Flag of Panama
Panama Flag
Panama was
visited by Christopher Columbus in 1501, Vasco Nunez de Balboa
discovering the route from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans from the
Darien Isthmus in 1513. Having been governed by Spain as part of New
Granada, Panama gained its independence in 1821, then becoming part of
Gran Colombia and remaining a province until 1903, when, with help from
the United States, it became an independent nation, the U.S.
simultaneously acquiring the rights to build the Panama Canal.
The flag that was originally proposed for Panama in 1903 consisted of
seven red and yellow stripes and a blue canton charged with two golden
suns symbolizing the linking of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by the
Panama Canal. This design was rejected by the country's president, Manuel
Amador Guerrero, whose replacement flag was loosely modeled on the US's
'Stars and Stripes'. The prototype having been sewn by his wife, the
rectangular flag is divided into four quarters of red (one), white (two)
and blue (one). The colors signify the two main political parties, the
liberals (red) and the conservatives (blue), while the white denotes the
hoped-for peace between them. The blue star in one white quarter
represents the honesty of the country's life, while the red star in the
other symbolizes the law and authority of the republic.
