Que Bonita Bandera!

The Puerto Rican flag was designed by Francisco Gonzalo Marin in 1894 and he used the Cuban flag as a model.
 The Puerto Rican flag is made of 3 colors: red, white, and blue. The flag has 5 stripes alternating with the red and white. There is a big white star on a blue triangle on the left. It is very similar to the Cuban flag, but the colors are reversed. The star represents the commonwealth. The three equal sides of the triangle represent the three branches of the republican government. The three red stripes represent the blood that feeds the three areas of government. The two white stripes mean the rights and freedom of the people.

The flag was firstly seen/used on December 22, 1895. Some Puerto Rican activists led by Julio J. Henna expressed independence for Cuba and Puerto Rico through the streets of NYC. The flag also became a symbol of resistance towards US invasion. The flag was adopted as a national flag when Puerto Rico became a commonwealth (July 25, 1952).

An interesting fact about the flag is that instead of the triangle being a dark blue, it was originally made to be a sky blue. The U.S wanted it to be similar to their flag and that's why it is now a dark blue color. Another side of the story says that they changed the color to dark blue because of its relationship with the revolutionary independence movement.