The today's flag of Mexico was officially hoisted for the first time on 17th of September in 1968. It is vertical striped in green, white and red, and carrys in the white middle-stripe the Mexican coat of arms. It came into being on the 2nd of November in 1821 after the pattern of the French Tricolour, and goes back to the diagonally striped red-green-white flag of the "Army of the three Warranties". The flag was changed very, very often, but only in connection with changes to the coat of arms. Green symbolizes the independence, white the purity of the religion and red (Spanish national-colour) the unity, respectively the unification of the Mexican and Spanish blood. The exact dimensions for the design of the Mexican flag are laid down in Article 3 of the "Law on the National Coat of Arms, the Flag and the Anthem", adopted in 1984. No specifications were made regarding the colours. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games used the following colours in 2012 in its "Flag Manual": Red = Pantone 186, Green = Pantone 3425. These colours have been adopted on this website for all images of the Mexican flag, including the historical ones (for visual reasons), but of course such standards did not exist in the past.
The coat of arms of Mexico refers to the legendary foundation of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán (today Ciudad de Mexico) in the year 1325, its position was shown by the gods through an eagle with a snake in the beak. It was introduced likewise in 1821 and severally changed, finally on 17th of September in 1968. In context with this changings the eagle had a crown between 1864 and 1867, and since 1823 a snake in its beak.
8th cent. · immigration of Nahua tribes (Tolteks, Aztecs)
13th cent. · the Aztecs start to gain the predominance
1325 · foundation of the capital Tenochtitlán
1428 · Three Town Alliance of Tenochtitlán, Texcoco and Tlacopán
15th cent. · the Aztec Empire is on the top of size and power
1517–1518 · the Spanish seafarers Franzisco Hernández de Córdoba and Juan de Grijalva explore the coast of Yucatán
1519–1521 · conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés, total demolition of the capital Tenochtitlán
1522 · foundation of Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlán
1535 · establishment of the Spanish Vice–Kingdom of New Spain, including whole Central America (General Capitanate of Guatemala) with Mexico as capital
1550 · by expeditions of the Conquistadors Cabrillo and Coronado to the north New Spain gains its full dimension
1808 · invasion of Napoléons in Spain
1810–1815 · revolt of farmers and Indians under Hidalgo and Pavón, first proclamation of independence in Chilpancingo, suppressed by Spanish troops and armed Mestizos
1820 · revolution in Spain
24th of August 1821 · Augustín de Itúrbide forces in the Treaty of Córdoba the independence of Mexico from Spain, the Viceroy O'Donojú has to leave Mexico, the provinces of Central America (General Capitanate of Guatemala) declare theirs independence
1822 · Itúrbide proclaims hisself as Augustin I. to the Emperor of Mexico, the provinces of Central America join the Empire of Mexico
1823 · overthrow of the emperor, the provinces of Central America release the connections to Mexico and tie together to the "United Provinces of Central America" (Central American Confederation)
1824 · Itúrbide gets executed
October 1824 · Mexico declares itself to a federal republic
1829 · a campaign of Spain for the re-conquest of Mexico fails
1836 · the USA and Spain recognize the independence of Mexico, Texas declares its independence from Mexico
The Name "Mexico" has its roots in the epithet "Mexitli" of the Aztec God Huitzilopochtli.
It was adoped in 1522 for the on the ruins of the City of Tenochtitlán build town and was used since the beginning of the 19th century as name for the independent New Spain.
