Bestellen Sie Ihre Fahnen / Flaggen im Flaggen-Shop bei fahnenversand.de

Ecuador

República del Ecuador, Republic of Ecuador

Last modified: 2024-06-15 by daniel rentería
Keywords: ecuador | america | condor |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

(2:3) image by Zoltan Horvath, 28 May 2024

Official Name: Republic of Ecuador (República del Ecuador)
Capital: Quito
Flag adopted: 26 September 1860
Coat of Arms adopted: 5 December 1900

• Overview
• National Flag at the London 2012 Olympics
• Presidential Sash
• Military Colours
• Legislation

See also:

• Index of all Ecuadorian Pages

Other sites:

• Description of the flag and coat of arms at Ecuador Presidency site

Overview

[This time I just have recorded the contribution to having been eaten the great amount of backlogs - then I will summarize the conflicting contributions reported here, a clean-up will be done later. - The Editor]

I just returned from a trip to Ecuador, and I made a few flag observations while I was there. When I arrived in November there was little evidence of flags except over government buildings. But during the week of the Quito Fiesta the Ecuadoran and Quito flags appeared on just about every storefront, balcony, window and chimney pot. The fiesta celebrates the re-founding of Quito on 6 Dec. 1534 by Spanish General Benalcazar. Quito had pre-existed for some 4000 years, but Inca general Ruminahui had evacuated and razed the city a few days earlier.
Below is the Ecuadoran flag with no coat of arms (see: Civil Flag). This flag differs from Colombia's only in its proportions (which means they cannot be differentiated unless they are side by side and correctly manufactured.) I assume this is the civil flag. Almost all the Ecuadoran flags on display were incorrectly proportioned and showed the national coat of arms (which I assume to be the state flag version). The relative size of the coat of arms varied from about half the height to almost the full height of the field. I assume the people feel the need to include the coat of arms to differentiate their flag from neighboring Colombia's, even if it is not strictly correct to do so.

The colours of the Ecuadoran flag are said to represent:

• Red = the blood shed by the soldiers and martyrs of the independence battles.
• Blue = the color of the sea and sky.
• Yellow = the abundance and fertility of the crops and land.

The flags of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela are almost identical because at independence in 1822 they formed a confederation (Gran Colombia). They parted ways in 1830, but retained the same essential flag whose inspiration and design is attributed to freedom fighter General Francisco Miranda.
TF Mills, 11 December 1997

The Ecuadorian flag is very similar to the Venezuelan and the Colombian Flag. This happens because these three nations (under the names of Guayaquil, Venezuela and Nueva Granada) formed, back in the 1820s, the Great Colombia Republic (GCR), and then adopted the Mirandinian-Venezuelan tricolor. The ratio of this flag, however, differs from its sister flags: it's 1:2, whereas the Colombian and Venezuelan flags are 2:3. The civil flag wears only the tricolor, the state flag, as happens with Colombia and Venezuela, also sports the country's Coat of Arms. In 1860, Ecuador adopted the flag we know today.
The symbolism of the flag is analogous to those of Colombia and Venezuela ; being as follows:
Yellow, for the riches of the land and the warmth of the sun.
Blue, for the seas and sky which divide us form our motherland, Spain; and, Red, for the blood shed by the patrotical soldiers and martyrs of the independence wars.
Guillermo Aveledo, 8 October 1999

On September 26, 1860, Gabriel Garcia Moreno, Supreme Chief of Government, decreed the flag change to its present (and ancient) colours, adopting the ratio 1:2 which differentiates Ecuador flag to that of Colombia (which would adopt the same distribution of its tricolor the following year).
Guillermo Aveledo, 9 October 1999

I'm from Ecuador, and it seems that you got there two versions of the Ecuadorian flag, one as the "civilian flag", the other as the "state flag". But there is no such thing as a civilian flag. The thing is that here it is very common for people that make their own flag to "pass" the coat of arms, because of its difficulty. But there is only one flag, and it is the one with the coat of arms. It is really a mistake that people forget to put on their flag the coat of arms, but they don't really give it that much of importance, because when celebrating a national day, and showing one's patriotism, everything counts!!!
Carlos, 21 March 2000

Every publication seems to use a different eagle. at "Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustre" (1924) it is flying up looking towards the fly, but I'm sure I've seen flying up looking towards the hoist, and floating looking towards the hoist as well.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 29 October 2000

According to Album 2000 [pay00] , the plain Civil Flag of Ecuador, does not exist officially.
Jan Zrzavy, 14 January 2001

In Ecuador the civil flag and civil ensign is without arms, possibly no one cares about private use of flag with Coat of Arms. On www.explored.com.ec you find a link to the national flag, where the state flag (with Coat of Arms) is illustrated, but the text "Nacional del Ecuador" describes the plain tricolored flag. Although the text mentions the decree of 1900 it does not say anything about later changes. I do not believe that the civil ensign is with Coat of Arms as this might lead to confusion with the Colombian civil ensign, which is the same flag with a badge in the center. I think the flag with Coat of Arms is preferred in articles, maps etc. to distinguish it from the flag of Colombia, but the official civil flag is without Coat of Arms.
Ralf Stelter, 16 January 2001 and 25 February 2001

(1:2) image by Eugene Ipavec, 7 September 2006

According to Album 2000 [pay00] - National Flag (CSW/CS- (1:2)) - Note explains that private citizens sometimes fly unofficial flag without Coat of Arms. It seems to me that the distinction in usage between the flag with Coat of Arms and that one without is not quite clear, and would require more investigation. The original edition of Album 2000 have here the Coat of Arms that is greatly oversized, and as Armand explained, it should be made smaller, with height equal to 1/2 hoist size. Interesting, previous edition of Album has it right.
Željko Heimer, 1 August 2001

The Flaggenbuch (1939-41) section dedicated to Ecuador captioned it as "State ensign, used as standard of the State President, war ensign, jack of the warships, ceremonial ensign, service ensign inside the country and abroad."
Ivan Sache, 2 August 2001

While it appears that the tendency has become (similar to Spain and Argentina) to use the flag with the arms on land (both inside and especially outside the nation), this does not necessarily mean that Ecuadorian merchant ships automatically wear the flag with the arms. The few Ecuadorian merchantmen I have seen (visiting Houston TX, USA) wore the plain tricolor; While the role as "civil flag" may be fading, I wonder whether the established role as "civil ensign" should be discounted, unless legislation specifically abolishes the longstanding practice at sea.
James T. Liston, 25 November 2001

Today I saw on TV, part of ceremony of assumption of the new president of the Republic of Ecuador. As you can imagine, I observed in detail the Ecuadorian National flag and presidential band. From that observation I can comment two things:
- the shade of blue of the Ecuadorian flag (and the presidential band too) is darker than the blue one on the flags of Venezuela and Colombia. Generally, as much in books of international Vexillology or Web Pages usually shows the three flags (Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador) with similar shades of such colors, but the "Ecuadorian blue" is very dark (nearer to the shade of blue called "turqui"). That's saw clearly today.
- Another thing which caught my attention was the Ecuadorian presidential band, something distant of the design usually followed on Latin American presidential bands (to almost reproduce exactly the disposition of the flag, with the National Coat of Arms on the center). The Ecuadorian band apparently is formed by three equal strips (reproducing the Miranda's flag of three strips of equal wide like in Venezuela), difference it from the Ecuadorian Flag which has the yellow stripe with double wide, like in Colombia. Another detail which interested to me was that in addition to the Coat of Arms the band has embroidering along the text: "MI PODER" ("MY POWER") (embroidered shield)"EN LA CONSTITUCIÓN" ("IN THE CONSTITUTION").
Francisco Gregoric (translated by Raul Orta), 15 January 2003

Dean McGee wrote: "Interesting, in English, "turquoise" is usually a light, greenish blue."
As I reported, the Ecuadorian Blue looks darker than the Venezuelan and Colombian blue. You can see the Presidential Band of Ecuador at the CNN en Español Homepage: at cnnenespanol.com. The "turqui" blue for us is a blue with a little black. In Argentina it was used by Federalists in the XIXth Century instead of the "Celeste" or Sky blue in the Argentine Flag. I think that the colour you call "turquoise" is the colour we call "turquesa" in Spanish (light, greenish blue). Turquesa is also the name of a greenish blue mineral very common in Mexico and south of the USA used for jewelry For Spanish speakers "turquí" is a dark shadow of blue.
Francisco Gregoric, 17 January 2003

I think we should remember that the flag bearing arms is the 'National Flag of Ecuador' - it is not a 'State Flag' in the sense that only Government agencies may fly it.
We should, perhaps, also remember that the civil population is nowhere (in law) forbidden to fly the National Flag, so it is hardly surprising (particularly given today's cheaper manufacturing techniques) that this same civil population do so (with or without arms on one side or both).
If I have interpreted the various laws and regulations correctly, the situation is as follows:
On land
- Government agencies fly the National Flag, whilst Municipal authorities may fly either the National Flag or the special variant (with a circle of stars in place of the arms) created for them, and the civil population may fly either the Civil Flag or the National Flag.
At Sea
- Government vessels (manned by a civilian crew) fly the National Flag, civil vessels may fly either the National Flag or the Civil Ensign whilst naval ships fly a suit of flags consisting of a Naval Ensign (the National Flag in proportions of 2:3) from the stern or at the peak, a Masthead Pennant (continuously) from the main masthead and a Jack (blue field charged with a fouled anchor and condor in white) at the bow when at anchor.
Christopher Southworth, 8 May 2009

Both common Ecuadorians and Colombians use their flags with and without the arms on a daily basis.
Even though norms (laws or decrees) describe the “proper” use of “civil” and “war flags”, there is little knowledge, let alone compliance, with those norms outside police and military related institutions in both countries.
Interestingly enough, Colombian National Police units wear the flag without arms in their uniforms. Ecuador's Army Soldiers, at least near the common border, wear their flag with arms on their field uniforms. Colombian Army soldiers do not employ flags of any kind in their field uniforms, at least within Colombia (too colorful for camouflage).
Many civil institutions (Universities, Labor Unions, Private enterprises, etc…)in both Colombia and Ecuador do employ a Flag with a arms in their ceremonies, albeit it should employed only as a War Flag.
Inquiring in Ecuador on the subject of the regulation for the use of the arms, the common assumption was that there was a rule somewhere that ordered the use of the arms in every flag, but no one, not even army officers seemed to remember when or which kind of norm so ruled.
Nicolás Velásquez, 9 May 2009

There's a PDF document [e9c09] taken from the official website of the Presidency of Ecuador. It mentions the use of the flag, the "pabellón" (something like the national flag but square with the Coat of Arms on it) and several other dispositions.
E.R., 22 August 2009

On page two of this document, the ratio of the national flag is mentioned as 2:3 ratio. However, we and others have the ratio at 1:2, along with several photographs in this document. I looked up the law mentioned in the document, ResoluciónNo.24-047, yet the only thing that is mentioned is the drawing of the coat of arms.
Zachary Harden, 22 August 2009

As discussed in November of 2009, there is a document online that talks about and describes the national flag. I raised a comment about the change of ratio for the national flag from 1x2 to 2x3. While the discussion did not get anywhere, I found an answer from an unlikely source.
I ran into an official on from the Office of the President of Ecuador on the Wikimedia Commons (one of Wikipedia's sister projects). I managed to get in contact with him because of his change of the flag from 1x2 to 2x3. Turns out that the above document was created because of his efforts. He did answer some of my questions about the flag and gave me more details about the flag and arms.
The flag ratio has been 2x3 since the 1980's for the military, and due to the 2009 PDF document above, transferred to the civilian population. The 1x2 ratio was never codified into law and according to the official, it is being phased out. However, he did admit that on top of a building in the capital of Quito, there is a 4x7 meter flag that is flown. The 1x2 ratio supposedly came from a law passed in 1860 mentioned by Guillermo Aveledo in 1999, http://www.efemerides.ec/1/sep/d_b.htm has the laws (you have to hit Ctrl and A to see the text) and I do not see anything about ratio mentioned yet. The only other flag ratio that is codified into law is a 1x1 square banner that is used for ceremonial purposes.

As with many other Latin America countries, there is a civil and state flag present. The 1900 law does say there are two flags; one with the arms and one without the arms. The only thing I saw is that the flag without the arms is used by the merchant marine specifically; civilian use is not specifically mentioned. Government bodies, the military and overseas offices will use the flag with the arms. I was being told that the flag without the arms is being phased out by this official, but I have not seen anything suggested in law.

The only other information I have the flag at present is that the coat of arms is 1/2 of the width of the flag. If you place a rectangle in the middle of the flag, it needs to be 12 units wide and 10 units long and the bottom of the arms rests right at the point where the blue stripe starts. I am working with this official and seeing what kind of other flags are present and there are no official colors that been authorized for the flag (in the terms of Pantone or any other color system). He is also sending documents of various protocol elements, such as mourning and flag folding.
Zachary Harden, 24 July 2010

According to Ecuador Secretaria Nacional de Comunicacion, The proportion of the flag was changed from 1:2 to 2:3 in November 2009 and the image in Wikipedia and the image in Embassy of Ecuador in Tokyo have 2: 3 proportion already.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 19 September 2010

Wikipedia says here that the Ecuadorian National Secretariat of Communication (Secretaría Nacional de Comunicación) issued regulations describing the applications and proportions of the national flag, coat of arms, and other national symbols in November 2009.
Esteban Rivera, 19 September 2010

Types of representation of the national flag

Bandera nacional
This is the national tricolor in rectangular shape and made of fabric, charged in the middle with the coat of arms, on both sides of the flag, over the yellow and blue stripes, to be hoisted on the permanent staffs of the public, private, civil, army and police institutions.

Pabellón nacional (Estandarte)
Pabellón nacional is the name given to the national tricolor made of chamois velvet (gamuza de terciopelo) with the national coat of arms in the middle, embroidered on both sides of the flag, over the yellow and blue stripes. This flag should not be hoisted but it should be kept in a honor place (urn), hoisted on a static base.

Estandarte nacional
This is the pabellón nacional, used with the required escort. The flag should be protected and guarded by two to five guards in official ceremonies and specific events such as: [presidential] address to the nation, office taking of the president, promotions, decorations, army office taking, army parades and civil marches, national commemorations (27 February, 24 May, 10 August), commemorative ceremonies of foundation and independence of towns and provinces, official flower placements, institutional celebrations of the armed forces, of the national police and of institutions that own a standard, specific ceremonies of educational institutes, significant religious events (Te Deum), welcome and farewell to the President of the Republic, foreign heads of states, royalties, His Holiness the Pope, the Vice President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Defense traveling abroad, funeral ceremonies when the deceased person was entitled to use the standard.

Size and detail of the national flag
The bandera nacional shall have the following dimensions: 2.20 m in length and 1.47 m in hoist, charged in the middle with the national coat of arms on both sides of the flag, over the yellow and blue stripes, and centered; the dimensions can be changed provided the proportions are kept, that is a ratio of length to hoist of 3 to 2. In the army, police and public and private institutions, the relevant description [writing] forms an imaginary circle of 55 cm in the upper and lower part of the coat of arms. The letters shall be of Roman typeface, 4 cm in height and 3 cm in width, outlined in gold.

The construction sheet prescribes the coat of arms to cover one half of the flag hoist; its width appears to be slightly lower than one third of the flag length but is not specified.
Source: User's guide of the national symbols, November 2009 [e9c09].
Ivan Sache, 19 September 2010

Starting since July of 2010, I have been working with the Office of the President of Ecuador for the presentation of their symbols on Wikipedia and have been making images for their office. I also gave advice about colors, the use of the flag and what flag types should exist.
As for the flag ratio of 2x3, the government official told me that the 1x2 ratio was never confirmed into law. Some people do point to a 1900 decree as the date for the establishment of the 1x2 ratio. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Decree_of_December_5,_1900_(Ecuador) does not mention about the ratio. The earliest date I have seen for a ratio of 2x3 being official is from the late 1980's or early 1990's. The first document I have is given to the military for use of the national flag, national standard and other symbols. Annex A of the document gives the construction details for the flag. The flag is 4x6 (2:1:1x6 if you want to get detailed) and the coat of arms is placed in a grid that is 12x10. The bottom of the coat of arms rests at the very bottom of the middle blue stripe. The November 2009 document shows the exact same thing as what I wrote above, but does not dictate the 12x10 grid.
The next time the 2x3 ratio shows up again is in a 2006 military protocol book. It first mentions the 1.4x2.20 meter size (which was later repeated in the November 2009 document). In a 2009 letter issued from this office to a group (the official sent me a copy of this letter) also stated the 2x3 ratio.
The biggest thing I can pull out of this is that while there is no official law stating that the flag ratio is 2x3 (or anything else) the government is pushing towards a 2x3 ratio.
As for other issues surrounding the flag, I also strongly believe from what my contact has told me is they are pushing for the coat of arms flag to be used everywhere, including at sea. Currently, the merchant ensign is the flag without the arms, which is similar to that of Colombia. There is no "civil flag" as some people mentioned, but the 1900 decree does say who uses what flag. The local government flag is never, ever used according to my contact but still legally available to use. When flags are also made (I have two copies) the coat of arms is just painted/stitched on the obverse and the reverse is blank. I have not seen anything about must having a coat of arms on both side, but I think having such a flag like this would be very expensive to make inside of Ecuador. They are also going to have Pantone colors assigned to the flag, but I am not sure exactly when they will be issued. I did have a hand in picking the Pantone colors and also tried to reduce the overall colors in the flag. The only other thing that is supposed to happen is a document is drawn up and approved. I am not sure what kind of progress has been taken on that and my contact has been on vacation inside the US.
Zachary Harden, 19 September 2010

"Miranda gave at least two sources of inspiration for his flag. In a letter written to Count Semyon Vorontsov in 1792, Miranda stated that the colors were based on a theory of primary colors given to him by the German writer and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Miranda described a late-night conversation he had with Goethe at a party in Weimar during the winter of 1785. Fascinated with Miranda's account of his exploits in the United States Revolutionary War and his travels throughout the Americas and Europe, Goethe told him that, "Your destiny is to create in your land a place where primary colors are not distorted." He proceeded to clarify what he meant by this:
First he explained to me the way the iris transforms light into the three primary colors [? then he proved to me why yellow is the most warm, noble and closest to [white] light; why blue is that mix of excitement and serenity, a distance that evokes shadows; and why red is the exaltation of yellow and blue, the synthesis, the vanishing of light into shadow. It is not that the world is made of yellows, blues and reds; it is that in this manner, as if in an infinite combination of these three colors, we human beings see it. [? A country [Goethe concluded] starts out from a name and a flag, and it then becomes them, just as a man fulfils his destiny."
Daniel Aarhus, 23 July 2013

Very interesting writing. I've heard and read the story behind Miranda's creation of the first tricolor flag of Venezuela (which would, in turn, be adopted by Colombia and Ecuador as their national colors). However I hadn't heard the full story, so I believe it should be added to the Venezuelan, Colombian and Ecuadorian pages respectively, as they all share the same flag.
Esteban Rivera, 04 August 2013

National Flag at the London 2012 Olympics

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.
For Ecuador: PMS 109 yellow, 285 blue, 032 red, 440 brown, 430 grey, 292 blue, 355 green and black. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012

Presidential Sash

Some photos of Ecuador presidential sash are at Wikimedia and nimg.sulekha.com.
The text on sash is: MI PODER EN LA CONSTITUCIÓN.
Aleksandar Nemet, 24 January 2010

Military Colours

Ecuadorian army units carry the national flag (bandera nacional) in an approximately square format with the national coat of arms embroidered on the center and with the unit designation in an arc of gold letters above the coat of arms and in a straight line below it; gold fringe. The finial is a gilt condor with wings spread. The cravat is red with gold fringe and the flag is tied to the staff with yellow cords.
Source: pictures at www.fuerzasarmadasecuador.org.
In addition, photographs show other flags, apparently unit flags, of various designs being carried in troop formations. See www.fuerzasarmadasecuador.org.
Joe McMillan, 1 March 2002

Legislation

Decreto Legislativo relativo a las Armas de la República y Pabellón Nacional, published November 7, 1900