Simón Bolívar: The Flag Of Venezuela

My country is Venezuela. Venezuela is located on the Northern tip of South America and Colombia is it’s neighbor to the West. Venezuela was founded on July 5, 1811 by Simón Bolívar. The inspiration behind the flag originally came from the one used by the liberation leader, Francisco de Miranda from his expedition in 1806. The Venezuelan flags colors are red, blue, and yellow. The yellow stripe is on the top of the flag, the blue is in the middle, and the last stripe is red. In the middle, on the blue stripe there are eight white stars that form an arc. Venezuela’s shield is in the top left corner of the flag. The shield is featured on the flag of the government and military authorities only. The three features that I will explain are the stars on the flag, the significance of the color red on the flag, and also the horse on the shield.

The first feature I am explaining is the stars on the flag. There are eight stars on the flag today. The original seven stars were added to the flag in 1836 which represent the seven original united provinces that supported Venezuela’s independence and signed the Independence Act, on July 5, 1811. The provinces were Caracas, Cumaná, Barcelona, Barinas, Margarita, Mérida and Trujillo. In 2006, the eighth star was added in honor of Simón Bolívar.
The second feature that I am explaining is the red color on the flag. The
color red represents the fallen heroes during the independence struggles. It also represents bravery because when Venezuela was fighting for its independence, there was no consistent battle plan for Venezuela to be free. Also, when the Venezuelan army wasn’t strong enough, Simón Bolívar took his people across the Andes, losing half the army on the way, and eventually reached Colombia. Colombia was untouched from the battle so Simón Bolívar recruited some of the people who were willing to join the battle. The Venezuelan army grew bigger and defeated Spain.

The final feature I am explaining is the horse on the Venezuelan shield. The wild, white horse represents Simón Bolívar’s horse, Palomo. The horse is running free. This is a symbol of the freedom and independence of the nation and also a symbol that shows Simón Bolívar rode his white horse to victory in the Venezuelan War of Independence which started on April 19, 1810 and went on until 1823. Later, Venezuela gained full independence in 1830. This symbol used to have the horse going to the right but today it is going to the left. The change in direction of the horse was made in 2006, by the president at the time, Hugo Chávez.

I learned that all the features are related to how Venezuela fought to make their country what it is today and how they fought to earn what they wanted the most: independence.
The feature that I thought was the most important was the white horse on the shield. The free running horse is a symbol of the independence and freedom of Venezuela. This symbol also represents the people of Venezuela who worked hard and waited long to become a free nation. All these features are important because they show how Venezuela has developed over time and they show what hard work Venezuela has done to make the great country it is
today.