What does the flag of Brazil mean? History of the flag. Brazil Flag on a green yellow diamond background

Brazil is a tourist paradise, a country with an amazing culture and wonderful climate, unique nature and friendly people. Of all the countries in South America, Brazil has the largest area and population. “Land of the Holy Cross”, that’s what it was called before. Today, Brazil is a progressive, developing country with the most beautiful beaches in the world, which every traveler dreams of visiting.

About the national symbols of Brazil, namely what it looks like and what it symbolizes brazil flag, will be discussed in this article.

One of the most interesting national symbols of the modern world is the flag of Brazil.

Appearance of the flag

The flag of Brazil, pictures of which clearly illustrate this article, is considered one of the most original symbols of state power.

The flag itself is painted bright green. The golden-yellow rhombus in its center is placed in a vertical position, inside the rhombus there is a sphere of rich blue color, on which 9 constellations made up of 27 white stars are applied. The sphere is crossed in the center by a ribbon arching slightly upward. On its white background, the motto of the republic is inscribed in green. In Portuguese it sounds like this: “Ordem e Progresso”, which translates into Russian as “order and progress”. This is a short form of the proven statement of the famous philosopher Auguste Comte, the founder of positivism. “Love as a principle, order as a basis, progress as a goal,” this is the full statement. The saying was popular in progressive society at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, especially in its political circles. Therefore, the government of the republic decided to make this lemma the motto of the Federal Republic, and put the abbreviated form on the state flag.

Historical reference: brazil flag was approved on November 19, 1889 by the government of the renewed country, when Brazil, through a military coup, changed the status of a monarchy to a republic. It existed in this form until May 28, 1968, then the appearance of the state flag changed a little more. On September 1, 1971, its final version was approved.

Sphere and constellations

The greatest interest of many foreigners when looking at the Brazilian flag is the celestial sphere with a white stripe and constellations. They are placed on the flag exactly as the azimuth and stars would have been if they had been observed in the skies over Rio de Janeiro from outside the celestial sphere at exactly 8:30 a.m. on November 15, 1889. At this moment, the Republic of Brazil began to exist. Each of the 27 subjects of the federal republic has its own star on the sphere of the state flag. The stars are collected in 9 constellations, they decorate Brazil flag, pictures with the image of which clearly shows the location and name of each constellation.

Flag colors

The people of Brazil themselves call their flag “gold-green”. These colors were chosen for the flag of Brazil in 1822, when the Brazilian Empire gained independence from Portugal. This significant event for the country took place during the reign of Emperor Pedro I from the ruling dynasty of the House of Braganza and Bourbon. The symbol of this house was green. Yellow is the color of the dynasty of the emperor’s wife, Maria Leopoldina, who bore the title of Archduchess of Austria. She came from the Habsburg family.

However, among the residents of Brazil there is their own alternative version of the meaning of the colors of the national flag. Many Brazilians believe that the color green is a symbol of the country's countless natural resources. After all, the endless forests of the Amazon produce about half of the world's oxygen. Yellow color symbolizes gold. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, people mined gold ore in the country and received more gold than previously existed in the whole world.

The flag of Brazil is a worthy symbol of this beautiful country. Historically, the love of many Russian people for Brazil makes them want to go there for permanent residence or just on a tourist trip. Therefore, by becoming familiar with the history of the Brazilian national flag, you will only add to your “rating” in the eyes of local residents, because Brazilians are very proud of their country.

Flag and Anthem of Brazil, video:

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The Brazilian flag in its modern form was officially approved at the state level on May 11, 1992. The local population is very respectful of this national symbol due to its close connection with the history of the state. The Brazilians themselves call it “oroverdi” (“golden-green” translated from Portuguese).

general description

The Brazilian flag is a green panel, the sides of which are in a ratio of 7 to 10. In the center there is a horizontal yellow diamond on it. Inside it is an image of a dark blue circle with 27. Each of them is included in one of the nine constellations. In addition, the circle is intersected by a white ribbon, which bears the country's national motto - “Ordem e Progresso” (this inscription on the Brazilian flag means “Order and Progress”).

Symbolism

According to the official version, the cloth is green in color, because this color symbolizes the fact that it is widespread throughout the country. It is also one of the main sources of profit for the state. In addition, it is also associated with the forest resources of the Amazon. A yellow diamond is a diamond that signifies wealth. In addition, it denotes the gold deposits for which the country’s lands were famous from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. As for the blue ball, it symbolizes the earthly sphere, as well as the sky above Rio.

Speaking about what the Brazilian flag means, it should be noted that one interesting historical legend is associated with the stars on it. There is an opinion among the inhabitants of the country that their number and location is exactly the same as it could be seen by a person over Rio at 8:30 a.m. on November 15, 1889. The fact is that it was then that Brazil was proclaimed a republic. The 27 stars on the state symbol belong to Scorpio, Octant Carina Argo, Hydra, Virgo, Southern Triangle, Canis Minor and Canis Major. Moreover, each of the 26 stars corresponds to one of the states of the Federation, and the 27th one corresponds to the Federal District of Brasilia.

As for the white ribbon, there is currently no reliable information or evidence of its symbolism. At the same time, there are two main hypotheses among scientists regarding its appearance. According to the first version, it marks the equator. Based on the second, it simply frames the motto inscribed on the cloth.

Historical meaning of flowers

In addition to all of the above, one cannot fail to note the fact that the colors of the Brazilian flag have historical origins. In particular, the green color was used in the symbolism of Emperor Pedro the First, and later by representatives of the Braganza dynasty, from which he came. associated with the Habsburgs (the first Empress Maria Leopoldina was one of them).

It was this ruler who, on September 7, 1822, while still in the status of Prince Regent, tore off the blue and white Portuguese cockade and proclaimed that Brazilians would now have their own national colors. Eleven days later, one of the first in the history of independent Brazil, a decree was signed that approved the national cockade. According to this document, two colors were to be used for it - yellow (as a symbol of gold) and green (denoting spring).

Short story

The modern design of the Brazilian flag was approved by decree of the provisional government on November 19, 1889. Then it was based on the imperial banner that appeared after the declaration of independence of the state in 1822, the author of which was the French artist Jean-Baptiste Debray. The fundamental difference was the blue ball, which replaced the coat of arms of the country's ruling dynasty. Its design was developed by a group of adherents of the positivist movement, led by Professor Raymond Teixeira Mendes. He also proposed a national motto. The design on the flag was created by artist Deciu Vilares.

Since then, the Brazilian flag has undergone several changes. They concerned exclusively the increase in the number of stars on it, which, in turn, depended on the number of states included in the state. In particular, in 1889 there were 21 of them, in 1960 - 22, in 1968 - 23, from 1992 to the present day - 27.

Coat of arms and anthem of Brazil

It is the national symbol of the state, which was approved four days after the declaration of its independence - November 19, 1889. Since then, its design has been changed twice - in 1968 and 1972. The height to width of this symbol must be strictly correlated as 15 to 14. On the coat of arms there is an emblem that is framed on the right by tobacco branches, and on the left by a coffee tree. In the central part there is a blue circle with the image of the Southern Cross constellation. On the blue ribbon in the first row is the official full name of the state of Brazil), and in the second - the date of its founding.

As for another national symbol - the national anthem, its current text, written by local poet Joaquim Estrada, was approved on September 6, 1922. The author of the music was a composer named Francisco Manuel da Silva, who created it on April 7, 1832.

The constellations are shown on the flag as if they were seen in the sky above the city of Rio de Janeiro by an observer located outside the celestial sphere at 8:30 am (12 o'clock sidereal time) on November 15, 1889 - the day Brazil was declared a republic . Each of the 26 states and the federal district has its own star.

The national flag was adopted on November 19, 1889 by Decree No. 4, partially amended on May 28, 1968 by Law No. 5443 and on May 11, 1992 by Law No. 8421. The current Law No. 5700 on national symbols was adopted on September 1, 1971.

The unofficial name of the flag is " gold-green"(port. "auriverde").

Flag formation

The construction of the national flag of Brazil follows the following rules:

• All ratios are calculated based on the width of the flag, which is conventionally divided into 14 equal parts, each of which is a calculation module, M.
• The length of the panel is 20 modules.
• The distance from the vertices of the rhombus to the edges of the panel is 1.7 modules.
• The blue circle in the center of the diamond has a radius of 3.5 modules.
• The center of the conventional circles forming a white ribbon curved in the form of an arch should be on the lower edge of the panel at a distance of 2 modules to the left of the intersection of the conventional line of the vertical diameter of the circle and the lower edge of the panel.
• The radius of the lower bend of the white tape should be equal to 8 modules, the radius of the upper bend of the white tape should be 8.5 modules.
• The width of the white tape is half (0.5) of the module.
• The letters of the motto “Ordem e Progresso” must be green. They should be located in the middle of the white stripe, at equal distances to the right and left, above and below. The letter “P” should be located on the nominal diameter of the circle. The location of the remaining letters is based on this. The letters in the words "Ordem" and "Progresso" must be 0.333 modules high. The width of these letters should be 0.3 modules. The height of the letter “E” should be 0.3 modules. The width of this letter should be 0.25 modules.
• Stars must be of 5 sizes: first, second, third, fourth and fifth: the diameter of the conditional circle in which a star of the first size is inscribed must be 0.3 modules, a star of the second size - 0.25 modules, a star of the third size - 0.2 module, a star of the fourth size - 0.143 modules and a star of the fifth size - 0.1 module.
• The two sides of the flag must be identical, with the white ribbon ascending from left to right (in relation to the observer facing the flag); it is forbidden to make the reverse side of the flag a mirror image of the front side.

Correspondence of stars to states

The blue circle depicts the stars of 9 constellations: Canis Major (No. 2 in the figure), Hydra (No. 5), Virgo (No. 4), Carina (No. 3), Canis Minor (No. 1), Octantus (No. 7), Scorpio (No. 9), Southern Cross (No. 6) and Southern Triangle (No. 8). The constellations depict 27 white five-pointed stars of 5 sizes, corresponding to 26 states and the Federal District:

Astronomical errors

• The stars on the Brazilian flag are never visible in the sky as depicted: such an arrangement of stars could only be seen by an external observer located outside the vault of heaven infinitely higher on the meridian of Rio de Janeiro - only in this case is the star epsilon of the Southern Cross (the star Jukhta ) may be visible on the left side of this constellation, mirroring how it is visible to people from Earth (and how it is depicted on the flags of Australia, Western Samoa, Papua New Guinea, etc.).

• The stars of the constellation Scorpio are depicted in a highly distorted arrangement in relation to each other. For example, Antares and Shaula are almost side by side on the flag, whereas in reality Antares lies near the “head of Scorpio”, and Shaula is the “sting” at the tip of the “tail of Scorpio”.

National colors

Green and yellow are the national colors of Brazil.

The green color comes from the livery color of the Bragança dynasty (port. Bragança or Brigantina), to which the first emperor of Brazil Pedro I belonged, the gold color comes from the black and gold dynastic colors of the Habsburgs, from which his wife, Empress Maria Leopoldina of Habsburg, came.

Bahian conspiracy

United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves (1816-1822)

In 1808, when Napoleon's army began war against Portugal, the king and his court moved from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, where they remained until 1821. King João VI moved Portuguese government institutions to Rio de Janeiro and, by decree on December 16, 1815, created United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves(port. Reino Unido de Portugal, Brasil and Algarves), the state symbols of which were approved by law on May 13, 1816 - the coat of arms was an image of the historical royal Portuguese coat of arms on a gold armillary sphere in a blue round field, topped with a gold royal crown. At the same time, the royal coat of arms symbolized Portugal and the Algarves, and the armillary sphere symbolized Brazil. The flag was approved to be a white rectangular panel with the image of this coat of arms in the center. Brazil did not have its own separate flag as part of the United Kingdom.

In 1820, a revolution took place in Portugal against the British troops stationed in Portugal since 1808, power passed to the Provisional Junta of the supreme government of the kingdom, which in 1821 adopted the blue and white flag, which lasted until 1911, and called for the return of King John VI from Brazil , who left his son Pedro in Rio de Janeiro, giving him the status of Viceroy Regent. The French artist and designer Jean-Baptiste Debret, who lived in Rio de Janeiro from 1816 to 1831, created the standard of the Viceroy of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, on which the coat of arms of the kingdom was placed in the center of yellow a horizontal rhombus, the vertices of which were at the edges of a green rectangular panel.

In September 1821, the Portuguese Parliament voted to dissolve the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves and abolish the royal institutions in Rio de Janeiro, thereby placing all Brazilian provinces directly under Lisbon. At the same time, military units were sent to Brazil and all Brazilian military units were placed under Portuguese command. Refusing to carry out orders from Lisbon, Viceroy-Regent Pedro proclaimed

Brazil is a country known throughout the world for its coffee, carnivals and rich nature. Usually no one goes deep into politics and history. However, it is they who are reflected in the national symbols of the country, namely the flag and coat of arms of Brazil.

Largest country on the continent

Brazil is located in the eastern part of South America. It is now a free state, a federal republic headed by a president. But the road to this was long. Since the 16th century, the Portuguese arrived here, opening the territory of Brazil to Europe and making it their colony.

The country received independent status only in 1822, first becoming a monarchy. To this day, its national language is Portuguese. It is the only country on the continent where Spanish is not spoken.

Brazil borders almost all South American countries (except Ecuador and Chile). Among them, it is the largest in terms of size and population, and also has the most developed economy. It is a member of the G20, the WTO, the UN, BRICS and Mercosur.

Coat of arms of Brazil: description

One of the modern national symbols was adopted almost a century and a half ago. It was approved in 1889, when the state transformed from a monarchy into the Republic of the United States of Brazil.

Since then, the coat of arms of Brazil has not changed. His shield is colored blue and has a round shape. In the center, five stars are arranged in the form of the Southern Cross, a constellation observed from the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. It is surrounded by a ring of gold, which, in turn, is framed by a ring of silver stars. There are exactly 27 of them, which means 26 Brazilian states and one Federal District.

The shield of the coat of arms of Brazil itself is located inside a large five-pointed star, bordered by a red and gold outline. One half of each ray is yellow, the other is green. The star is on a silver sword with a blue hilt and a gold star on a red square on it. Flowering branches of coffee (left) and tobacco (right) radiate from the sword. They symbolize the main crops grown in the country. Behind the wreaths are golden rays extending from the star.

Under the entire composition there are blue ribbons. On the top, in gold letters, the name of the state is presented in Portuguese; on the bottom, the date of the founding of the republic is written: “November 15, 1889.”

Previous coats of arms

Brazil was under Portuguese control for a long time, and the first official symbols appeared during colonial times. At least, no earlier coats of arms of the territory are known.

For three centuries, from 1500 to 1816, the emblem of colonial Brazil was a green tree on a white background. A black cross peeked out from above. The tree on the coat of arms was not chosen by chance, because from the very beginning of the conquest of the country, valuable wood species were exported from here to Europe; it could also mean coffee, which was one of the main export products.

In 1822, Brazil gained independence and became an empire. Her coat of arms is painted green. The golden sphere of the Earth appears in the center, depicted as a grid of meridians and parallels. A gold ribbon crossed it diagonally from left to right, and behind the sphere there was a red cross, on top of which there was a white one.

The central composition inside the shield was framed by a blue ring with white stars and white outlines on both sides. The shield itself was bordered by coffee and tobacco flowering branches, tied with a red ribbon. Above the coat of arms was a golden imperial crown, decorated with precious stones and pearls.

Flag of Brazil

Like the coat of arms, the modern flag was adopted back in 1889. This is a green rectangular cloth. In the center of the flag is a large yellow diamond, inside of which is a blue earth sphere. Green and yellow are the national colors of Brazil. They symbolize the country's nature and mineral resources. These are also the colors of the Braganza and Habsburg dynasties, from which the country's first emperor and his wife came.

The ball is crossed by a curved white ribbon, reminiscent of the equator. In green letters it says in Portuguese: Ordem e Progresso, which translates as “Order and Progress” and comes from the creed of Auguste Comte.

Below the ribbon are 27 silver stars in five different sizes. They symbolize the states and district of Brazil. Their arrangement is stylized to resemble the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor, Virgo, Hydra, Carina, Scorpio, Ocanthus, the Southern Cross and the Southern Triangle. According to the idea, this is what they look like from the city of Rio De Janeiro. However, they are greatly distorted, and to see them this way, you need to rise very high, beyond the sky.

Being part of the Portuguese colonial empire for several centuries, Brazil used the state symbols of the metropolis or the personal symbols of the direct representatives of the monarch. In 1815, Brazil received a new status, becoming part of the United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal and the Algarves. On the new national flag, its symbol was a celestial sphere, into which the Portuguese royal coat of arms was inscribed.

On September 7, 1822, Brazil became independent. Its new flag was created according to sketches by the French artist Jean Baptiste Debreu. The two main colors of the flag - green (background) and yellow (diamond) - meant two royal dynasties: Braganza and Habsburg, to which the first Brazilian emperor Pedro I and his wife, Don Leopoldina, belonged. Inside the diamond was a shield depicting a celestial globe and the cross of the Portuguese Order of Christ - these two elements were borrowed from colonial symbols. The celestial sphere with a cross was surrounded by a blue ribbon with 11 stars - symbols of the provinces. The shield was crowned with an imperial crown. On both sides were branches of tobacco and coffee, which were important Brazilian exports. With minor modifications, this flag survived until Brazil was declared a republic on November 15, 1889.

Already on November 19, the provisional government issued a decree defining the symbolism of the new flag. It emphasized that regime change should not mean a break with Brazil's past history. Therefore, the compositional solution of the flag - a green field with a yellow diamond inscribed in it - was decided to be retained. But the celestial sphere was depicted in a new way. The author of the project, Raimundo Teixeira Mendes, intended to present it not in the form of a globe, but in the form of a map of the starry sky at the latitude of Rio de Janeiro on the morning of the day when the republic was proclaimed. The number of stars depicted (in the constellations Southern Cross, Southern Triangle and Scorpius) corresponded to the number of states of Brazil.

True, a serious discussion flared up around such an image. The fact is that the position of the stars on this celestial sphere was presented in reflected form, as if the observer was not on Earth, but in space. As a result, a compromise was found: since from a compositional point of view the project turned out to be very successful, they decided not to change the location of the stars on the flag, but only to stipulate where such a view would open from.

If the green field, yellow diamond and celestial sphere remained traditional elements of the flag, then the motto “Order and Progress”, inscribed on a white ribbon crossing the blue sphere with stars, was a new element - a kind of reference to the ideas of the French philosopher Auguste Comte, who believed in limitless human strength and the triumph of reason.

The modern interpretation of the meaning of the colors of the national flag is no longer associated with the heraldic tradition of the 19th century. The green color represents the nature of the country, its huge forests, yellow - the wealth of the subsoil, blue - the cloudless sky, and white, composed of all the colors of the spectrum, - the world. November 19, on which the decree on the flag was adopted, is now a national holiday.