The national flag of Colombia symbolises Colombian independence from Spain, gained on 20 July 1810. It is a horizontal tricolor of yellow, blue and red. The yellow stripe takes up a half of the flag and the blue and red take up a quarter of the space each.

Symbolism and design

The horizontal stripes (from top to bottom) of yellow, blue and red tricolor have a ratio of 2:1:1. It—together with that of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, also derived from the flag of Gran Colombia—is different from most other tricolor flags, either vertical or horizontal, in having stripes which are not equal in size. (

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, whose flag is also derived from the same source, opted for a more conventional tricolor with equal stripes). The official colors have not yet been established by law. The Colombian Olympic Committee approved the following colors for the London 2012 Summer Olympics: According to the current interpretation, the colors signify: * * * The flag's colors have other representations, such as blue for loyalty and vigilance, red for the victory of battles for Colombian independence, and yellow for sovereignty and justice.

History

Francisco de Miranda originally created the common yellow, blue, and red flag of Gran Colombia that Colombia,

and

, with slight variations, share today. Miranda gave at least two sources of inspiration for his flag. In a letter written to Count Simon Romanovich Woronzoff and philosopher

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

, Miranda described a late-night conversation he had had with Goethe at a party in Weimar during the winter of 1785. Fascinated by Miranda's account of his exploits in the United States Revolutionary War and his travels throughout the Americas and Europe, Goethe told him that, "Your destiny is to create in your land a place where primary colors are not distorted.” He proceeded to clarify what he meant: After Miranda designed his flag based on this conversation, he recalled seeing a fresco by Lazzaro Tavarone in the Palazzo Belimbau in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

that depicted

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

unfurling a similar-colored flag in

Veragua {{unreferenced, date=January 2015 Veragua or Veraguas was the name of five Spanish colonial territorial entities in Central America, beginning in the 16th century during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term was based on a Central Amer ...

during his fourth voyage. In his military diary, Miranda gave another possible source of inspiration: the yellow, blue and red

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

of the Burger Guard (''Bürgerwache'') of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, which he also saw during his travels in Germany. In the 1801 plan for an army to liberate Spanish America, which he submitted unsuccessfully to the

British cabinet The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of His Majesty's Government. A committee of the Privy Council, it is chaired by the prime minister and its members include secretaries of state and other senior ministers. ...

, Miranda requested the materials for "ten flags, whose colors shall be red, yellow, and blue, in three zones." However, the first flag was not raised until 12 March 1806, in

Jacmel Jacmel (; ht, Jakmèl) is a commune in southern Haiti founded by the Spanish in 1504 and repopulated by the French in 1698. It is the capital of the department of Sud-Est, 24 miles (39 km) southwest of Port-au-Prince across the Tiburon Peninsu ...

, Haiti, during his ill-fated expedition to Venezuela.

Gallery of flags

National flag File:Flag of Colombia.svg, National flag and state ensign of Colombia Historical flags File:Flag of New Granada (1811-1814).svg, Flag of United Provinces of New Granada (1811-1814), later adopted and used by

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...

from 1817 to 1821 at Galveston Island, Spanish Texas, New Spain File:Flag of New Granada (1814-1816).svg, Flag of United Provinces of New Granada (1814-1816) File:Flag of the Gran Colombia (1819-1820).svg, Flag of Gran Colombia (1819) File:Flag of the Gran Colombia (1820-1821).svg, Flag of Gran Colombia (1820) File:Flag of the Gran Colombia.svg, Flag of Gran Colombia (1821-1831) File:Flag of New Granada (1830-1834).svg, Flag of New Granada (1831-1834) File:Flag of New Granada.svg, Flag of

Republic of New Granada The Republic of New Granada was a 1831–1858 centralist unitary republic consisting primarily of present-day Colombia and Panama with smaller portions of today's Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil. On 9 May 1834, the national flag wa ...

(1834-1858) and Granadine Confederation (1858-1861) File:Flag of United States of New Granada.svg, Flag of United States of New Granada (1861) File:Flag of Colombia.svg, Flag of United States of Colombia (1861-1886) and Republic of (1886-present) Military and civil flags File:Civil Ensign of Colombia.svg, Civil ensign of Colombia File:Naval Ensign of Colombia.svg, Naval ensign of Colombia File:Military flag of Colombia.svg, Military flag of Colombia File:Flag of the President of Colombia.svg, Presidential flag of Colombia Historical military and civil flags File:Civil ensign of New Granada.svg, Civil ensign of Granadine Confederation (1858-1861) File:Naval ensign of New Granada.svg, Military flag and naval ensign of

(1834-1858) File:Civil ensign of United States of Colombia.svg, Civil ensign of United States of Colombia (1861-1886) File:Naval ensign of United States of Colombia.svg, Military flag and

naval ensign A naval ensign is an ensign (maritime flag) used by naval ships of various countries to denote their nationality. It can be the same or different from a country's civil ensign or state ensign. It can also be known as a war ensign. A large ve ...

of United States of Colombia (1861-1886) Construction sheets File:Flag of Colombia (construction sheet).svg, Construction sheet of the national flag File:Civil flag of Colombia (construction sheet).svg, Construction sheet of the civil ensign File:Naval flag of Colombia (construction sheet).png, Construction sheet of the naval ensign File:Military flag of Colombia (construction sheet).png, Construction sheet of the military flag File:Presidential flag of Colombia (construction sheet).png, Construction sheet of the presidential flag

Gallery of images

File:Bogotá - Bandera de Colombia - CAN.JPG, Colombian tricolor waving in Bogotá. File:Colombian flag on ARC Gloria.png, Colombian flag hoisted on the ARC Gloria barque, the official flagship of the

Colombian Navy ) , colors= , march= ''"Viva Colombia, soy marinero"'' , mascot= , battles= Battle of Lake Maracaibo Thousand Days War (Civil war) Colombia-Peru War World War II Korean War Colombian Armed Conflict Operation Atalanta , notable_commanders= José ...

. File:Flags of Colombia in Cartagena.jpg, Colombian tricolor in a colonial building corridor in Cartagena de Indias. File:Roller Speed Skating 2018 YOG Women 5000m Elimination Final (150).jpg, Colombian roller skater celebrating her victory at the youth Olympics with a Colombian flag. File:2013 IAAF World Championship in Moscow Triple Jump Women Winner CATERINE IBARGUEN.JPG, Olympic Champion Caterine Ibargüen celebrating her first world title at the

2013 World Championships in Athletics The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 200 ...

in Moscow.

References

External links