Flag of Chile

Flag origins

Chile’s flag combines white and red horizontal bands with a blue canton containing a white five-pointed star. Adopted on October 18, 1817, it was also used at the declaration of independence. Blue is commonly explained as the sky and Pacific, white the snowy Andes, and red the blood of independence heroes. The star, known as La Estrella Solitaria, the Lone Star, is said to symbolize national unity. The government also introduces the interpretation that Bernardo O’Higgins associated it with the Mapuche Star of Arauco.

Flag story

The star may connect this seemingly modern design with the Indigenous Mapuche people. Chile’s government explains that O’Higgins understood it as the Star of Arauco. The blue-white-red colors have also been linked to tricoloured sashes of Mapuche leaders fighting Spain in the sixteenth-century epic La Araucana. Before the current flag, blue-white-yellow and blue-white-red horizontal tricolours were used. The star-in-the-canton design emerged during the independence period in 1817.

Editorial notes and references

Edited by ABELHA WORKS. The English text translates the administrator-edited Japanese description. Legends should be distinguished from documented history. General reference links do not substantiate every statement in the text.

• Chile — general information on Wikipedia
• Japan MOFA: countries and regions (Japanese)

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