Tuesday 16 February 2016

By Bob Charles


Colombia's history reads like a romance, a drama, and a bad action movie all rolled into one. Just as a foreign attraction to oil in Venezuela or silver in Bolivia led to turmoil and upheaval in those countries, international desire for cocaine has pushed existing tensions in Colombia well beyond their boiling point. The country's history is saddening, complex and vastly interesting. To get a fuller understanding of the life of the nation, it is necessary to do a significant reading of varying accounts, but the following is a starting point.

In 1812, Simón Bolívar, who was to become the hero of the independence struggle, appeared on the scene. He won six battles against Spanish troops but was defeated by the next year. Spain recovered its throne from Napoleon and then set about reconquering its colonies. The 'pacifying' Spanish troops reconquered the interior and full colonial rule was reestablished by 1817.

The Colombian flag was adopted on November 26, 1861, making it one of the world's oldest flags.The Colombian flag consists of three horizontal stripes - the top stripe is yellow; the middle stripe is blue and the bottom stripe is red. The yellow stripe is larger and is half of the width (height) of the flag. The blue and red stripes are each one-quarter of the flag's width.

There is no official importance of the Colombian banner; however there are two well-known speculations on the significance of Colombia's banner's hues. One expresses that the yellow symbolizes power and equity; the blue stands for honorability, dependability; while the red speaks of valor, honor, liberality and triumph through bloodshed.

The second interpretation states the yellow stands for universal liberty; the blue for the equality of all races and social classes before God and the law; and red means fraternity. There is also a popular Colombian children's song which resonates - "yellow is our gold, blue is our vast seas and red are the blood that gave us our freedom".

Others claim that the yellow and red were taken from the flag of Spain, and blue was added to these two colors as a symbol of the sea that separates Colombia and Spain. A curious fact is that the current flag is based on an original model designed in the early nineteenth century by Francisco de Miranda, Venezuelan military, who in turn was inspired by the "Theory of Colours" from the famous German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, with whom he held a conversation on the issue during a meeting in 1785. Flag Company Inc decided to assist with the history development Colombian Flag by providing special decals and banners to make it easy to build a bit of history right at home.




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