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Flags of Guatemala

From the Maya civilizations of the highlands and lowlands, through three centuries as the seat of Spanish colonial power over all of Central America, a brief annexation to the First Mexican Empire, a shared federal republic whose blue-white-blue banner is the direct ancestor of the flag flown today, a chaotic mid-19th-century swing toward Spanish colors and back, and finally a settled sovereign republic — eight flags across five centuries for the country that was, for most of that span, Central America's largest and most dominant state.

Guatemala's blue and white are shared with Honduras and El Salvador for the same reason: all three inherited them from the 1823–1841 Federal Republic of Central America, whose own flag was itself a echo of Argentina's and the United Provinces' sky-blue-and-white, adopted by the federation's liberal founders as a break from Spanish red and yellow.

Scope of this page: the lands of present-day Guatemala, from the pre-conquest Maya era to the present, eight political entities. Guatemala was the seat of the Captaincy General of Guatemala (the Spanish colonial administration for the whole isthmus) and later the federation's largest member state, so its early chapters are shared history with Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica — each covered on its own page in this atlas. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

One border, eight rulers

Guatemala's own real border, traced whole — no internal split to show. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held all of it, era to era.

This is a single-region page, honestly. The Captaincy General and the later federation each governed a larger, shared isthmus-wide territory, but within what is now Guatemala itself there was never a genuinely separate internal region to carve out — the pre-conquest Maya kingdoms were politically fragmented, but not along any boundary that survives to trace. What changes here is only who ruled the whole territory at once.

to 1524

Maya civilizations of the highlands and lowlands

Real traced border, no internal partition — see the rule box above for why.

vertical blue-white-blue, quetzal-and-rifles arms formally regulated

1968 – present

Republic of Guatemala (modern)

Republic, independentJulio César Méndez MontenegroSecular (no state religion)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: civil-war refugees to Mexico (1980s)Emigration: to the United States (1980s–)

Who & why: the flag and coat of arms already restored in 1871 are pinned down in precise legal detail by Decree No. 12 of 12 September 1968, which fixes the exact rendering of the crossed rifles, crossed swords, laurel wreath, and the scroll reading "Libertad 15 de Septiembre de 1821." The design itself does not change — only its specification does — and Guatemala lives through decades of civil war (1960–1996) and a fragile peace under this same banner.

What it represents: the vertical blue-white-blue inherited from the federation, with the resplendent quetzal (Guatemala's national bird, a symbol of liberty since it reputedly cannot survive in captivity) perched on the independence scroll at the center of the white stripe.

Paint guide

Proportions5:8, three equal vertical bands.

LayoutBlue-white-blue vertical stripes; quetzal-and-rifles coat of arms centered on the white stripe (simplified here as a ringed emblem).

Guatemala blue#4997D0

White#F4EFE1

Arms gold#A9762F

blue-white-blue restored as vertical stripes, quetzal arms introduced

1871 – 1968

Liberal Republic of Guatemala

Republic, independentJusto Rufino BarriosSecular (no state religion)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: German coffee planters (1870s–)

Who & why: the Liberal Revolution of 1871, led by Miguel García Granados and then Justo Rufino Barrios, overthrows the conservative order and restores the federation's blue-white-blue on 17 August 1871 — but rearranged as vertical rather than horizontal stripes, and paired with a new coat of arms to mark a clean break from the Carrera era.

What it represents: the resplendent quetzal appears on the flag for the first time, resting on a scroll dated to independence, a design that will survive largely unchanged (only tightened in legal specification) for the rest of Guatemala's history.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded before the 20th century; shown at 3:2.

LayoutBlue-white-blue vertical stripes, simplified quetzal emblem on the white stripe.

Guatemala blue#4997D0

White#F4EFE1

Spanish colors added to the hoist side of the top and bottom bands

1851 – 1871

Conservative Republic of Guatemala

Republic, independentRafael CarreraRoman Catholic (restored under Carrera)

Who & why: conservative caudillo Rafael Carrera, in power from 1838 and formally president from 1851, presides over a government that turns back toward Spanish tradition; a pro-Spanish faction alters the flag in 1851 to work red and yellow — Spain's own colors — into the hoist side of the blue bands, and a further redesign in 1858 emphasizes yellow. The white center stripe survives throughout.

What it represents: a deliberate rejection of the federation's liberal blue-white-blue in favor of colors evoking the colonial past, reversed as soon as the liberals retake power twenty years later.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.

LayoutHorizontal blue-white-blue with red worked into the hoist half of the top band and yellow into the hoist half of the bottom band (1851 version shown; a further 1858 variant emphasized yellow more heavily).

Blue#4997D0

White#F4EFE1

Spanish red#A4302A

Spanish yellow#C9A13C

the federation's blue-white-blue, carried on informally after its collapse

1841 – 1851

Republic of Guatemala (post-federation)

Republic, independentRafael CarreraRoman Catholic (traditional continuation)

Who & why: the Federal Republic of Central America effectively dissolves by 1841 as its member states go their own ways; Guatemala, already the federation's dominant state and host of its capital for most of its life, simply continues as a fully sovereign republic under conservative strongman Rafael Carrera, who had been fighting the federal government since the 1837–40 civil war.

What it represents: no dramatic break yet — Guatemala keeps flying a plain horizontal blue-white-blue, the federation's own banner stripped of its central volcano-and-cap emblem, until the 1851 turn toward Spanish colors.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.

LayoutPlain horizontal blue-white-blue, no central emblem.

Blue#4997D0

White#F4EFE1

the federation's blue-white-blue with five-volcano arms and cap of liberty

1823 – 1841

Federal Republic of Central America

Federation memberManuel José ArceRoman Catholic (constitutionally established)

Who & why: after Mexican general Agustín de Iturbide abdicates in March 1823, the five former provinces of the Captaincy General declare full independence from Mexico on 1 July 1823 and form the United Provinces of Central America, soon renamed the Federal Republic. Guatemala City serves as the federal capital for almost the whole of its life, and Guatemala is by far its largest, wealthiest member. Chronic conflict between liberal unionists (Francisco Morazán's faction) and conservative localists tears the federation apart through the later 1830s.

What it represents: blue-white-blue horizontal stripes, adopted 21 August 1823, with five volcanoes (one for each member state) rising from the sea beneath a Phrygian cap of liberty and a rainbow — the direct ancestor of Guatemala's, Honduras's, El Salvador's, Nicaragua's, and Costa Rica's own later flags.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.

LayoutHorizontal blue-white-blue, five volcanoes and a cap of liberty on the white stripe (simplified here as triangular peaks).

Federal blue#4997D0

White#F4EFE1

Arms gold#A9762F

the First Mexican Empire's green-white-red, briefly flown over Guatemala

1821 – 1823

Independence, then annexation to Mexico

Empire, annexedAgustín de IturbideRoman Catholic (exclusive, per the Plan de Iguala)

Who & why: the Captaincy General of Guatemala declares independence from Spain on 15 September 1821 — a date still celebrated across all five countries covered by this shared chapter. Political chaos follows almost immediately: conservative elites, fearing instability, vote to annex the new nation to Agustín de Iturbide's First Mexican Empire in January 1822. The arrangement collapses when Iturbide himself abdicates in March 1823.

What it represents: the Mexican Empire's green-white-red tricolor with its eagle emblem flies briefly over Guatemala City during this short, contested union, before the Central American provinces break away to form their own federation later in 1823.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for this brief period; shown at 3:2.

LayoutVertical green-white-red tricolor, eagle-and-serpent emblem on the white band (simplified here as a gold disc).

Green#006341

White#F4EFE1

Red#A4302A

the Cross of Burgundy, used across the Spanish Empire's colonies

1524 – 1821

Captaincy General of Guatemala

ColonyPedro de AlvaradoRoman Catholic (Spanish Crown, exclusive)

Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Spain (1524–)Immigration: enslaved Africans (colonial period)

Ruling house:House of HabsburgHouse of Bourbon

Who & why: Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, a lieutenant of Hernán Cortés, invades in 1524 and, after brutal campaigns against the Kaqchikel and other Maya kingdoms, founds the first Spanish capital nearby in 1524–27. Guatemala becomes the seat of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, the colonial jurisdiction covering the whole isthmus from Chiapas to Costa Rica, governed from Antigua Guatemala (and, after a devastating 1773 earthquake, from a new capital at present-day Guatemala City).

What it represents: the Cross of Burgundy — a red saltire of knotted, ragged branches on a white field — served as a common military and colonial banner across the Spanish Empire, flown here alongside the royal arms of Spain throughout three centuries of colonial rule.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed civil ratio; shown at 3:2.

LayoutWhite field, red diagonal saltire (simplified here as plain crossed bars; the historical version used knotted, ragged branch-like arms).

White#F4EFE1

Saltire red#9C3B28

placeholder field — Maya era, no flag survives

to 1524

Maya civilizations of the Guatemalan highlands and lowlands

No flag documentedNo single ruler documentedMaya polytheism (no unified state)

Who & why: what is now Guatemala sits at the heart of Maya civilization for well over two thousand years before European contact — from the great Preclassic and Classic lowland cities like Tikal and El Mirador, through the Postclassic highland kingdoms such as the K'iche' and Kaqchikel that Pedro de Alvarado's forces encounter and conquer in 1524. These are politically fragmented, often rival kingdoms, never a single unified Guatemalan state.

What it represents: no securely documented flag or banner survives for any Maya polity in this territory; Maya rulers used elaborate feathered standards, painted shields, and dynastic emblem glyphs rather than fixed territorial flags in the European sense, and none can be reconstructed with confidence. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

No flag documented — no securely attested banner survives

Colony — governed as Spanish (or Mexican) territory

Federation member — one state within the Central American federation

Republic, independent — sovereign under its own government

Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start

State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's

Find the records

Family history research for Guatemala lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.

Search Record Atlas for Guatemala →

More of the atlas

This page is one lineage in a larger set. See the region-wide map and the other countries here:

Flags Atlas indexSearch every country and hub Central America hubFive countries, one shared federation