Chile Flag vs. Texas Flag
At first glance the Chilean and Texas flags look almost identical. They can be easily confused since they each contain the same elements: a lone star on a blue background and horizontal red and white bands.
Which Flag Came First?
Chile’s flag was born of a storied history and went through several versions before arriving at a form very similar to today’s in October, 1817:
Due to the complex design of this flag, it was soon there after simplified into the form we know today:
The Texas flag was officially adopted on January 24, 1839 as the final national flag of the Republic of Texas.
Chile’s flag predates the Texan flag by over 21 years and clearly came first.
What is the difference between flags?
The main difference between the Chile and Texas flags is the left side of the flag: the lone star on the blue background.
The blue vertical stripe on the Texas flag extends from the top to the bottom of the flag. The lone star sits in the middle of this area:
The Chilean flag, on the other hand, has its lone star in the upper left corner. The bottom red horizontal stripe, stretches the length of the flag:
Posted September 8th, 2008 in History.
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On at least one occasion the flag of Chile was flown over a Texas public building by mistake. It stayed up for a long time before someone noticed “something did not look quite right”
May 2, 2010
Links? I tried googling for the story on the Chilean flag being flown over a Texas public building by mistake, but couldn’t find any information on it. The only result I got was, strangely, another website where someone named “Billy” was making the same claim.
July 9, 2010
Justin, I think Bill Chase is full of shiat! Don’t mess with Texas, Biatches!
August 25, 2010
I discied to find out what the differance between the chillaen flag and the flag of texas when I saw a story about the chilaen miners that are trapeed beneeth the erth where I saw a flag that looked a lot like the texas flag and but I sad wat a minuat this is chille not texas so what would a texas flag be doing in chellie. so to figuer out what the differances wer between the 2 flags I simly googeld it and heer I am a quik second later finding out the answer to my question ya whooo. I am glad this sit was heer when I needed to know what I wanted to know.
September 8, 2010
For more information of flag of the chile:
http://simbolospatrios.cl
Saludos
September 28, 2010
Lol wow I had no idea about the flag on the Taxes building and I didn’t even know that there was a flag close to the Texas lol. I’m from Texas so yeah so don’t be hatin on Texas!!
October 13, 2010
In more than one occasion, the Texas flag was flown in Chile by mistake.
Also, the Chilean embassy had flown the Texas flag by mistake in DC. ooops!
October 13, 2010
Actually, neither event happened. Neither Texas nor Chile ever flew the others flag by mistake. It’s an urban legend.
October 13, 2010
At any rate, both flags are beautiful and should be proudly flown!
October 14, 2010
I don’t know about flying the wrong flag over a Texas public building, but an absentee ballot for Atascosa County in Texas had been using a picture of the Chilean flag for years.
October 14, 2010
Not urban myth: The absentee ballot story is true. Another interesting true story is that a small school district in rural Texas accidentally flew the wrong flag for a week before someone corrected them. It wasn’t widely reported, but is a famous incident in Texas education circles.
October 15, 2010
I know as Chilean Blood that Texas flags was made for a guy who was married with a chilean lady who was homesick about her country( Chile) so her husband in orden to let her feel at home made the Texas Flag similiar to Chilian One ..in th end it is a romantic story in 1838..AWWw
February 18, 2011
Actualy texas and chilean are brothers of liberty, so their flags are similar.
August 20, 2011
“The national flag of Chile, also known as La estrella solitaria (Spanish for “the lone star”),[1] consists of two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red and a blue square the same height as the white band at the hoist-side end of the white band, which bears a white five-pointed star in the center. It was adopted on October 18, 1817.
In few words: Texas not only stole the Chilean flag, but its motto (The Lone Star).
Just for the record, never,ever in Chile the Texan flag flew as the Chilean flag.
December 26, 2011
Los texanos se “inspiraron” en el pabellón naval de los barcos chilenos de la época que llegaban por la minería y que es igualito a la bandera de Texas.
February 27, 2012
Well Im chilean and I knew this a lot time before, but Im sure mostly of chilean people dont know texas flag as well as texas people dont know chilean flag, even when it is a country. People needs more general culture in nowadays, I mean I know american, european even some african and asian flags (there are a lot). Fact is both flags are beautiful, but chilean one is better
Its sad that people needs a tragedy or a supernatural event to know a country.
March 15, 2012
I’m Texan. And I’ve known Chile’s flag and am familiar with almost all the other flags in the US and the world as well. And I’ve been familiar with them for a long, long time.
I never looked this up, but to me, Texas’s flag seems to have been designed with the United States flag in mind. As if to symbolize unity with the country in addition independence. Texas flag looks as if it comes from the area of the United States Flag where the star in the bottom corner of the blue space can be seen.
I don’t think Texas was trying to copy Chile… it was just coming up with a very powerful symbolic gesture based on the flag of the country its in.
March 25, 2012
@Terrance – I agree. From what I’ve read, both the Chilean and Texan flags were inspired by the United States flag.
March 26, 2012
All those who live in Texas, I am not hating, but the Chilean flag came first! so let’s all stop saying Chile stole your flag. I agree with Terrance’s comment whole-heartedly!
March 20, 2013
Chilean flag was first. Texas stole the flag like they stole the Mexican land.
March 27, 2013
I was a little bit confused about the flags of Texas, Chile and Cuba. But now I know the difference and came to the conclusion that both the flags(excluding Cuba) stood to the summit of their respective dignity and honor. The emphasis should not be on ‘which came first’ but we should consider them as supreme within their respective spheres.
April 21, 2013