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History of the Peruvian Flag (october 1820)

image by António Martins and Jan-Patrick Fischer, 03 Nov 2003

Flag of october 1820
Design variations

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Flag of october 1820

On 1820-10-21 General José de San Martín issued in Pisco the decree that fixed the national flag. The literal text was as follows:

Will be adopted as national flag of the country one of silk or linen eight foot long by six broad, divided by diagonal lines in four fields, white the two extremes superior and inferior, and flesh-colored the lateral two, with an oval-shaped laurel wreath, and within that a sun setting over snowed mountains above a quiet sea. The shield can be painted or embroidery, but preserving each object their colors, to know: the laurel wreath to be green and tied in the lower part with a ribbon of gold color; blue the upper part that represents the sky; yellow the sun with its beams; the mountains of an dark brown color, and the sea between blue and green.

Source: American Hispanic Encyclopedia; the blue color is applied to the snowfall mountains as reflex of the sky. Ratio 6:8.
Jaume Ollé, 26 Jul 1996

[Note: "flesh-colored" here means simply "red". — ed.]

It was created by General José de San Martín, Liberator of Peru, Chile and his native Argentina. In September 8th, 1820 when General San Martín arrived to the port city of Pisco with the Libertarian Expedition, he saw a flock of flamingos and they inspired him the colours and design of the flag. The coat of arms, similar to the Argentinean Republic, shows the Pacific Ocean, the Andes and the sun of the Incas and it is surrounded by a wreath of laurel.
Miguel Gómez-Arboccó, 21 Aug 1999

From the Encyclopaedia of Flags &: Coats of Arms, by L. Mucha, 1985 [mch85]:

Red symbolizes the blood of those who fought for freedom and white stands for justice and peace. The flag was introduced in 1825. Its designer, Captain General José de San Martin, was inspired by a number of flamingoes in flight, which he considered to be a good omen, and he designed a flag in red and white for his Peruvian Legion.

Jarig Bakker, 25 Apr 2001

The Peruvian Ensign in the British Admiralty manuscript flag book of 1845, now in the British Royal Naval Museum Library, Portsmouth, http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/library/library.htm (broken link as of 22 Feb 2005, Ivan Sache), is similar to this image.
David Prothero, 14 Jun 2003

Design variations

This flag on display at the Fuerte Real Felipe museum in Callao, near Lima, run by the army.
Jan-Patrick Fischer, 15 Mar 2001

We have other slightly differ