no flag text.

Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no fixed ratio documented.
LayoutPlain black field.
Black#000000
NO FLAG DOCUMENTED
placeholder maroon field — ancient Sogdiana and Bactria
antiquity – 8th c.

Ancient Sogdiana and Bactria

No flag documentedNo single ruler documentedZoroastrianism & Buddhism (varied)
Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Alexander the Great (329 BCE)

Who & why: the Zeravshan and Amu Darya valleys were home to Sogdian merchant city-states — Samarkand and Bukhara were already ancient trade centers well before Islam's arrival — that thrived on Silk Road commerce, passing through Achaemenid Persian rule, Alexander the Great's Hellenistic conquest and the Greco-Bactrian successor states, and Kushan Empire rule, before the early Islamic conquest.

What it represents: no securely documented flag survives from this span; national flags as a concept postdate it entirely. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

No flag documented — pre-Islamic antiquity
Caliphate / Empire — Arab conquest through Samanid, Karakhanid, Khwarezmian rule
Empire, independent — Timurid Empire
Khanate — Bukhara, Khiva, Kokand
Empire province — Russian imperial rule
Autonomous republic — Turkestan ASSR & transitional republics
Soviet republic — Uzbek SSR
Republic, independent — modern Uzbekistan
Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start
State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's

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Compiled from Wikipedia, Flags of the World (fotw.info / crwflags.com), and Britannica. Colors are close historical approximations for painting reference; pre-19th-century swatches are informed reconstructions, not official specifications.