The next flag, Fig. 167, is the ensign of Costa Rica: the one represented is that of the Merchant Service. The war ensign differs from it in having in the centre the arms of the State, surrounded on either side by a trophy of three flags, and beneath all a wreath. Fig. 168, the flag of Paraguay, is very suggestive of the colours of Holland, though the device in the centre serves to differentiate it. Paraguay is the only State in America that has no sea-board, and therefore no Mercantile Marine.
Brazil, discovered by the Portuguese in 1500, remained in their possession until a revolutionary struggle in the year 1821 ended in favour of the Brazilians, when an Empire was shortly afterwards established. Compared to the other States of South America, it has passed through long periods of rest and prosperity, but of late years its political position has been one of considerable uncertainty, the Emperor having been dismissed and the rival { 123} ambitions for the Presidentship leading to civil war. These political changes have necessarily produced modifications in the flag. The present flag, Fig. 169, is not altogether unlike that of the late Empire, though in this latter case the yellow diamond on the green ground held a shield and Imperial crown, flanked by sprays of coffee and tobacco. In the present flag this yellow diamond has a blue sphere spotted over with stars and a white band running across it, that bears in blue letters the legend _Ordem e progresso_.[81] Fig. 173 is the upper portion of the man-of-war pendant, a blue ground with white stars. Fig. 169 is the ensign, both of the War and Merchant Navy of Brazil.
The yellow, blue, and red tricolor, Fig. 170, is the merchant ensign of Venezuela; the war flag has the same stripes, and in addition the shield of the arms of the State is placed on the yellow band at the staff corner. When the Spaniards arrived off the coast in the year 1499, they found on landing that some of the native Indians were living in huts built on piles, hence they called the country Venezuela, or little Venice.
Bolivia, formerly comprised in the Spanish Vice-Royalty of Colombia, derives its present name from Simon Bolivar, the leader of the revolution that gained it its freedom. Its commercial flag is shown in Fig. 171; the war flag only differs in having the arms of the State placed in the centre of the red strip.