At One Place

The flag of Peru

The flag of Peru
Three equal vertical bands of red, white and red.
Ratio 2:3 · current design adopted 1825
Peru

The national flag proper is the plain bicolour without arms; the version with the coat of arms is the state flag and may only be flown by government bodies, a distinction Peruvians observe and foreigners rarely do. The origin story has José de San Martín seeing a flock of red-and-white Chilean flamingos, or parihuanas, take flight at Paracas in 1820; it is charming and undocumented. The coat of arms on the state flag shows a vicuña, a cinchona tree and a cornucopia — a fauna, flora and mineral wealth triad. Confusion with Canada is common in listings, and the maple leaf is the obvious tell.

Flags it gets confused with

Peru
Canada

Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.

Flag How to tell them apart
Canada Canada has a red maple leaf on a wider white square; Peru's bands are equal thirds.
Austria and Latvia Both are horizontal; Peru's bands are vertical.

What the colours mean

  • Red #D91023 The blood shed for independence
  • White #FFFFFF Peace, and the central band

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.

Ratio
2:3
Current design adopted
1825
Colours
red, white

Common questions

What does the flag of Peru look like?
Three equal vertical bands of red, white and red.
What do the colours of the Peru flag mean?
Red: the blood shed for independence. White: peace, and the central band.
How do you tell the Peru flag from the Canada one?
Canada has a red maple leaf on a wider white square; Peru's bands are equal thirds.
When was the Peru flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1825, and its official ratio is 2:3.

Related pages

Sources

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

How these figures are compiled and checked