What do the colours of the Chile flag mean?

White: the snow of the Andes. Blue: the sky and the Pacific. Red: the blood spilled fighting for independence.

How do you tell the Chile flag from the Texas (US state) one?

Texas has a blue vertical band running the full height of the flag at the hoist. Chile's blue is a square confined to the upper band.

When was the Chile flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1817, and its official ratio is 2:3.

The flag of Chile

A white band over a red band, with a blue square at the hoist covering the full height of the white band only, bearing a single white five-pointed star.

Ratio 2:3 · current design adopted 1817

The blue canton is a square, and its height equals the white band only — that is the whole difference from the flag of Texas, where the blue is a vertical band running the full height of the flag. Chile's design predates the Texan one by about twenty-two years, which settles the question of who copied whom, though there is no evidence either was aware of the other. The design is credited to Antonio Arcos or Gregorio de Andía y Varela and was adopted in October 1817. Chilean law is unusually strict about correct display and prosecutions for misuse do happen.

Flags it gets confused with

Flag	How to tell them apart
Texas (US state)	Texas has a blue vertical band running the full height of the flag at the hoist. Chile's blue is a square confined to the upper band.

What the colours mean

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

The symbols on it

What	What it stands for
La Estrella Solitaria	The lone star — a guide to progress and honour

Ratio: 2:3
Current design adopted: 1817
Colours: white, blue, red

Common questions

What does the flag of Chile look like?: A white band over a red band, with a blue square at the hoist covering the full height of the white band only, bearing a single white five-pointed star.
What do the colours of the Chile flag mean?: White: the snow of the Andes. Blue: the sky and the Pacific. Red: the blood spilled fighting for independence.
How do you tell the Chile flag from the Texas (US state) one?: Texas has a blue vertical band running the full height of the flag at the hoist. Chile's blue is a square confined to the upper band.
When was the Chile flag adopted?: The current design dates from 1817, and its official ratio is 2:3.

Chile Capital, area, population and currency
Every flag with white in it
The flag of United States Ratio 10:19
The flag of India Ratio 2:3
The flag of United Kingdom Ratio 1:2
The flag of Canada Ratio 1:2
The flag of Japan Ratio 2:3
The flag of France Ratio 2:3
The flag of Russia Ratio 2:3
The flag of Brazil Ratio 7:10

Sources

The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))

How these figures are compiled and checked