Collection: South American Flags

South American country flags feature a number of flags with a shared history, as evidenced by their striking similarities. A good example of this are the flags of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.  Each flag features a horizontal band of yellow, a central blue band and a lower band of red. These are derived from the flag of Gran Colombia - a short lived union of lands consisting of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana and Panama.

The resplendent flags of Argentina, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala – once part of a common Federal Republic - also sport similar designs and colours.

Many flags of South American countries share a common symbolism, with white representing snow, purity or peace, blue - the sky, sea or water, red -  almost always symbolising the blood shed in various revolutions and yellow representing the mineral wealth of the land.

The flag of Brazil with its distinctive design features a blue disc that represents the night sky in the southern hemisphere.  What few people know is that it depicts the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the 15th of November 1889 – the evening that Brazil became a republic.  The 27 white stars take the formation of southern stars and constellations precisely as they appeared on that historic night. Known in Portuguese as Verde e Amarela ‘The Green and Yellow’, it features a curved band inscribed with the words ‘Ordem e Progresso’ – Order and Progress.

Several South American country flags share colours with their previous colonizers, but one revolutionary flag in particular  - that of Uruguay - features a symbol that is a point of pride with the indigenous people: the ‘Sun of May’, symbolic of Inti, the majestic Sun God revered by the ancient Incas.

Old and new, the flags and lands of this vast continent are worth exploring!