South America is made up of 12 nations and In part one we looked at the flags of Argentina,
Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador and in this part we are going to look at the
flags of Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The flag of Guyana, known as The Golden Arrowhead , has been the national flag of Guyana since
May 1966 when the country became independent from the United Kingdom.
The flag features a green field with the black-edged red triangle on the hoist-side over the top
of a larger white-edged golden triangle.
It was designed by Whitney Smith, an American vexillologist though originally without the
black and white lines.
The colours are symbolic, with green for agriculture and forests, white for rivers and water, gold
for mineral wealth, black for endurance, and red for passion and vitality.
The flag of Paraguay was first adopted in 1842.
Its design is a red white and blue triband, which was inspired by the colours of the French
flag, believed to signify independence and liberty.
The flag is unusual because its front and reverse sides are different: with the front
of the flag showing the national coat of arms, and the reverse shows the seal of the treasury.
The emblem on the front side features a yellow five-pointed star surrounded by a green wreath
of palm and olive leaves tied with ribbons of the colour of the stripes, and capped by
the words Republic of Paraguay" in Spanish, all within two circles.
The emblem on the reverse side is the seal of the treasury: a yellow lion below a red
Phrygian cap on the top of a pole, symbolising liberty, and the words "Peace and Justice".
In 2013, the flag was revised to simplify the coat of arms.
-- The flag of Peru was adopted by the government
of Peru in 1824.
It is a vertical triband with red outer bands and a single white middle band.
And the version with the coat of arms was adopted in 1950.
Red represents the blood that was spilled for the fight for independence, and white
represents peace and bravery.
The flag contains a coat of arms consisting of three elements: the top left section shows
the national animal (vicuña) a type of lama, the tree in the top right section is (the
cinchona tree) represents the plant life of the country, the bottom horn with coins spilling
from it represents the mineral resources of the country.
The flag of Suriname is formed by five horizontal bands of green, white, red, white, and green.
And there is a large, yellow, five-pointed star centered in the red band.
The flag was adopted on November 25, 1975, upon the independence of Suriname.
The star represents the unity of all ethnic groups, the red stripe stands for progress
and love, the green for hope and fertility, and the white bands for peace and justice.
The national flag of Uruguay has a field of nine equal horizontal stripes alternating
white and blue.
The canton is white, charged with the Sun of May.
The flag was first adopted by law on December 1828, and had 19 stripes until July 11, 1830,
when a new law reduced the number of stripes to nine.
The Sun of May is said to represent a new nation in the world.
The horizontal stripes on the flag represent the nine original departments of Uruguay.
The first flag designed in 1828 had 9 light blue stripes; this number was reduced to 4
in 1830 before the proclamation of the country's first Constitution.
The current flag of Venezuela was introduced in 2006.
The basic design includes a horizontal tricolor of yellow, blue, and red, dating to the original
flag introduced in 1811, from the Venezuelan War of Independence.
Further modifications have involved including a set of stars, multiple changes to the placement
and number of stars and inclusion of an optional coat of arms at the upper-left corner.
The flag is essentially the one designed by Francisco de Miranda for his unsuccessful
1806 expedition to liberate Venezuela and later adopted by the National Congress of
1811.
It consisted of three equal horizontal stripes of yellow, blue and red.
Miranda's flag is also the inspiration for the flags of Colombia and Ecuador.
The stars represent the 8 original provinces of the country.
According to the current interpretation, the colors signify:
Yellow: represents all the gold found in the Venezuelan land.
Blue: represents the seas on Venezuela's shores, the rivers that run through, and the sky above.
Red: represents the blood spilled for Venezuela's independence.