This article is about the graphics and history of the flag of Panama. For the flag's use in ship registration, see Flag of convenience.

The flag of Panama was made by María de la Ossa de Amador and was officially adopted by the "ley 48 de 1925". The Panamanian flag day is celebrated on November 4, one day after Panamanian separation from Colombia, and is one of a series of holidays celebrated in November known as the Fiestas Patrias.

The first flag proposed in 1903 consisted of thirteen horizontal stripes of alternating red and yellow, with a blue canton containing two golden suns, joined by a narrow line to depict North and South America joined by the Isthmus of Panama (see the depiction below). However, this was not accepted by the Panamanian leader, Manuel Amador Guerrero, whose family designed a new flag.

The stars and quarters are said to stand for the rival political parties, and the white is said to stand for the peace in which they operate. Blue was the color of the Conservatives and red was the color of the Liberals.

History

Bunau-Varilla proposal

Reconstruction of the Bunau-Varilla design

Flag of Panama flying from a pole

The wife of Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla designed the first serious proposal for a Panamanian flag. Bunau-Varilla's design was based on the flag of the United States, possibly on account of that country's hand in Panamanian independence. Retaining the thirteen stripes, he changed the white stripes to yellow, emphasizing the Panamanian connection to Colombia and Spain (whose flags both prominently feature red and yellow). Bunau-Varilla replaced the stars in the blue canton with two interconnected yellow suns; the suns represent North and South America, and are connected because of Panama's position connecting the two continents. Bunau-Varilla's proposal was rejected by Manuel Amador Guerrero and his fellow revolutionaries because it was too similar to the U.S. flag, and they, therefore, gave the task of designing a flag to Guerrero's son.

María de la Ossa de Amador proposal

The original Panamanian flag was made by María de la Ossa de Amador, the first First Lady of Panama, on November 1, 1903. Manuel Amador Guerrero's son, Manuel Encarnación Amador, generally recognized as a skillful draftsman, sketched the flag and showed it to María de la Ossa de Amador, who, after much difficulty in avoiding the Colombian army, eventually produced three copies of the flag, with help from her sister-in-law Angélica Bergamonta de la Ossa and niece, María Emilia de la Ossa Bergamonta. All three flags were flown in Panama City upon independence, and distributed widely. The original flag differs from the present flag in that the upper left quadrant was blue. After independence, when blue was chosen as a color of one of the political parties, the quadrants were shifted to make the top left quadrant white.

The Panamanian government officially described the flag in law on December 15, 1949, as follows:

The Flag of the Republic consists thus of a divided rectangle of four quarters: the upper field close to the pole white with a blue star of five points; the upper field further from the pole, red; the lower field near the pole, blue; and the lower one further from the pole, white with a red star of five points.

This flag was to reflect the political situation of the time:

• The blue was intended to represent the Conservative Party
• The red to represent the Liberal Party.
• The white was intended to stand for peace and purity;
• The blue star stands for the purity and honesty of the life of the country;
• The red star represents the authority and law in the country, and together the stars stand for the new republic.

Historical flags

• Cross of Burgundy, The first Spanish flag. Used as the flag of the Spanish Empire (1492–1898) and used until 1793.

• , Flag of Spain (1786–1821)

• The third flag of Gran Colombia, between 1821 and 1830.

• Provisional flag of the Republic of New Granada, effective between 1830 and May 9, 1834

• Flag of the Republic of New Granada and the Grenadine Confederation, effective between May 9, 1834, and July 26, 1861.

• Flag of the Panama State, 1855–1863.

• Flag of the Sovereign State of Panama, 1863–1886.

• Flag of the United States of Colombia and the current Republic of Colombia, used from November 26, 1861, until November 3, 1903.

• Original flag design, according to Manuel E. Amador. It was the first flag of Panama, during November 1903.

• Flag of the Panama Canal Zone (1903–1979), U.S. territory

• Current flag of the Republic of Panama: arose from the modification of the first model and began to be used before the oath of December 20, 1903, and ratified among others by Law 64 of 1904.

Source:unreliable source?

Other flags

• Naval jack of Panama

Flags of subdivisions

Provinces

• Bocas del Toro

• Chiriquí

• Coclé

• Colón

• Darién

• Herrera

• Los Santos

• Panamá

• Panamá Oeste

• Veraguas

Province-level Indigenous Regions

• Guna Yala

• Ngäbe-Buglé

• Naso Tjër Di

Corregimiento-level Indigenous Regions

• Madungandí

• Wargandí