This Week In Vexillology #46

Last week, we slipped north of the border to the Great White North and this week in vexillology, we're heading back down to South America and the Plurinational State of Bolivia!

Originally known as Upper Peru, Bolivia was named after one of South America's Great Liberators, Simon Bolivar who helped free the country from Spain in 1825.    The first flag of the country had three stripes of red, green and red with five gold stars within laurel wreaths which stood for the original five departments of the country.  In 1826, the flag was altered to three equal stripes of yellow, green and red with the arms of the country (more on them later) in the center.  The flag assumed it's present form on November 30th, 1851 when it was adapted for national and civil usage.  

The red in the flag recalls valor, the yellow Bolivia's mineral reserves and the green symbolizes fertility.   The red and the green were retained from the flag of 1825.  The official flag still has the arms of the country in the center:

Regulated in 1888, it depicts Mount Potosi, an alpaca, a wheatsheaft and a breadfruit tree.  (Together these represent the country's agricultural and industrial wealth.)  The flags and the weapons represent the people's willingness to defend the state- and because it's South America, the bird on the crest is a condor.   The oval ring contains the nine stars that represents Bolivia's nine departments.

But there's also another flag of Bolivia- established by the 2009 Constitution, the Wiphala:

The Wiphala is commonly used as the flag or emblem of all the native peoples of the Andes and hearkens back to the Incan Empire centuries ago.  There are several varieties of this emblem- and they vary depending on the old suyu or region of the Incan Empire they are meant to represent.  This one is the Wiphala of the Quila Suyu.

So now we have to get the one thing everybody's dying to know:  what the heck is up with the two capitals?  Well, basically, the Constitution recognized Sucre as the capital of Bolivia but because of it's relative remoteness and after the decline of the silver mining in Potosi, everybody moved to La Paz.  The 2009 Constitution continued to recognize Sucre as the capital of Bolivia and while the Supreme Court is located in Sucre, making it the judicial capital as well, the President and Congress still remain in La Paz making that city the seat of government. So now you know- and as GI Joe is so quick to point out, knowing is half the battle!

Give it up for the Plurinational State of Bolivia, kids- and remember, until next time, keep your flags flying- FREAK or otherwise!