^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Nicaragua

by Zeljko Heimer, 24 April 1996
Flag adopted 27 August 1971, coat of arms adopted 21 August 1823

The Flag
Coat of Arms
Air Force Fin Flash

The Flag

From http://www.foonet.net/~moncada/simbolos.htm:
The National Flag: The white stripe stands for the territory of our nation and represents the purity of our fatherland. The two blue stripes mean our territory is bathed by two oceans.
translated by Santiago Dotor, 4 January 1999

According to Smith (1975b), Honduras entry (page 241) "The blue-white-blue horizontal striped flag of the United Provinces of the Center of America, based on the Argentine flag, was first hoisted in the independence struggle against Spain on 4 July 1818, when the commodore of the Argentine squadron, Louis Aury, proclaimed the first independent Central American state on islands off the eastern coast of Nicaragua. Aury's government lasted until 1821... ...(in 1823) when complete independence was established the new national flag had stripes similar to, and apparently based on, those of the first free state.."
Ned Smith, 14 May 1999

Coat of Arms

from http://www.foonet.net/~moncada/simbolos.htm, located by Dov Gutterman, 2 Jaunary 1999

The national coat of arms: The five volcanoes in the republic's coat of arms stand for the five Central American countries, the rainbow for peace and the Phrygian cap for freedom.
translated by Santiago Dotor, 4 January 1999

from http://www.scouting.nl/youtoo/nicaragua/nicgeoe.html#page3

This image of the coat of arms from a Dutch scouting encyclopedia is slightly different. However, when compared with Smith (1975b), Smith (1980) and Crampton (1989) (which are the same apart from black outlines of the gold letters in Crampton and minor shade differencies) the following discrepancies can be identified: 1) the upgoing ray is "under" the rainbow 2) relative position of the five rays touching the sea is tighter (so they all come "within" the volcanos 3) rays are thinner (but that might not be of importance due to smaller images) 4) the cap is somewhat smaller (but as above again) 5) volcanos seem to be (only slightly) higher and steeper 6) two dots in inscription are smaller 7) the spaces between words in the inscriptions are much smaller (a much bolder font would solve this).
Zeljko Heimer, 17 May 1999

The blue-white-blue pattern is common to all the central American states, being a reminder of the union from the beginning of the 19th century. Each of the five original countries found a way to differentiate the flag. Costa Rica put a red stripe in the middle, Nicaragua and El Salvador their coats of arms, Honduras five stars, and Guatemala turned the stripes vertically. All of the states (except Guatemala) have common elements on their coat of arms - mountains (volcanoes) with a sea on each side, secessionist cap, spectrum, stars, and the inscription 'America Central'. The triangle symbolizes equality. Civilians on the land may use, also, the flag without the arms.
Zeljko Heimer, 24 February 1996

The COA of Nicaragua was basically adopted on 21 August 1823 (as COA of Central America), but it underwent several changes, until the last version (1999) was introduced in 1971. The COA mentioned by Mr Heimer are from a "third class source" and is completely incorrect.
Before Nicaragua became one state (in 1825) there were two governments: Leon and Granada.
Ralf Stelter , 13 June 1999

Here is the present COA of Nicaragua
Fred Drews , 20 November 1999

Old CoA

by Fred Drews , 20 November 1999

Air Force Fin Flash

by Dov Gutterman and Zeljko Heimer, 11 October 1999

Fuerza Ae'rea de Nicaragua uses the national flag without the COA in ~5:8 prop. as fin flash.
Dov Gutterman , 11 October 1999