 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2023) |
The history of the flags of Mexico began before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, with the Flag Bearers of the Mexicas. The tri-coloured stripes date back to 1821. [1] The green represents hope and victory, white stands for the purity of Mexican ideals and red represents the blood shed by the nation's martyrs. [2] The modern day Flag of Mexico was adopted in 1968. [3]
The conquistador Hernán Cortés used a banner of conquest in 1521, the banner is represented with the bust of the Virgin Mary. [4]
The flag was painted on a red damask, wearing a golden crown accompanied by rays and twelve stars forming a semicircle on his head. As of August 13, 1528, the day of San Hipólito, Cortés ordered that the "Paseo del Pendón" be verified annually. The Paseo del Pendón was a kind of official flag festival, taking a tour of the main streets of the city and ending in the church of San Hipólito. The Royal Banner was carried by an ensign of the Colonial Guard mounted on horseback, and behind him, in hierarchical order, followed the nobility, oidores, military officers, and lastly, the people in general. [5]
Several of these banners were used as flags during the time of the viceroyalty.
The latter, which prevailed until 24 August 1821, the date on which Agustín de Iturbide and the last viceroy of New Spain signed the treaty declaring Mexico an independent nation, was square in shape, of a tawny brown color, and from the center and towards the corners the Cross of San Andrés started, with reeled arms and purple. At each of the ends of the cross finished off a shield of Mexico City, with crowned lions, and on each of the shields a royal crown.
On Sunday, 16 September 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the initiator of the Mexican War of Independence, took from the sacristy of the parish of Atotonilco el Grande, in the State of Guanajuato, an oil painting representing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This banner would be the flag in the fight for independence that the insurgents were going to undertake. The Virgin Guadalupana was taken as a protector because she was the mestizo virgin and to make the insurgents feel that her fight was not condemned by her religion. [6]
José María Morelos y Pavón used a rectangular-shaped flag with a pale blue background and another white rectangle in the center in his campaign against the royalists. In the same place stood out a bridge of three letters "VVM" (Long live the Virgin Mary). Resting on the bridge, and passing over it, was a crowned eagle. His position showed half profile.
Already advanced the War of Independence the insurgents used another flag. The banner with the Virgin had a strong religious connotation and therefore it was considered appropriate to replace it. Being before that of Iguala, it also used three colours: white, blue and red. The new flag was displayed on merchant ships that ran along the Gulf coast between Mexico and the United States. Its acceptance was immediate, to the point that in North America it was greeted with 21-gun salutes.
In the year 1821, as a result of the agreement between General Vicente Guerrero and Agustín de Iturbide, the fight for Independence came to an end. After the Plan of Iguala was signed, on 24 February, the two armies were united into one, which received the name of the "Army of the Three Guarantees." The tradition refers that a tailor from Iguala, Don José Magdalena Ocampo, made the first flag flown by this army. The three colours adopted had the following meaning: white, the purity of the Religion; green, Independence; the incarnate, the Union. The colours were placed in the indicated order and the stripes diagonally, each having a star embroidered with gold threads. This flag entered the capital at the head of the Triguarante Army on 24 February 1821. [7]
In April 1823, the deputy Don José Joaquín Herrera suggested adding an oak branch and a laurel branch to the existing flag (that of the Empire) to represent republican Mexico. Don Florencio Martínez proposed, and was accepted, that the Imperial Crown of Mexico be removed. The colours remained since they were considered to be linked to the emotions of the Mexican people. [8]
In 1892 Porfirio Díaz, at that time President of the Republic, decreed modifications to the national flag. Maintaining the colors and the order without altering, the shield presents the eagle in a frontal position, with the wings collected and holding the serpent with the right claw. One can see a laurel branch and an olive branch placed in a semicircle under the cactus. This is how the shield remained until 1917, the year in which it was replaced by its current design.
By the 20th century, President Venustiano Carranza restored the eagle in profile standing on a nopal cactus and holding a rattlesnake in its beak: the image appears bordered by a semicircle of laurel and oak leaves. The flag was first hoisted on 15 September 1915 to symbolise the end of Spanish rule. [9] The modern day flag is based on the 1916 flag. [10]
In 1973, the then president Luis Echeverría ordered a new design, the current one, in which the most slender and upright bird can be seen, with the bristling plume and the wings closer together and the nopal cactus extending horizontally. [11]
It was in 1934 that, through a decree, Flag Day in Mexico began to be commemorated every February 24, but it was not until 1984 that the characteristics of the nation's emblems were recognized and ratified. [12] In this way, the strengthening of the cult and respect for the national patriotic symbols began. [13]
In January 2023, the Flag of Jalisco was officially hoisted for the first time. [14]
Agustín de Iturbide, full name Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu and later known as Emperor Agustín I of Mexico, was an officer in the royal Spanish army. During the Mexican War of Independence he initially fought insurgent forces rebelling against the Spanish crown before changing sides in 1820 and leading a coalition of former royalists and long-time insurgents under his Plan of Iguala. The combined forces under Iturbide brought about Mexican independence in September 1821. After securing the secession of Mexico from Spain, Iturbide was proclaimed president of the Regency in 1821; a year later, he was proclaimed Emperor, reigning from 19 May 1822 to 19 March 1823, when he abdicated. In May 1823 he went into exile in Europe. When he returned to Mexico in July 1824, he was arrested and executed.
Guadalupe Victoria, born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, was a Mexican general and politician who fought for independence against the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence and after the adoption of the Constitution of 1824, was elected as the first president of the United Mexican States. He was a deputy in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies for Durango and a member of the Supreme Executive Power following the downfall of the First Mexican Empire, which was followed by the 1824 Constitution and his presidency. He later served as Governor of Puebla.
The Plan of Iguala, also known as The Plan of the Three Guarantees or Act of Independence of North America, was a revolutionary proclamation promulgated on 24 February 1821, in the final stage of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain. The Plan stated that Mexico was to become a constitutional monarchy, whose sole official religion would be Roman Catholicism, in which the Peninsulares and Creoles of Mexico would enjoy equal political and social rights. It took its name from the city of Iguala in the modern-day state of Guerrero.
The Mexican Empire was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, independent monarchies that have existed in the Americas, along with the long-lasting Empire of Brazil (1822–1889) and the ephemeral First Empire of Haiti (1804–1806). It is typically denominated as the First Mexican Empire to distinguish it from the Second Mexican Empire of Emperor Maximilian (1864–1867). Although Mexico became a republic in 1824, it did so only after the failure of the empire under former military officer Agustín de Iturbide, who ruled as Agustín I, the sole monarch of this first empire. Monarchy was the default position for independent Mexico, called for in the political Plan of Iguala drafted by Iturbide, which united forces fighting for independence from Spain. The last Spanish viceroy signed the Treaty of Córdoba in September 1821 and the plan for monarchy in independent Mexico moved forward. Iturbide's popularity culminated in mass demonstrations on 18 May 1822, in favor of making him emperor of the new nation in the absence of any European royal agreeing to assume the throne. Congress approved the proposal and a sumptuous coronation ceremony followed in July 1822.
Juan José Ruiz de Apodaca y Eliza, 1st Count of Venadito, OIC, OSH, KOC was a Spanish naval officer and viceroy of New Spain from 20 September 1816 to 5 July 1821, during Mexico's War of Independence.
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from the Spanish Empire. It was not a single, coherent event, but local and regional struggles that occurred within the same period, and can be considered a revolutionary civil war. It culminated with the drafting of the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire in Mexico City on September 28, 1821, following the collapse of royal government and the military triumph of forces for independence.
The Treaty of Córdoba established Mexican independence from Spain at the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence. It was signed on August 24, 1821 in Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico. The signatories were the head of the Army of the Three Guarantees, Agustín de Iturbide, and, acting on behalf of the Spanish government, Jefe Político Superior Juan O'Donojú. The treaty has 17 articles, which developed the proposals of the Plan of Iguala. The Treaty is the first document in which Spanish and Mexican officials accept the liberty of what will become the First Mexican Empire, but it is not today recognized as the foundational moment, since these ideas are often attributed to the Grito de Dolores. The treaty was rejected by the Spanish government, publishing this determination in Madrid on February 13 and 14, 1822.
In the history of Mexico, the Plan of Casa Mata was a plan formulated to elect a new constituent congress, which the monarchy of Agustín de Iturbide, had dissolved in 1822. The Plan of Casa Mata sought to establish a republic.
Iguala, known officially as Iguala de la Independencia, is a historic city located 102 km (63 mi) from the state capital of Chilpancingo, in the Mexican state of Guerrero in southwestern Mexico.
Andrés Eligio Quintana Roo was a Mexican liberal politician, lawyer, and author. He was the husband of fellow independence activist Leona Vicario.
Día de la Bandera is a national holiday in Mexico dedicated to the flag of Mexico. Flag Day is celebrated every year on February 24 since its implementation in 1934. It was established by the President of Mexico, General Lázaro Cárdenas, in front of the monument to General Vicente Guerrero; Guerrero was the first to pledge allegiance to the Mexican flag, on March 12, 1821.
At the end of the Mexican War of Independence, the Army of the Three Guarantees was the name given to the army after the unification of the Spanish troops led by Agustín de Iturbide and the Mexican insurgent troops of Vicente Guerrero, consolidating Mexico's independence from Spain. The decree creating this army appeared in the Plan de Iguala, which stated the three guarantees which it was meant to defend: religion, independence, and unity. Mexico was to be a Catholic empire, independent from Spain, and united against its enemies.
Juan José Rafael Teodomiro de O'Donojú y O'Ryan was a Spanish-Irish military officer, diplomat and Viceroy of New Spain from 21 July 1821 to 28 September 1821 during the Mexican War of Independence. He was the last Viceroy of New Spain.
Don Miguel Ramos Arizpe was a Mexican priest and politician, and known as "the father of Mexican federalism."
Afro-Mexicans played an important role in the Mexican War of Independence, most prominently with insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero, who became commander in chief of the insurgency. The initial movement for independence was led by the American-born Spaniard priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in central Mexico. White Mexicans quickly abandoned the movement for independence which had become more of a social revolution, with Indians, Blacks, mixed-race castas, and other plebeians seeking social equality. The movement for independence remained active on the Gulf Coast and the Pacific Coast, where there were large concentrations of Afro-Mexicans. The royal army and the insurgent forces had reached a stalemate militarily, but the equation changed in 1820. American-born Spaniard and royalist officer Agustin de Iturbide sought an alliance with the insurgents led by Guerrero. Iturbide and the white creoles sought independence, but expected that racial hierarchies would continue in the post-independence period. Guerrero and other Afro-Mexicans demanded that they would be equal citizens and not until Iturbide acceded to that demand did the Afro-Mexican forces sign on to the Plan of Iguala which laid out the terms for the insurgency movement.
The royalists were the people of Hispanic America and Europeans that fought to preserve the integrity of the Spanish monarchy during the Spanish American wars of independence.
The coat of arms of Mexico is a national symbol of Mexico and depicts a Mexican (golden) eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattlesnake. The design is rooted in the legend that the Aztec people would know where to build their city once they saw an eagle eating a snake on top of a lake. The image has been an important symbol of Mexican politics and culture for centuries. To the people of Tenochtitlan, this symbol had strong religious connotations, and to the Europeans, it came to symbolize the triumph of good over evil.
The national flag of Mexico is a vertical tricolor of green, white, and red with the national coat of arms charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meaning of the colors has changed over time, these three colors were adopted by Mexico following independence from Spain during the country's War of Independence, and subsequent First Mexican Empire.
The Regency of the Mexican Empire was a period of transition in the history of the Mexican monarchy in the absence of the Emperor of Mexico and presided by a president of the same during the First Mexican Empire (1821–1823) and the Second Mexican Empire (1863–1867). The regency is the government of a State during the minor age, absence or incapacity of its legitimate prince.
The embrace of Acatempan refers to an event in Mexican history in which Agustín de Iturbide, commander-in-chief of the military of southern New Spain, and Vicente Guerrero, leader of the forces fighting for Mexican Independence, participated. This event took place on February 10, 1821. Tradition has it that this event marked the reconciliation between the viceregal forces and the insurgent army.