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Honduras

Republica de Honduras, Republic of Honduras

Last modified: 2006-02-18 by dov gutterman
Keywords: honduras | america | central america | united states of central america |
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[Flag of Honduras]
Flag according to Clay Moss report
image by Željko Heimer, 1 November 2001


Flag according to Album 2000 [pay00]
image by Željko Heimer, 1 November 2001


Official Name: Republic of Honduras (Republica de Honduras)
Capital: Tegucigalpa
Location: Central America
Government Type: Democratic Constitutional Republic
Flag adopted: 9 January 1866
Coat of Arms adopted: 3 October 1825
ISO Code: HN



See also :


The Flag

In Carlo A. Ferro's book: The Argentine flag, inspirer of the central american banners, Honduras choses the same international naming for white, but curiously not for blue, which is defined as "turquí" (turquoise?), i.e., dark blue.
Gus Tracchia, 27 November 2000

While visiting Honduras I did not saw a Honduran flag anywhere that looks like and illustration floating around on a flag chart or in an encyclopedia.  All Honduran flags are proportioned 1 to 2.  The constellation of 5 stars on Honduran flags is spread out much further than what illustrations show.  Starting from the hoist, the first 2 stars are placed at a point 1/3 the length of the flag.  The middle star is placed in the center, and the last 2 stars are placed at a point 2/3 the length of the flag from the hoist.  Also, the stars, though 5 pointed are not the American variety.  Each point is wider at the center.  Here is an illustration.
Clay Moss, 5 July 2001

According to Album 2000 [pay00] - National Flag (CSW/CS- 1:2) - Horizontal trband of blue-white-blue with five blue stars in the middle stripe. Clay Moss is stating that all (most?) the flag is Honduras itself use "fat" stars, and he further gives the construction details, that I interpret. The Album gives similar image, but with more traditional stars.
Željko Heimer, 1 November 2001

The image shown in the Album 2000 is correct according to Figures 4 and 5 of a Decree dated 18 January 1949 (reproduced in the Folleto Civico of 15 September 1965).  This shows that the stars are set within an imaginary rectangle one-third of flag length, and that they are conventionally shaped (as in the US flag).  There is no size given for the stars, but from Figures 4 & 5 I have calculated them to be contained within an imaginary circle of diameter = 1/18 of flag width.
Incidentally, the flag with stars set closer together (as in the Flaggenbuch) is based on accuardo no. 194 of 27 September 1933, and it was originally established by Law No. 7 of the National Congress dated 19 January 1866.
The colour 'azul turquesa' or 'azul turqui' was defined by an amendment published in the Folleto Civico of the same date.
Based upon a copy of the Folleto Civico supplied by Armand du Payrat, and upon information by Ralf Stelter copied from the Flag Institute files.
Christopher Southworth, 2 March 2003

Fred Drews reported: "I was recently in Honduras.The Honduras flag definitly has the stars spread out we have them". The spread-out stars date from a regulation of 1949.
Christopher Southworth, 7 October 2004


Symbolism

From Flags of the World (Talocci 1982):
Honduras achieved independence in 1821 as part of the Central American federation along with El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. The present flag, which was officially adopted in 1949, is similar to that of the federation, which came to an end in the years 1838 to 1839.
The blue bands stand for the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The five stars, introduced in 1866, reflect the hope that the five states may once again form an association...

From Collins Gem Flags (Shaw 1994):
Honduras was one of the five member states of the United Provinces of Central America and, like other constituent states, has retained a blue and white tribanded flag based on the federation's flag, itself modelled on that of Argentina. Honduras' flag was adopted in 1866, with the five central stars representing a desire for the rebirth of the federation...
David Cohen, 3 March 1998

From <www.honduras.com>: "Three equal horizontal bands, one blue (top), white (center), and blue (bottom) with five blue, five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern, centered in the white band. The stars represent the members of the former Federal Republic of Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua."
Dov Gutterman, 6 April 2000


Construction Sheet


image by Željko Heimer, 1 November 2001

Regarding the construction sheet, one may say it this way - the flagfield is divided in 36x72 squares. If we designate the origin (point 0,0) the midpoint of the flag (i.e. the crossing point of the diagonals). the center of the circles in which stars are inscribed is in points: 0,0; 12,3; 12,-3; -12,3; -12,-3, with diameter 4.
In other words, we may image division of the flag field in 3x6 squares, with circles of diameter 1/3 of such square side, set in the flag midpoint and in quartering-points of opposite sides of those squares edgeing the midpoint.
If you've been following this, you might understand what I mean when I say that the stars are determined with two squares. In some other sources the stars are set much closer to each other, and are determined with one square. I don't incude an image of that variant.
Željko Heimer, 1 November 2001


Police Flags (?)

I located this photo at the Hunduras Police site (defunct). Are those unit flags ?
Dov Gutterman, 9 June 2000


Autonomous National University

The flag of the Autonomous national university that is blkue (turqoise), white and yellow, bearing in the center the arms of the university. The faculty of pharmacy is blue turqoise, white and light bluish purple
Jaume Olle', 20 June 2002


Military Flag

Yesterday evening whilst watching Sky News on TV here in the UK, there was a story about the decision of Honduras to withdraw its 390 member contingent from the coalition forces in Iraq. To accompany the story there were several pictures of the Honduran troops, although it was not clear whether they had been filmed in Iraq or back in Honduras before they were deployed.
They wore standard olive green fatigue uniforms with rank and other insignia in black, as well as crimson berets with a brightly coloured unit crest prominently displayed. However, what was vexilologically unusual about this story was the flag which was carried by the colour party (this was apparently some sort of review or inspection). In addition to the five-starred Honduran national flag, there was also a similar blue-white-blue flag as well, but instead of the five stars in the centre there was an emblem which looked very much like the crossed sabres of the US Cavalry, in the same shade of blue as the rest of the flag. The same insignia was visible in black on the right collar tab of the individual troops. These soldiers did not look like cavalrymen, and I have no idea whether the Hondurans have any tanks or armoured cars and whether these were sent with them to Iraq or were provided by the US or another. However, the red beret leads me to believe that they were not cavalrymen, mechanised or otherwise.
Could the flag with the crossed sabres be a regimental or corps flag? There was no lettering nor were there any numbers on the flag which I could see, and as it was rather a windy day both the national flag and this one were clearly displayed. Another possibility might be that this was a war or army flag; the Hondurans may not have had a flag like this previously , but when they decided to send troops to Iraq they may have decided that they needed one.
Ron Lahav, 21 April 2004

It is a kind of "military insignia" of the Batallón Xatruch (the Honduran contingent in Iraq). The unidentified cross is a letter, an "X", which means "Xatruch", from Florencio Xatruch, a military hero of XIX century who fought against William Walker.
G. Perdomo, 16 and 20 August 2004