History of the Peru Flag: 1820, 1822, 1825 & the Modern Design
Peru’s red-and-white flag did not appear in its modern form all at once. It changed several times during the independence era before the vertical tricolour became permanent.
1820: José de San Martín creates the first republican flag
José de San Martín established Peru’s first national flag by decree on October 21, 1820. The design divided the cloth diagonally into red and white fields and placed a landscape-and-sun emblem at the centre.
March 1822: Torre Tagle simplifies the design
Because the first design was difficult to manufacture, José Bernardo de Tagle introduced a simpler red-white-red flag with horizontal bands and a red sun in the centre.
May 1822: the stripes become vertical
The horizontal version could be confused with Spain’s flag at a distance, so a new decree on May 31, 1822 turned the red-white-red bands vertically. That basic layout survives today.
1825: the coat of arms replaces the sun
On February 25, 1825, Peru retained the vertical tricolour and replaced the central sun with the national coat of arms. This became the basis for official state versions of the flag.
1950: the plain national flag
Decree Law No. 11323 clarified the modern forms of Peru’s national symbols. The ordinary national flag used by private citizens is the plain red-white-red tricolour, while state forms continue to use official emblems.
Timeline
| 1820 | San Martín’s first red-and-white flag |
|---|---|
| March 1822 | Horizontal red-white-red design |
| May 1822 | Vertical red-white-red layout |
| 1825 | National coat of arms adopted on official flag |
| 1950 | Modern plain national flag clarified |
