Flag of Brazil

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Navy Jack

The flag of Brazil has a green field on which a large yellow rhombus is centered. A blue circle is placed within the rhombus, with white stars of five different sizes and a curved white band running through it. The motto Ordem e Progresso ("Order and Progress") is inscribed in capital letters (of the same shade of green as the field) inside the band.

This flag is sometimes called Auriverde which means "(of) gold and green". The next-to-last stanza of Castro Alves' Navio Negreiro is one example^[1].

The modern flag was officially adopted on November 19, 1889. The concept was the work of Raimundo Teixeira Mendes, with the collaboration of Miguel Lemos and Manuel Pereira Reis. The design was executed by Décio Vilares.

The current national flag and ensign maintains the same design with some minor changes. This 27-star version was adopted on May 12, 1992 (Law 8.421, May 11, 1992).

1 History
2 The colors
3 Symbolism
4 The Stars
5 Historical flags of Brazil
6 Trivia
7 References
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] History

Upon the proclamation of the First Republic, one of the leading figures in the process, lawyer and recently-appointed Minister of Finances and Taxation Ruy Barbosa, proposed a design for the national flag that was strongly inspired by the flag of the United States. This flag was used only for 4 days beginning November 15, 1889.

Image:Flag of Brazil 15-19 November.svg

Image:FIAV historical.svg Barbosa's design, used November 15–19, 1889.

On November 19, 1889 the "father of the Republic" and acting president, field marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, vetoed the design, claiming that it was too much of a copy of another country's flag. Fonseca, who had been a royalist all his life and only led the coup that resulted in the proclamation of the Republic because he felt that the Emperor's actions were putting the country's stability in jeopardy, then suggested that the new Republican Flag should resemble the Imperial Flag. The decision was then made to replace only the royal crest with a new design (eventually decided to be the blue globe with the stars and the positivist motto). The objective in doing so was to reassert the continuity of the national unity during the transition from a Constitutional Monarchy to the Republican model. Raimundo Teixeira Mendes' design was presented to president Fonseca and promptly accepted.

Barbosa's design, however, was the basis for the state flag of Goiás.

[edit] The colors

Color scheme	Green		Yellow		Blue		White
RGB		0-146-62		248-193-0		40-22-111		255-255-255
CMYK^[2]		100-0-58-43		0-22-100-3		63-80-0-56		0-0-0-0-0

[edit] Symbolism

Brazil's current flag was inspired by the flag of the former Brazilian Empire. On the imperial flag, the green represented the Imperial House of Braganza of Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil, and the yellow represented the Habsburg Imperial Family of Empress Leopoldina, Pedro I's first wife. Thus, green and yellow are the colours of the Families of origin of the first imperial couple, founders of the Brazilian monarchy. The centre of the old imperial flag bore the Imperial Coat of Arms.

Image:Flag of the Second Empire of Brazil.svg

Image:FIAV historical.svg The Empire Flag, September 18 1822–November 15 1889

On the modern republican flag, the coat of arms has been replaced by the blue circle, which depicts the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of November 15, 1889 – the day the Republic of Brazil was declared. It is shown as seen from outside of the celestial sphere (i.e. the view is mirrored).

The stars, whose position in the flag reflect the sky above Rio de Janeiro on November 15, 1889, represent the union's member-states - each star representing a specific state (which is not the case of the stars in the flag of the United States). The number of stars changes with the creation of new states and, since the early days of the republic, has risen from an original 21 stars to the current 27, standing for the 26 states and the Federal District.

The star that represents the Federal District is Sigma Octantis, a star whose position near the south celestial pole makes it visible across almost the whole country, all year round. In addition, given its polar position, all the other stars depicted on the flag trace appear to rotate around Sigma Octantis. Choosing this star to represent Brazil's capital is therefore particularly apt (although it is a much fainter star than any of the others).

The motto Ordem e Progresso ("Order and Progress") is inspired by Auguste Comte's motto of positivism: L’amour pour principe et l’ordre pour base; le progrès pour but ("Love as a principle and order as the basis; progress as the goal"). It was inserted because several of the people involved in the military coup d'état that deposed the monarchy and proclaimed Brazil a republic were followers of the ideas of Comte's thought.

[edit] The Stars

Image:Brazil flag stars.svg

The stars on the flag

The flag of Brazil contains 27 stars. The constellation of the Southern Cross is on the meridian (indicated by the number 6 in the diagram). To the south of it is Polaris Australis (Sigma Octantis, numbered 7), representing the Federal District. The star of Pará stays on top. The motto appears on a band roughly coincident with the ecliptic.

A list of constellations and stars on the map:

Procyon (α Canis Minoris),
Canis Major, with the largest star depicting Sirius,
Canopus (α Carinae),
Spica (α Virginis)
Hydra
Crux
Sigma Octantis (σ Octantis; south pole star)
Triangulum Australe
Scorpius, with the largest star depicting Antares

The stars representing the Brazilian states (except Sigma Octantis which represents the capital or Federal District):

State	Star	Constellation	Size (1=largest)
Amazonas	Alpha Canis Minoris (Procyon)	Canis Minor, the Little Dog	1
Mato Grosso	Alpha Canis Majoris (Sirius)	Canis Major, the Great Dog	1
Amapá	Beta Canis Majoris (Mirzam)	Canis Major, the Great Dog	3
Rondônia	Gamma Canis Majoris (Muliphen)	Canis Major, the Great Dog	4
Roraima	Delta Canis Majoris (Wezen)	Canis Major, the Great Dog	2
Tocantins	Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara)	Canis Major, the Great Dog	2
Pará	Alpha Virginis (Spica)	Virgo, the Virgin	1
Piauí	Alpha Scorpii (Antares)	Scorpius, the Scorpion	1
Maranhão	Beta Scorpii (Graffias)	Scorpius, the Scorpion	3
Ceará	Epsilon Scorpii	Scorpius, the Scorpion	2
Alagoas	Theta Scorpii (Sargas)	Scorpius, the Scorpion	2
Sergipe	Iota Scorpii	Scorpius, the Scorpion	3
Paraíba	Kappa Scorpii	Scorpius, the Scorpion	3
Rio Grande do Norte	Lambda Scorpii (Shaula)	Scorpius, the Scorpion	2
Pernambuco	Mu Scorpii	Scorpius, the Scorpion	3
Mato Grosso do Sul	Alpha Hydrae (Alphard)	Hydra, the Water Serpent	2
Acre	Gamma Hydrae	Hydra, the Water Serpent	3
São Paulo	Alpha Crucis (Acrux)	Crux, the Southern Cross	1
Rio de Janeiro	Beta Crucis (Mimosa)	Crux, the Southern Cross	2
Bahia	Gamma Crucis (Gacrux)	Crux, the Southern Cross	2
Minas Gerais	Delta Crucis	Crux, the Southern Cross	3
Espírito Santo	Epsilon Crucis	Crux, the Southern Cross	4
Rio Grande do Sul	Alpha Trianguli Australis	Triangulum Australe, the Southern Triangle	2
Santa Catarina	Beta Trianguli Australis	Triangulum Australe, the Southern Triangle	3
Paraná	Gamma Trianguli Australis	Triangulum Australe, the Southern Triangle	3
Goiás	Alpha Carinae (Canopus)	Carina, the Keel of Argo	1
Brasília, DF (Federal District)	Sigma Octantis (Polaris Australis)	Octans, the Octant	5

[edit] Historical flags of Brazil

The list below identifies other flags also used in Brazil prior to the foundation of the Republic:

OrderOfCristCross.svg Military Order of Christ Flag (1332–1651)	Flag Portugal sea (1500).svg Royal Flag (1500–1521)	Flag Portugal (1495).svg Dom John III Flag (1521–1616)	Flag Portugal (1616).svg Spanish Domain Flag (1616–1640)
Flag John IV of Portugal (alternative).svg Restoration Flag (1640–1683)	Flag Princes of Brazil.svg Flag of the Principality of Brazil (1645–1816)	Flag Peter II of Portugal.svg Dom Peter II Flag (1683–1706)	Flag John V of Portugal.svg Dom John V Flag (1707–1750)
Flag John V of Portugal with Order of Christ.svg Royal Flag (1600–1700)	Flag United Kingdom Portugal Brazil Algarves.svg United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve (1816–1821)	Flag Kingdom of Brazil.svg Flag of the Kingdom of Brazil, in the United Kingdom (1816–1821)	Flag Portugal sea (1830).svg Flag of Constitutional Regime (1821–September 18 1822)
Flag Regent Prince of Brazil.svg Flag of the independent Brazilian Kingdom (September 18–December 1, 1822)	Flag of the First Empire of Brazil.svg First Imperial Flag (December 1 1822–c.1870)	Flag of the Second Empire of Brazil.svg Second Imperial Flag (c.1870–November 15, 1889)	Flag of Brazil 15-19 November.svg First Flag of Republic of the United States of Brazil (November 15–19, 1889)
Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Second Flag of Republic of the United States of Brazil (November 19, 1889–April 14 1960).	Flag of Brazil (1960-1968).svg Third Flag of Republic of the United States of Brazil (April 14 1960–May 28, 1968).	Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg First Flag of the Federative Republic of Brazil (May 28, 1968–May 11, 1992).	Flag of Brazil.svg Second Flag of the Federative Republic of Brazil (May 11, 1992–Present).

[edit] Trivia

The Brazilian national flag flown in the Square of the Three Powers in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil is the world's biggest regularly hoisted. This flag weighs about 600 kilograms (1300 pounds) when dry and measures 70×100 metres (230x330 feet).