Country profile: Colombia

The colours of the Colombian flag go back to the yellow, blue and red flag designed by the independence forerunner Francisco de Miranda and first raised on 12 March 1806, during his expedition against the Spanish Empire.

These colours were taken up by Gran Colombia (1819-1831), which united Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. After its dissolution, the three main successor states kept them in their flags.

The current design, with a yellow band taking up the upper half of the flag, was set by a decree of 26 November 1861, signed by President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.

The most common official interpretation is as follows:

• Yellow: the wealth of Colombian soil, gold, but also sovereignty and justice.
• Blue: the two oceans bordering the country, the Atlantic (through the Caribbean Sea) and the Pacific.
• Red: the blood shed for freedom and independence.

The yellow band, twice as wide as the others, underlines the importance given to the country's wealth and sovereignty.

According to a letter by Francisco de Miranda himself, the idea of the three colours came to him from a conversation with Goethe in Weimar in 1785: the poet allegedly advised him to create in his homeland a place where primary colours would not be distorted.

The flags of Ecuador and Venezuela, heirs of Gran Colombia, also use yellow, blue and red. Ecuador's stands out with its coat of arms, Venezuela's with its equal stripes and its arc of stars.

Colombian supporters have made the national team's yellow shirt, in the colour of the flag's main band, one of the country's most visible symbols in stadiums.