Flag of Texas

What the flag looks like

A blue vertical band at the hoist with a white five-pointed star, beside two equal horizontal stripes of white over red.

What it means

State law says blue stands for loyalty, white for purity and red for bravery, and the single star gives the Lone Star State its name.

How to remember it

Texas runs its blue band the full height of the flag; Chile squeezes its star into a small blue square in the corner.

Fun facts

• The flag was adopted in 1839 as the national flag of the Republic of Texas and kept when Texas joined the Union in 1845.
• Chile's similar flag dates from 1817, more than twenty years before Texas's.

Texas at a glance

Nickname

The Lone Star State

Statehood

1845

Capital

Austin

Region

West South Central

Population

29 million

Area

695,662 km²

Flag adopted

1839

Flags often confused with Texas

• Chile: Chile and Texas both have a white star on blue with white and red horizontal stripes. Texas's blue runs the full height of the hoist as a vertical band; Chile's blue is only a square in the upper corner.
• North Carolina: North Carolina and Texas both have a blue hoist band with a white star beside two horizontal stripes. Texas is white over red; North Carolina is red over white and adds the letters N and C and two dated scrolls.