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Colorado became a state in 1876, but it wasn’t until 1911 that the state flag was adopted. The colors and design have been updated over time, with the yellow disk representing sunshine and the white representing snow-capped mountains. The “C” symbolizes the state flower, name, and centennial status. Colorado has had a diverse history of flags, including Spanish, French, English, Mexican, and Texan, before becoming part of the United States.
Colorado became the 38th state of the United States on August 1, 1876, 100 years after the birth of the United States as a nation. It wasn’t until 1911, however, 35 years later, that the Colorado state flag was officially adopted by the state legislature. The display of the flag after its adoption resulted in various shades for the background colors and the designs of the central red “C” symbol surrounding a gold disc which was used. This led the state General Assembly to issue a rule in 1929 that the blue and red colors of the Colorado state flag would be the same shade as those used in the national flag of the United States. A further addition to the Colorado state flag design rules was enacted in 1964, when the yellow disk within the central “C” symbol was decreed to have the same diameter as the horizontal white stripe that runs along its centre, which is bounded by equal blue stripes, on both the top and bottom of the flag.
The colors used by the Colorado state flag are themselves symbolic. The gold or yellow disk in the center is meant to represent the fact that Colorado has an abundance of sunshine, and suggestions are that it also represents the Gold Rush period in Denver, Colorado during the mid-1800s. The central white represents Colorado’s snow-capped mountains, such as the Rocky Mountain range, while the blue-striped flag reflects the state’s climate, which is often one of stormless and vibrant blue skies. The red color of the central “C” symbol was also chosen to reflect the fact that Colorado has a lot of soil with a red color, both from clay and iron oxide content.
The “C” also has its own level of status connotations. It is meant to represent the state flower, the columbine, the state name of Colorado, and the fact that it became a state on the centennial date of the birth of the United States as a nation. The Colorado state flag is also added to road signs within the state, which is not common practice in all U.S. states in general. This may be in part because many state flags in the United States do not have a letter denoting the state’s name on them.
Colorado has a history of being under the authority of a diverse group of flags before officially adopting its own. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the famed Spanish conquistador, made an expedition into an area that included the state of Colorado between 1540 and 1542. Spanish claims to large areas of the New World at this time put the area under the rule of the Spanish flag. This authority changed hands to that of the French in the late 1600s, when French explorer Robert de LaSalle claimed the entire Mississippi River basin that he visited in the name of French King Louis XVI.
England then dominated the land up to the Pacific Ocean until the 18th century, claiming Colorado as its own. The area subsequently flew under the flags of Mexico and the Republic of Texas, with the United States officially purchasing the land in the Louisiana Purchase in 1890. Colorado then flew the flag of the District of Louisiana until given the territorial status of Colorado in 1803. .
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