Americas

Flag of Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America by area, known as the 'Land of Lakes and Volcanoes' for its dramatic landscape. Lake Nicaragua contains freshwater sharks, which adapted from the ocean over thousands of years as the lake's ancient Pacific connection closed. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821 and was the site of significant revolutionary conflict in the late 1970s and 1980s.

CapitalManagua
RegionAmericas
Current flag since1908
Main coloursBlue, White
Populationabout 7 million
Areaabout 130,000 km²
Flags in history2

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Nicaragua means

The blue stripes stand for the two oceans and the white for the land and peace. The coat of arms shows a triangle for equality, five volcanoes for the five members of the old Central American federation, a rising sun, a cap of liberty and a rainbow for peace. Because of the rainbow, it is one of only two national flags that use purple.

How to recognise it

Horizontal blue-white-blue with the Nicaraguan coat of arms containing a rainbow and triangle.

Did you know?

Nicaragua has the largest lake in Central America and two active volcanoes on an island in that lake.

Easily confused with

Nicaragua's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

El Salvador

Honduras

Guatemala

Flag history of Nicaragua

Every flag that has flown over Nicaragua, from today back through time.

1908–present

Republic of Nicaragua (current)

Nicaragua's blue-white-blue horizontal tricolor — again from the Central American Federation — was definitively standardised in 1908. The coat of arms uniquely shows a rainbow over five volcanoes between two bodies of water, with a Phrygian cap of liberty and the words "Republic of Nicaragua — Central America." Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and its flag uniquely uses the word "Central America" in the arms, keeping alive the unification ideal.

1823–1839

Federal Republic of Central America

Nicaragua was one of the founding members of the Central American federation. After its dissolution, Nicaragua experienced decades of political turmoil, US military interventions, the Somoza dynasty, the Sandinista Revolution of 1979, and the Contra war — each chapter in the country's flag history shaped by these events, though the Central American tricolor endured through all of them.

Related historical states

Empires, kingdoms and republics that once covered part of Nicaragua.

1823–1841

Federal Republic of Central America

Its blue-white-blue stripes survive almost unchanged in the flags of Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. White stood for the land between the two oceans.

1823–1824

United Provinces of Central America

The first union of the Central American provinces after independence from Mexico, flying the blue-white-blue bands that preceded the Federal Republic and survive in five modern flags.

1896–1898

Greater Republic of Central America

A short-lived attempt to reunify Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador; its blue-white-blue flag carried five volcanoes and stars before the union dissolved within two years.