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Republic of New Granada (1831-1856) (Colombia)

Republica de Nueva Granada

Last modified: 2024-03-02 by rob raeside
Keywords: colombia | new granada | nueva granada | granada |
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image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001



See also:


Overview

The Republic was established after the dissolvement of the Republic of Colombia (Great Colombia) with seccession of Ecuador (Quito, Guayaquil and Azuay) and Venezuela (with Orinoco, Apure and Zulia) and was formed by the departments of  Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena and  Istmo, all in the current Republic of Colombia (except Istmo that is the current Panama). On November 1831 those departments created the Republic of Nueva Granada, but nothing was established about symbols. Old symbols were confirmed provisory by the National Convention of 17 Dicember 1831. It is not clear what flag was it: Restrepo believe that is the flag with two cornucopias of Great Colombia. While new symbols were discused some proposals were issued. On 9 May 1834, the national flag was adopted and was used until 26 November 1861, with the greatcolombian colors in Veles arrangement. Merchant ensign has the eighpointed star in white. In 1851 new civil war when conservative ans slavist from Cauca and Antioquia, led by Manuel Ibánez, Julio Arboleda and Eusebio Borrero, revolted against liberal president  José Hilario López trying to stop the process of liberation of slaves and for some religious affairs.
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001


Proposals

Proposal based in the old Cartagena colors

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Ratio 2:3. Adopted: Never. The flag is based is the old Republic of Cartagena colours.
Jaume Ollé 20 December 1996

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Flagmaster quote similar (same?) proposal dated 24 December 1833 from Alejandro Vélez Barrientos, but it must be a mistake and the correct Veles proposal is the previous one.
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Proposal for a merchant ensign

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Alejandro Vélez Barrientos also proposed a merchant ensign.
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

This flags were close to be adopted on 3 January 1834, the proposals of Vélez were in way to be adopted with a minor modification: in the merchant flag the star must be white instead of blue, but Santander rejected the proposals at the end.
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

    images located by Esteban Rivera, 21 July 2023

In 1833 (or possibly even before during his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs 1831-1832) Alejandro Vélez Barrientos proposed a version of the Coat of Arms which featured a horse in it (source:
https://www.elnuevosiglo.com.co). However, it was not adopted.
Esteban Rivera, 21 July 2023


The Flag

image by Jorge Candeias, 1 October 1999
1:2 variant

Adopted: 9 May 1834. Abolished: 26 November 1861.
The republic was proclaimed in Novemebr 1831 in the departments of Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Isthmus and Magdalena (two years after the deccesion of Quito and Guayaquil), but the flag and arms were ratified 17 December 1831. The flag was confirmed for the government of the Grenadine Confederation, proclaimed in May 1856 with eight states (Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Isthmus, Magdalena and Santander).
Jaume Ollé, 20 December 1996

From http://www.presidencia.gov.co/historia/emblemas.htm (defunct):
"At 8 May 1834 when the verticality triumphs, is adopted as a banner of Nueva Granada" [the flag is a vertical tricolour, red, blue and yellow in 1:2 proportions].
Jorge Candeias, 1 October 1999

The flag of New Granada/Colombia with vertical stripes had (in the state flag) the coat of arms in the center. a site shows a pic with the full coat of arms with flags on either side. The source given is an original one describing the law and showing a picture of the flag. That picture is redrawn and shown on that flag site with explaining text that there were several versions of the arms on the flag, although the source says that the CoA were not changed for a long time. What the publisher or editor of this Colombian page did not see was the small note beside the flag in the original book, which says "the full CoA is only in the flag for decorative reasons, the correct flag only shows the shield of the coat of arms". That question had been answered in 1939 (!) by Ottfried Neubecker, and can be read in that original book, but not in later flag books, who "proudly" show the full coat of arms in that flag, although that is wrong!
Ralf Stelter, 27 June 1999


Civil Ensign

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Merchant Ensign - Ratio 2:3. Adopted: 9 May 1834. Abolished: 26 July 1861. The star was changed "de facto" to fivepointed one.
Jaume Ollé, 20 December 1996

This flag appear in 1:1 form at Steenbergen Book (1862) [stb] as No. 348 - New Grenada merchant.
Jaume Ollé, 11 March 2003

Variant

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

De facto, the star in the merchant ensign was changed to a fivepointed one.
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001


War Flag, Naval Ensign and Flag for Representative of the Republic Abroad

1) image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

2) image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

3) image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

This flag appear in 1:1 form at Steenbergen Book (1862) [stb] as No. 349 - New Granada war. In the ribbon that the eagle hold in his beak is the motto "Libertad y orden" (Freedom and order).
Jaume Ollé, 11 March 2003

4) image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

5) image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

6) image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Ratio 2:3. Adopted: 9 May 1834. Abolished: 26 November 1861. The colour of the ithmus was changed de facto to green. On the sides of the shield there were added, also de facto, two flags (to the right of the observe the war flag and to the left the merchant ensign) and afterwards it was increased to four flags (two to each side), that finally obtained their legal sanction many years after. The green base of the shield disappeared very soon. The moto is: "Libertad - orden" (Freedom - Order).
Jaume Ollé, 20 December 1996

Navel ensign, military flag and flag for the external representatives. Succesive changes were issued in the arms were really used. When the base disapeared, Istmus was represented in green. Later the flags in the arms were two instead a single one.
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

At J.W Norie - J.S. Hobbs: Flaggen aller seefahrenden Nationen, 1971 [nor71] (original print 1848):
280 New Granada - as above except with flywise stripes, the coat of arms off-set towards the fly, with the shield (with the scroll on top of it) fitting the blue stripe, and the bird mirrored and yellow outlined black. (It's not possible to recognize any green base under the shield.)
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 12 November 2001


National Guard Flag

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Ratio 2:3. Adopted: 20 May 1849. Abolished: 26 November 1861. On the reverse of the flags and banners of the local National Guard appeard the name of the army body (identified according to the name of the administrative canton) and the motto: Freedom and order. (Libertad y orden) . On the reverse of the flags of the auxiliary National Guard appeard "Battalion number X of National Guard". The color of the letters was not specified
Jaume Ollé, 20 December 1996

On 20 May 1849, the National Guard flag was adopted . In the reverse there was the inscription: "batallon número XX de la Guardia Nacional". Color of the letters is not quoted, but In my opinion, probably argent.
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001


War Flag and Naval Ensign (April - December 1854)

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

image by Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001

Ratio 2:3. Adopted: April 1854 (?). Abolished: December 1854 (?). The motto is: "Ab ordine libertas" .
Jaume Ollé, 20 December 1996

Another war started 1854 when José María Melo made a coup d'etat against José María Obando on 17 april 1854.  After the coup, several generals created their own regional armies and went to Bogota where Melo was defeated. During Melo presidency a different naval ensign was used (c. April to December 1854). It iss not known weather any text was creating the new arms, but illustration is published by Bohorquez, from where it was taken by Ortega Ricaurte. After Melo was defeated, the previous ensign was in use (in part of the country it was never supressed).
Jaume Ollé, 20 October 2001


Reconstructed Army and Navy Flags

image by E.R., 10 August 2009
Reconstructed Army Flag

image by E.R., 10 August 2009
Reconstructed Navy Flag

During a military parade held in the Municipality of Tame, in the Department of Arauca, there were the flags of the Colombian Navy and Army as seen in this photo.
On the left hand side of the picture, one can see the dark blue Navy flag with the coat of arms of the Republica de Nueva Granada (Republic of New Granada) which existed between 1831 and 1856.
On the right hand side of the above mentioned picture, one can see the red Army flag with the same Coat of Arms.
This leads me to think that those were the first Colombian Navy and Army flags after its independence. I also believe that the flags shown in the photograph are reconstructions, since the correct version of the Coat of Arms is the one below. For example notice the Condor pointing down here and notice the pointing to the left on the Army website picture. Also notice that the two flags at the sides of the coat of arms have yellow as the top color which is incorrect as the top color should be red.
E.R., 10 August 2009


Coat of Arms proposal

image by Eugene Ipavec, 14 May 2009

Based on page 58 of the book "Himnos y Símbolos de Nuestra Colombia", by Julio César García, Published in 2000 by Camer Editores, ISBN 958-33-1489-7.
The Enciclopedia Nuestra Colombia image is essentially identical, except in that the arms include a patch of ground beneath the shield.
E.R., and Eugene Ipavec, 14 May 2009

This image is of better quality and it is a true representation of the coat of arms.
Esteban Rivera, 21 April  2010

There's a sketch (20 X 16 cms) of a proposal for a Coat of Arms for the Republic of New Granada (1830-1858) The original sketch from the Archivo General de la Nación (General Archives of the Nation, a government entity dedicated to preserve historical documents), as seen on the seal stamped in the sketch, on the top right hand corner, dates back to 1833.
In 1833, Doctor Alejandro Vélez proposed to Congress a project on a new flag and CoA for the country.  The flag proposed by him was to be the same flag used by the United Provinces of the New Granada in 1815 but with vertical stripes instead.
The Coat of Arms proposed by him is the one seen in this skecth: http://www.mincultura.gov.co/bicentenario/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Arch-GN15.jpg
A render colored version of the previous sketch is seen here: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Escudo_de_la_Nueva_Granada_(propuesta).svg
Sources:
http://www.mincultura.gov.co/bicentenario/?page_id=1316 (Ministry of Agriculture of Colombia, official website),
Wikipedia page on Coat of Arms.
Esteban Rivera, 21 April  2010


Flags According to Steenbergen Book (1862)

image by Jaume Ollé, 28 September 2003

No. 1039 - New Grenada, state and navy. On the ribbon is written "Libertad y orden". [stb]
Jaume Ollé, 28 September 2003

image by Jaume Ollé, 13 October 2003

No. 1065 - New Grenada. [stb]
Jaume Ollé, 13 October 2003

image by Jaume Ollé, 13 October 2003

No. 1066 - Uncaptioned, but supposedly New Grenada. [stb]
Jaume Ollé, 13 October 2003

image by Jaume Ollé, 7 November 2003

No. 1147 - New Grenada [the light green must be in fact yellow].[stb]
Jaume Ollé, 7 November 2003