Buy Chile Flag - Chilean Flags

Flag of Chile

The flag of Chile is often known as "The Lone Star" in honor of the emblem in the canton. It shows a clear influence from the flags of other former colonies in the Americas, but it is also influenced by the native people of Chile. It is far from the first of the Chilean flags, and it also shows the influence of the past designs that represented the nation.

• Capital of Chile: Santiago
• Area of Chile: 748,800 sq. km
• Languages used in Chile: Spanish
• Religions in Chile: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish NEGL

Colors and Symbolism the Flag of Chile

The flag of Chile features one white stripe and one red stripe with a blue square that bears a white star in the canton. The red stripe represents the blood that Chilean patriots shed in order to win and preserve their freedom, while the white stripe represents the pure snow of the Andes mountains. The blue square represents the sky, and the white star is a symbol of the lawful Chilean government and its powers. 

History of Chilean Flags

Chilean flags can trace their design back to the flags used by the native Mapuche people during the Arauco War. One of the extant flags used by the Mapuche was a solid blue field with a white star, which is most likely the source of the canton design of the modern flag. The red, white, and blue colors were also attributed to Mapuche flags by the poet Alonso de Ercilla, but no flags in those colors have survived to the present day to prove his claims.

Chile started to use the Spanish flag when colonists from Spain took power in the region, but the Spanish flag was abandoned as soon as Chile declared its independence. The new nations first flag was adopted in 1812. It was a tricolor with horizontal stripes of white, blue, and yellow that displayed the Chilean shield in the center and the Cross of Santiago in the canton. The war for Chilean independence was still raging at the time, so the flag fell out of use briefly in 1814 when royalist forces seized power in Chile. A new government eventually took power and replaced it with a triband of blue, white, and red, which was only used for a single year before it was replaced with the modern flag of Chile.