horizontally striped blue-white-blue national flag with a
central coat of arms. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of 3
to 5. Independence for Central America was first proclaimed on
September 15, 1821, but Mexico then subdued the area for two
years. The flag of the newly independent United Provinces of
Central America was adopted on August 21, 1823, and consisted of
blue-white-blue stripes with the national coat of arms in the
centre. Those arms included basically the same design elements
Nicaragua uses today. Even after the five member states of the
federation became independent countries, Nicaragua continued to
hoist the old flag. Finally, in 1854, a new horizontal
Nicaraguan tricolour of yellow-white-scarlet was chosen, but it
did not fly for long. Civil war and intervention by North
American filibusters (military adventurers) subsequently
resulted in a number of flags being introduced and quickly
replaced. In 1908 the old federation flag was readopted as the
national banner of Nicaragua, with appropria