Flag of Venezuela

Meaning and history of the flag of Venezuela

Venezuela's flag consists of three equal horizontal stripes: yellow on top, blue in the middle, and red at the bottom. An arc of eight white five-pointed stars sits at the center of the blue stripe. The national coat of arms appears in the upper hoist corner of the yellow stripe. The design was last modified in 2006, when an eighth star was added to the arc.

The flag's colors were established by Francisco de Miranda in 1806 and are shared with the flags of Colombia and Ecuador, the three countries that once made up Gran Colombia. Yellow represents the territory's wealth and the gold of the New World, blue symbolizes the Caribbean Sea separating Venezuela from Spain, and red honors the blood shed by patriots in the war of independence. Miranda explained that yellow stood for the Americas, blue for the Atlantic, and red for Spain, together representing the break from the mother country.

The eight stars represent the eight provinces that signed the Act of Independence on July 5, 1811: Caracas, Cumaná, Barcelona, Barinas, Margarita, Mérida, Trujillo, and the province of Guayana, the last of which was added in 2006. Venezuela's flag belongs to the family of "Mirandino" flags along with those of Colombia and Ecuador, all derived from Miranda's original tricolor. It is distinguished, however, by its arc of stars and by its equal stripe proportions, unlike Ecuador's flag, whose central stripe is wider than the other two.

You can view the flag of Venezuela in high resolution above and download it in several sizes for personal, educational or reference use. To explore more, visit the full Venezuela profile, its map, or the current local time in Caracas.