The

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

flag of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

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: ''Eku ...

, also derived from the

flag of Gran Colombia The flag of Gran Colombia was based on Francisco de Miranda's tricolour, which served as the national flag of the First Republic of Venezuela. The general design of the Gran Colombian flag later served as the model for the current flags of Colombi ...

—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 Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza (28 March 1750 – 14 July 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary. Although his own plans for the independence of the Spani ...

originally created the common yellow, blue, and red

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 trea ...

, 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 The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

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 Lazzaro Tavarone (1556–1641) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance and Mannerism, Mannerist period, active mainly in his native Genoa and in Spain. He was the pupil of the painter Luca Cambiasi. Tavarone accompanied Cambiaso to Spain i ...

in the Palazzo Belimbau in

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

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 Peninsula ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

, 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 The flag of Gran Colombia was based on Francisco de Miranda's tricolour, which served as the national flag of the First Republic of Venezuela. The general design of the Gran Colombian flag later served as the model for the current flags of Colombi ...

(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 The Granadine Confederation ( es, Confederación Granadina) was a short-lived federal republic established in 1858 as a result of a constitutional change replacing the Republic of New Granada. It consisted of the present-day nations of Colombia an ...

(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

(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 United States of Colombia () was the name adopted in 1863 by the for the Granadine Confederation, after years of civil war. Colombia became a federal state itself composed of nine "sovereign states.” It comprised the present-day nations ...

(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 ver ...

(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 Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. File:Colombian flag on ARC Gloria.png, Colombian flag hoisted on the

ARC Gloria ARC ''Gloria'' () is a three-masted barque. She is a training ship and official flagship of the Colombian Navy."ARC" stands for "Armada Nacional de la República de Colombia." The Colombian Government authorized its navy to acquire a training s ...

barque, the official flagship of the

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

. File:Flags of Colombia in Cartagena.jpg, Colombian tricolor in a colonial building corridor in

Cartagena de Indias Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

. 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 Caterine Ibargüen Mena ODB (born 12 February 1984) is a retired Colombian athlete competing in high jump, long jump and triple jump. Her notable achievements include a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, silver medal in the 2012 Summer ...

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

*
Colombian flag history (Spanish)

Joaquín Piñeros Corpas, "Historia de la bandera colombiana" (1967) 183pp.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Colombia