Baja California Sur (Mexico) (original) (raw)

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Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur

4:7[ [Civil and State flag] ](xf-fis.html#fiavcode)
by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 9 December 2019
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Flag adopted: 1 January 2018 by Decree number 2513 published on 31 December 2018

Flag
Coat of arms

- indicates a flag is known..
- indicates it is reported there is no flag.
* - indicates a municipality with an officially adopted flag
bold - indicates the state capital

5 Municipalities: See:

Flag

A flag of white charged with the State coat of arms has been used as a de facto flag from a time. Such a flag has been officialy adopted on 1 January 2018 by the Decree number 2513 issuing the Ley de los símbolos y protocolos oficiales del Estado de Baja California Sur (Law on the Official Symbols and Protocol of the State of Baja California Sur), published on 31 December 2018. The Article 9 of the Law describes the flag as follows:

The State Flag consists of a white rectangle with a ratio of four to seven between the width and length; in the center it shall bear the State Coat of arms, placed in such a way that it occupies three-quarters of the width.

Reverse side of the flag

[ [Reverse side of Baja California Sur flag] ](../images/m/mx-bs.gif)
by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 9 December 2019
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The reverse side of the flag, though not mentioned in the Law, keeps the coat of arms with the yellow bar to the viewer's left.
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 9 December 2019

The Encyclopedia of Municipalities and Delegations of Mexico says:

The Coat of Arms of Baja California Sur has its origin in the heraldic coat of arms of the Californias, created by decree signed by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza [he was viceroy from 1535 to 1550]. For the first time, it appeared embroidered on a flag made in Los Angeles, California, in 1846. The coat of arms was done by Margarita Bandini, of Peruvian origin, whose father was a colonizer of the peninsula of Baja California.

This means that the flag had roughly a year or two in actual use; if I'm not mistaken, the Department of the Californias (to which it pertained) wasn't dissolved until 1847 and Upper California was annexed by the United States in 1848. Supposedly, the coat of arms of the current state was adopted after a contest and takes its design from the Spanish colonial one.

Whether true or not (as no real sources are given for the colonial coat of arms and the flag), the possibility of a Lower Californian flag from 1846 is interesting.
Daniel Rentería, 23 August 2024

Coat of arms

[Coat of arms of Baja California Sur] .gif)
by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 9 December 2019

The coat of arms of Baja California Sur was first adopted on 5 January 1976 by Decree Number 25 establishing the Ley sobre las características y el uso del Escudo del Estado de Baja California Sur (Law on the features and usage of the coat of arms of the State of Baja California Sur), published on 10 November 1975.

On 1 January 2018 came into effect the Decree number 2513 issuing the Ley de los símbolos y protocolos oficiales del Estado de Baja California Sur (Law on the Official Symbols and Protocol of the State of Baja California Sur), published on 31 December 2018. The Law did not make any change to the State coat of arms adopted in 1975. The Article 6 of the Law (2017) describes the coat of arms as follows:

Party per pale: dexter gold and sinester gules. A silver scallop over-all. Border azure, with four silver fish: one in chief, another one in the point and one in each side, counterswimming. Gold and gules of the field are symbols of union, wealth, value and braveness; the scallop symbolizes the fierce fight for the defense of its borders and, being silver, with all its firmness, vigilance and expiration; the border is a symbol of reward and, for being of azure, with justice, truth, loyalty and serenity; fish are symbol of the marine wealth it enjoys. The phrase "Baja California Sur" may be added to the reproductions of the coat of arms, provided it is written in Arial font and azure, without getting out of the left and right margins of the field, and at the top of the bordure. The Motto may also be added under the same conditions of the previous paragraph.

Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 9 December 2019

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