Wiphala

History

In modern times the Wiphala has been confused with a rainbow flag which is wrongly associated with the Tawantinsuyu. There is debate as to whether there was an Inca or Tawantisuyu flag. There are 16th and 17th-century chronicles and references that support the idea of a banner attributable to the Inca. However, it represented the Inca himself, not the empire. Also its origins are from symbols and mural designs found in several civilizations of the Andes with thousands of years of history.

Francisco López de Jerez wrote in 1534:

They all came divided up in squads with their flags and commanding captains, with as much order as the Turks.
("todos venían repartidos en sus escuadras con sus banderas y capitanes que los mandan, con tanto concierto como turcos").

The chronicler Bernabé Cobo wrote:

… the "guión" or royal standard [an ecclesiastical processional banner] was a small, square small banner, of about 10-12 hands ["palmos" is a measure from those times and it refers to a length similar to a hand. Ruedo is the total length of the cloth], made of cotton or woolen cloth, that was carried at the top of a long flagpole, and was stiff, with no wave on the air; each king painted his arms and emblems (badges) on the banner; because each one (king) chose different ones (paintings on his banner), although the common ones among the Incas had the rainbow [sky arch]

(...el guión o estandarte real era una banderilla cuadrada y pequeña, de diez o doce palmos de ruedo, hecha de lienzo de algodón o de lana, iba puesta en el remate de una asta larga, tendida y tiesa, sin que ondease al aire, y en ella pintaba cada rey sus armas y divisas, porque cada uno las escogía diferentes, aunque las generales de los Incas eran el arco celeste.)
–Bernabé Cobo, Historia del Nuevo Mundo (1653)

Guaman Poma's 1615 book El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno shows numerous line drawings of Inca flags.

The Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, holds a Wiphala that is dated through a C-14 test to the 11th century. It originates from the Tiwanaku region, and is part of collection of a Kallawaya medicine man grave.

Seven colors

The seven colors of the actual Wiphala originate from the visible spectrum. The significance and meanings for each color are as follows:

Social movements in Ecuador

Today in Ecuador, it is readily identified with the Indian Social movement mainly represented by CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador). This organization has had an important role in massive protests in the late 1990s and 2000s which have brought down three presidents perceived as corrupt and responsible for the impoverishment of Ecuadorians. The flag of CONAIE is a wiphala with a mask in the middle from a pre-Inca Ecuadorian coastal peoples known as La Tolita.

The flag is displayed by marches of the CONAIE movement and also it is used by its political faction the Movimiento de Unidad Plurinacional Pachakutik - Nuevo País (a Pachakutik-inspired Movement) which participates in elections and has a considerable legislative representation. The concept of pachakutik, a Quechua word related with the vision and the hope of a better future for Andean people. The MUPP was formed in the 1990s mainly by an alliance of the CONAIE with peasant organizations and urban social movements. It also finds sympathy in local LGBT, feminist and Afro-Ecuadorian circles and activists.

The Bolivian Wiphala

The Aimara wiphala is a square flag divided into 7x7 (49) squares. The seven rainbow colors are placed in diagonal squares. The exact arrangement and colors varies with the different versions, corresponding to the suyus or Tupac Katari. It is very prominent in marches of indigenous and peasant movements in Bolivia.

This "rainbow squares" flag is used as the pan-indigenous flag of Andean peoples in Bolivia and has recently occasionally been adopted by Amazonian groups in political alliance.

Bolivian President Evo Morales established the Qullasuyu wiphala as the nation's dual flag along with the previous red, yellow, and green banner in the newly ratified constitution. The Wiphala has been included into the national colours of the Bolivian Air Force such as the executive Dassault Falcon 900EX. The Wiphala is also officially flown on governmental buildings such as the Palacio Quemado and parliament alongside the tricolor since the introduction of the revised 2009 constitution.

Confusion with flag of Cusco

The Wiphala has been confused with the seven-striped rainbow design flag which is the current official banner of the city of Cusco (Peru), where is common to see it around the city displayed in local government buildings and in the main square. This rainbow flag is wrongly associated with and displayed as a symbol of the Inca Empire, despite Peruvian historiography and Peruvian Congress states that the Inca Empire (tawantinsuyu) never had a flag.

However, it should be noted that while the wiphala is an emblem related principally to Aymara people, the Inca had its origin with the Quechua people.

Controversy

While popular with Bolivia's indigenous majority that back Morales and MAS, the wiphala has proven controversial amongst the country's traditionally ruling whites and mestizos that form the political opposition based in the Eastern Departments. The opposition contends that the indigenous movement led by Morales intends to ultimately replace the traditional tricolor with the wiphala and that its establishment as the country's dual flag is the first step towards this goal. Furthermore, many Bolivians, including some indigenous people, feel that the wiphala highlights Bolivia's racial tensions and in fact furthers the divide between the lower class majority of indigenous Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní groups and the minority of upper and middle class whites and mestizos.