countries from the viceroyalty of peru
peru
The territory of Peru was originally part of the massive Incan Empire. It was conqurered by Francisco Pizarro in 1532 for Spain. The flag then became the flag of Spain. After nearly 10 years of warring with the natives, the Royal Audencia was created in 1541 to try and consolidate power. The Viceroyalty of Peru was created the next year. It then flew the flag of the Burgundy Cross, a red cross on a white background symbolizing the cross of the Apostle Andrew. All throughout the 1700s, Spain struggled to control this region. Beyond the capital, natives were in constant rebellion, and the government leaders were defecting all the time. Proud of their Incan heritage, they struggled for independence. In 1808, when Napoleon conquered Spain, ideas of mass rebellion stirred in their minds. At first they were scattered and weak, and were easily put down. However, as more officers defected, the rebellions became much stronger. Provinces all around Peru fell to the leading general, Don José de San Martin. He finally invaded Peru, and raised his flag over Lima in 1820. The flag was originally a yellow sun on a blue field. He quickly changed to a diagonally quartered flag with the coat of arms in the center. The coat of arms was the sun rising over the andes mountains as viewed from the sea. The flag was red and white, which supposedly was inspired by some flamingos that took flight as San Martin arrived in Lima. In 1822 the flag was changed to red and white horizontal stripes with the sun in the middle. However, it was not very distinguishable from the Spanish flag from a distance, so the flag was changed to vertical stripes shortly after. In 1825, a convention to establish the current flag was held. 5 projects were proposed, but all turned down. In the end, they decided just to replace the sun with a new coat of arms. The new coat of arms was a shield divided into three compartments. The top left is a llama, which represented wealth, and the top right is the national tree, the cinchona tree. The bottom is a cornucopia filled with gold, representing the mineral wealth of Peru. This flag has remained unchanged since. However, from 1836-1839, there was a north and a south Peru. The north kept its colors, while the south chose a flag of a red vertical stripe on the left with a sun and four stars over it, representing the four branches of government. The rest of the flag was two horizontal stripes of white and green. It rejoined in 1839 and adapted north Peru's colors. Since then, little has changed.
venezuelaThe first permanent settlement in Venezuela was in 1522, and they lived under the flag of Spain. For a brief period (1528-1546) the province was sold to a German banking family to pay off Spanish debts. This province would have flown the flag of Augsburg, the country where this family was from. It consisted of three horizontal stripes of red, green and white, with the coat of arms in the center. In 1546, Spain regained power and installed their flag again. From there, Venezuela was controlled either by the Viceroyalty of New Spain or Peru, but it doesn't matter because they both flew the same flags: flag of Spain and the Burgundy Cross. In 1777, the region was given its own rule under the Viceroyalty of Peru and Spain, known as the General Captaincy of Venezuela, to try and gain more control over the region. Their individual flag was a yellow cross on a green field. When Napoleon conquered Spain, things began to change, and in 1808, 7 out of the 10 provinces of the Captaincy declared independence and formed the First Republic of Venezuela. Their flag had the same structure of Columbia's flag, only they had an emblem in the top left corner. It was a picture of an Aztec woman holding a rod overlooking the sea, known as the Mother Flag. In earlier years, there was a flag of red, yellow and black, similar to Germany, but this was phased out. Just a year later, the republic was conquered, and the Second Republic of Venezuela was formed. The official flag was a black square inside a white diamond inside a red field; however, the Mother Flag stuck, and was kept and reestablished when the Third Republic was formed. Under the Third Republic, the emblem was replaced with seven blue stars on the yellow field to represent the seven provinces. In 1819, Venezuela joined Gran Columbia and took on its flags. Refer the the Columbia page for more information. When it separated from Columbia in 1830, it was changed to 3 equal stripes of yellow, blue, and red, with the coat of arms in the center. The coat of arms was later taken out, and stars were added back in. They were seven at first for the seven provinces, and then twenty, and then seven again, in the center of the flag, six in a circle around a seventh star. From there, other than the coat of arms change, it didn't changed much until 1930. From there, the stars were arranged in anarch. It has remained unchanged since
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ecuador
The region of Ecuador was a part of the Spanish Empire from the early 1500s until the early 1800s. They were a part of the Viceroyalty of Peru From the 1530's until the early 19th century. During this time, the Spanish colonial flag of the Cross of Burgundy was flown over all the colonies. In the early 1800s, there were small rebellions that called for independence from Spain. They flew a reversed cross of burgundy, and in 1809 raised a solid red flag over the city of Quito. While this rebellion was eventually put down, they eventually gained independence in 1820. Their first flag was a five striped flag of sky blue and white with three stars in the middle. These stars represented the three provinces in Ecuador. The second flag was a blue quarter with a white star on a white field. In 1822, Ecuador was absorbed by Gran Columbia, and the country adopted its flag. In 1830, after the death of both of the main leaders of Gran Columbia, the Republic was dissolved, but Ecuador retained the colors, choosing only to change the coat of arms. In 1835, the cost of arms was removed. In 1845, during the Marcist revolution, the colors of the flag were changed back to blue and white, with three vertical stripes of these colors and three stars in the middle. The flag was later changed to seven stars to represent all the provinces of the country. In 1860, after the battle of Guayaquil, new powers rose and the columbian flag was reinstalled. Since then, the only change has been to add the coat of arms to the state flag, but other than that, the flag has not changed since.
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bolivia
During most of the Spanish occupation, Bolivia was called "Upper Peru". It was under the control of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which flew the Cross of Burgundy. When the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata was formed in 1776, Bolivia was attached to it because of its rich silver mines. The flag used then was the Naval jack of Spain, since most of the trading was done by sea. After Ferdinand VII was overthrown, many of the elite in South America supported the overthrown king and rebelled. Upper Peru declared independence in 1809, but was not made an official country until 1825. They named their new country Bolivia, after revolution hero Símon Bolívar. Their flag was a horizontal triband of green, red and green. The State flag had five golden stars and olive branches in the red portion, while the Civil flag had one star. In 1826, the flag was modified, and the stars were replaced by a yellow stripe on the top of the flag. In 1836, Bolivia was a part of the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation. The flag consisted of the three states' coat of arms combined into one, united by garland on a red background (Bolivia still flew its own flag). In 1839, the confederation was overthrown. In 1851, the current flag was introduced, where the red and yellow stripes switched places. It has remained unchanged since. The red represents the blood of the rebels as well as purity of the country, yellow represents the wealth, and green represents hope.
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