Variant colors are often found.įirst Armenian Republic proposal (1919) File:Saryan-Flag-Rainbow.png It consists of six vertical colored segments, the first five of which are usually blue, yellow, red, white, and orange, while the sixth is a combination of the first five. In 1950 it was adopted by the World Fellowship of Buddhists to be a symbol of all forms of Buddhism around the world. Buddhist flag (1885) Ī flag to represent Buddhism was designed in Sri Lanka in 1885 and modified to its current form in 1886. In Ecuador, a rainbow flag is used by the Pachakutik political party (1995), which is composed mostly of left-wing indigenous people.Īmerican Revolutionary War writer Thomas Paine had proposed that the rainbow flag be used as a maritime flag, to signify neutral ships in time of war. The Flag of Cusco was introduced in 1978 and is still the official city emblem. In the pre-Hispanic Andean world the concept of flags did not exist, it did not belong to their historic context". "The official use of the wrongly called 'Tawantinsuyu flag' is a mistake. The National Academy of Peruvian History has stated on the topic: María Rostworowski, a Peruvian historian known for her extensive and detailed publications about Peruvian Ancient Cultures and the Inca Empire, said about this: "I bet my life, the Inca never had that flag, it never existed, no chronicler mentioned it". Although commonly believed in Peru to be a flag of the Incan Empire, the oldest known rainbow flag dates back only to 18th century and was used by Túpac Amaru II during his pro-indigenous revolt against the Spanish. According to the Bible, God first created the rainbow as a sign to Noah that there would never again be a worldwide flood, also known as the Rainbow covenant.Īndean indigenism File:Banner of the Qulla Suyu.svgĬurrent flag of the city of Cusco, wrongly associated with the Inca Empire.Ī flag with a seven-striped rainbow design is used in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador as a symbol of native peoples, and is anachronistically associated with Tawantin Suyu, or Inca territory. The choice of the rainbow in the form of a flag harkens back to the rainbow as a symbol of biblical promise. In the German Peasants' War of the 16th century, the rainbow flag together with the peasants' boot ("Bundschuh") was used as the sign of a new era, of hope and of social change. The Thomas Müntzer statue in the German town of Stolberg also shows him holding a rainbow flag in his hand. He is often portrayed with a rainbow flag in his hand. The reformer Thomas Müntzer (1489–1525) connected socially revolutionary claims with his preaching of the gospel. Rainbow flags in various cultures and movements Reformation