The Evolution Of Bolivia's National Flag

The national flag of Bolivia features three equal horizontal bands of red, yellow, and green, with the Bolivian coat of arms in the centre. The flag was officially adopted in 1851, but its design has been revised several times since. Each colour on the flag has a symbolic meaning: red represents the bloodshed and bravery of Bolivian soldiers; yellow symbolises the country's mineral wealth; and green stands for the fertility of Bolivia's lands and its natural areas. The Wiphala, a square emblem used to represent the native peoples of the Andes, was instated as Bolivia's alternative flag in 2009.

The flag's colours and their meanings

The flag of Bolivia features three equal horizontal stripes of red, yellow, and green. The flag also features a variant with the country's coat of arms in the centre. The colours of the flag are believed to represent the following:

• Red: The red colour of the flag symbolises the brave soldiers of Bolivia and the bloodshed during the country's fight for independence and sovereignty.
• Yellow: Yellow represents the country's mineral wealth and natural resources.
• Green: The green colour symbolises the fertility of the land and the richness of Bolivia's natural areas. It also stands for hope, a foundational value of Bolivian society.

The colours red, yellow, and green were widely used by the Aymara and Quechua peoples, who dominated the area before the Spanish conquistadors arrived. The Bolivian flag was originally adopted in 1851, but it has gone through several design changes since gaining independence from Spain in 1825.

The flag's design and dimensions

The national flag of Bolivia, officially adopted on 31 October 1851, features three equal horizontal bands of red, yellow and green. The exact colours of the flag were established by the Supreme Decree of 2004. The red band sits at the top, followed by the yellow band in the middle, and the green band at the bottom. The flag has a width-height proportion ratio of 2:3.

The dimensions of the flag were not defined until 2004, 153 years after its adoption. Supreme Decree No. 27630 of 2004 established the size of the national flag as 7.5 squares wide by 11 squares long, giving a ratio of 15:22.

The Bolivian flag features the country's coat of arms in the centre of the yellow band. The coat of arms is an elliptical design featuring a cartouche surrounded by Bolivian flags, muskets, laurel branches, and an Andean condor. The laurel branches symbolise peace, while the condor represents the country's willingness to defend itself.

The red, yellow and green tricolour can also be found in the Bolivian Wiphala, which was instated as the country's alternative flag in 2009. The Wiphala is a square emblem made up of 49 squares in seven colours, arranged diagonally. The Wiphala is a symbol of the native people of the Andes and the four regions of the Incan Empire.

The country's coat of arms

The central cartouche features a circle with Bolivia's Mount Potosi and an alpaca standing next to a tree and wheat. These symbols represent the country's abundance of natural resources. Mount Potosi was once the most successful mining operation in the world. The ten stars on the border of the cartouche represent the nine departments of Bolivia: Beni, Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, and Tarija, as well as the old province of Litoral. The crossed cannons behind the cartouche represent the struggle for Bolivian independence, while the axe and Phrygian hood represent liberty and freedom. The laurel branches symbolise peace, and the Andean condor perched on top demonstrates a willingness to defend the nation and its liberty.

The Wiphala flag

The Wiphala is a square emblem used as a flag to represent the native peoples of the Andes in Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, northwestern Argentina, and southern Colombia. In 2009, the Bolivian government recognised the Wiphala as the country's second official national flag, alongside the red-yellow-green tricolour. This decision was controversial and upset many Bolivian natives who did not want to recognise Andean culture in this way.

The Wiphala is a 7x7 square emblem made up of 7 colours arranged diagonally from left to right. The colours are: white, green, yellow, red, orange, violet, and a shade of green-blue. The arrangement of the colours varies depending on the region, but the colour on the longest diagonal line (seven squares) represents one of the four regions of the Incan Empire: white for Qullasuyu, green for Antisuyu, yellow for Kuntisuyu, and red for Chinchaysuyu.

The seven colours of the Wiphala reflect those of the rainbow. According to the Katarista movement, each colour has a specific meaning:

• Red: The Earth and the Andean man
• Orange: Society and culture
• Yellow: Energy and strength
• White: Time and change
• Green: Natural resources and wealth
• Violet: Andean government and self-determination

The Wiphala is the oldest of all Bolivia's flags and dates back to the early days of the Inca Empire. The oldest surviving example of a Wiphala-type design is a chuspa (a bag for coca) corresponding to the Tiwanaku culture (1580 BC – AD 1187). The chuspa is currently held in the Brooklyn Museum. A Wiphala held in the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, has been dated to the 11th century.

The naval ensign

Despite being a landlocked country, Bolivia has a naval ensign used by vessels on rivers and lakes. The naval ensign consists of a blue field with the state flag in the canton bordered by nine small yellow five-pointed stars, with a larger yellow five-pointed star in the fly. The nine small stars represent the nine departments of Bolivia, and the larger star represents the nation's right to access the sea, which it lost in the War of the Pacific in 1884.

The Bolivian naval ensign was changed in 2013. The former naval ensign, used from 1966 to 2013, featured the same blue field and state flag in the canton but did not include the stars.

The state flag of Bolivia features three equal horizontal bands of red, yellow, and green, with the Bolivian coat of arms in the centre. The red represents the soldiers of the country who fought for independence and the bloodshed that occurred during this struggle. The yellow represents the country's mineral wealth, and the green symbolises the richness of Bolivia's natural areas and agriculture. The flag was officially adopted on 31 October 1851, although it has been changed several times since gaining independence from Spain in 1825.

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