Bolivia: National and Departmental Flags and Coats of Arms.

BOLIVIAN FLAGS AND COATS OF ARMS

Bolivia's national (and departmental) flags didn't always look like they do today. On the 17th of August, 1825, just eleven days after Bolivia declared its independence from Spain, the first national flag and crest were created by law. Its stripes were green-red-green, with the red stripe being slightly wider than the other two. Five stars were sewn onto the wider red stripe, representing the five provinces the country had at the time: La Paz, Potosí, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, and Santa Cruz. It is said Simón Bolivar himself waved it atop the Cerro Rico in Potosí. August 17th is "Día de la Bandera" (Flag Day) in Bolivia.

This version was modified on the 26th of July, 1826 when Congress changed the color of the upper green stripe to yellow (making it yellow-red-green). The 5 stars on the red stripe were replaced with the national coat of arms. Red represents blood lost during the battles for independence, yellow represents the country’s great mineral richness, and green represents its territory and lush vegetation.

On November 6, 1851 President Manuel Belzu simply reorganized the colors to reflect the order of the colors found in the kantuta, Bolivia's national flower: red-yellow-green. This is how it looks today:

bolivia flag

This is Bolivia’s national coat of arms – enlarged for detail:

bolivia coat of arms flag

DEPARTMENTAL

Each of Bolivia's nine departments (which are like states) has its own flag as well. Below I've listed them, along with the name of the capital city of each department.

Department of La Paz. Capital city is Nuestra Señora de La Paz.

bolivia flag la paz