Flag of Mato Grosso do Sul

The state flag of Mato Grosso do Sul was designed by a group of University of São Paulo students and adopted on 1 January 1979 by the 1st decree of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

First flag (1977–1979)
From 11 October 1977 (the day of its establishment) to 1 January 1979 (the day of its recognition as a federative unit), Mato Grosso do Sul had two unofficial flags. One flag was green-white-green with "Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul" ("State of Mato Grosso do Sul") centered in the white stripe and the other was blue-white-blue with "Estado de Campo Grande" ("State of Campo Grande") centered in the white stripe with five stars in the formation of the Southern Cross in the upper-left corner. Campo Grande was an alternate name for the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Modern flag (1979)


A national contest was launched to collect proposed designs for the official state flag of Mato Grosso do Sul. The flag that won the contest was designed by a group of 2nd year students in the College of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo. The students entered the contest to apply the material that they were learning in their studies. The students entered two designs into the contest and both made it to the final selection of flags. Despite one of their submitted designs winning the contest, their flag actually came in 2nd place. The favorite flag of the voting commission was not chosen as the contest winner as it was deemed a color-swapped plagiarization of the flags of Somalia and North Vietnam. The design of the winning flag was modified by the nationalist dictatorship-era government to change its symbolism. The blue field on the current flag was intended to be ochre by the student team to convey the importance of the red soil to the agriculturally-dependent economy and rural culture of the newly founded state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The student team was told that the ochre was changed to blue as it did not conform to heraldic tincture, but the actual reason was to have the same colors as the national flag. The flag was hoisted for the first time at 6:04 PM on 31 December 1978, a few hours before Mato Grosso do Sul officially became a state.

Symbolism
According to the state government of Mato Grosso do Sul, the colors on the flag symbolize the following:


 * Green represents the richness of the forests and fields;
 * White symbolizes peace and friendship;
 * Blue represents the sky of the state of Mato Grosso and the hope of the people;
 * Yellow symbolizes the wealth acquired through the people's work.

The 1st decree of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul includes the following description of the flag, accredited to Mauro Michael Munhoz. According to Munhoz, the passage describing the blue was not in their original submitted text so was altered.