WHAT DO THE COLORS OF THE VENEZUELAN FLAG MEAN? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Venezuelan flag and the meaning of its colors represent, identify and differentiate Venezuela from the rest of the countries.

A flag is usually the product of the inspiration of one or more important personages of the nations that has a history behind it.

Each country has had, since its establishment as a nation, a series of symbols that distinguish it.

The Venezuelan flag is one of the symbols that has undergone multiple modifications over time, until it looks today. It has three stripes of equal size, with the primary colors in this order: yellow, blue and red with 8 stars in the central arc-shaped stripe.

Its creator was Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan hero born in Caracas. Although it was not the same one he used when he disembarked in Coro in 1806, on his liberating expedition. However, the authorship remains with the General.

You may also be interested in this list of Venezuelan traditions.

Meaning of the colors of the Venezuelan flag

Traditionally, the meaning of the colors of the Venezuelan flag has been explained as follows:

• Yellow represents the wealth of the nation. This is the color of gold and we want to generalize with it the many resources that Venezuela has for its exploitation, such as iron, bauxite, pearls, coal, and of course gold, among many others.
• Blue represents the waters of the Caribbean Sea off the Venezuelan coasts.
• The color Red symbolizes the blood of fallen heroes during the independence struggles.

However, this is not the only version that exists on this issue, it has even been criticized for its historical lag.

In 1806, when Francisco de Miranda brought the first design with him, there was still not much knowledge about the riches of the Venezuelan land. Nor had clashes occurred to speak of "the blood shed by the heroes of independence", since the final battle took place in the year 1821.

What is completely certain of is that the stars, which represent each of the seven provinces that adhered to the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent decree to add the eighth star, symbolize Guyana.

Other meanings generally extended through poetry and songs indicate that yellow is also an allusion to the striking color of the flowers of the Araguaney, the national tree.

Blue coincides with the idea of ​​representing the Caribbean Sea, although the color of the sky is also mentioned as a reference, while red is related to the flowers of the Bucare tree and the blood of the martyrs and even the blood of Christ..

On the other hand, a well-known version maintains that the arrangement of the stripes and the colors have their origin in the Spanish flag (yellow and red). And that when Venezuela separated from it, they wanted to symbolize the fact with the inclusion of the blue color in the middle of these colors, as a way of representing the sea (ocean) between both countries.

Also noteworthy are the interpretations given by the politician from the disappeared Gran Colombia, Francisco Zea, during the Congress of Angostura in 1819.

According to Zea, yellow represented "the peoples that we love the federation"; blue would be a symbol of "the seas, to show the despots of Spain that the immensity of the ocean separates us from their ominous yoke." While red would be a way of declaring the willingness of the Venezuelan people to die before returning to be "slaves" of the Spanish kingdom.

For their part, some renowned historians in the South American country such as JL Salcedo-Bastardo. They even dare to assure that Miranda was inspired by the Russian Flag (White, Blue Red) and that she replaced the white color associated with cold and snow, with the yellow of the tropical sun.

Other versions

General Francisco de Miranda

Francisco de Miranda was a man of great culture and it is said that in his relationship with important European personalities of his time, he found his inspiration to make the flag.

Specifically, in the Russian empress Catherine II, who wanted to express her admiration for her beauty of the monarch in the flag and that she would carry as an independence banner: yellow would be for her blonde hair, blue for the color of her eyes and the red by the lips of the lady in question.

Catherine II, Empress of Russia

This same version has been commonly broadcast in Stockholm, Sweden, but referring to a lady named Catalina Hall, who is said to have also been the object of affection from the hero general.

Others, for their part, defend the theory that Miranda devised the Venezuelan flag according to the colors of the flag of France, the country in which he lived and even participated in the French Revolution. Like the version that points to the flag of Russia as a model, where the white color, representative of the cold climate, would become the warm yellow of the Caribbean sun.

New findings and meanings

The above interpretations can be very logical, heroic, and even passionate, but they are nowhere really close to what Francisco de Miranda would lead to create the Venezuelan flag. At least there isn't enough evidence to prove them.

In the book "The National Flag: Three Stellar Moments of its History", its authors (González, C. and Maldonado, C.) mention certain testimonies and concrete evidence that suggest a different origin for the banner created by Miranda.

It is said that in general he got his inspiration from the royal banner of the Incas. This flag was made up of the colors visible in a rainbow, an element that caused great admiration in Miranda.

There is also a review that was published by the London newspaper The Times in 1806, which in turn had as its source the Caribbean newspaper Jamaica Royal Gazzette, a fact that gives it credibility due to its probable proximity to Miranda.

In this review the banner is described as a clearly allegorical symbol of the ancient pre-Columbian empire of the Peruvian aborigines.

Flag of the tahuantinsuyo, Inca empire

In addition, it is known about Miranda's firm belief in the fact that the independence of America had its precursor bases in the ancient pre-Hispanic cultures.

In this sense, this is pointed out as the most probable of the interpretations about the meaning of the colors of the national tricolor of the South American nation: the rainbow as the main reference, an allusion to the solar cult of the Incas and in turn, to the universal flood and its later outcome: a new alliance.

References

1. Francisco de Miranda and the National Flag. Recovered from: loshijosderousseau.blogspot.com.
2. New signifiers to an old theme: La Bandera de Miranda by Carlos Edsel González and Carlos Maldonado-Bourgoin. Recovered from: analitica.com.
3. Historical Evolution of the National Flag: Documentary Compilation. By: Lic. Daniel E. Chalbaud Lange. Recovered from: web.archice.org.
4. González, C. and Maldonado, C. (2006). The National Flag: Three Stellar Moments in its History. Caracas, Monte Ávila Editores.
5. Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Park. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.