The eight stars on Venezuela’s flag form an arc.
The current Venezuelan flag is a horizontal yellow, blue, and red tricolour. Eight white five-pointed stars are arranged in a curved arc across the blue band, rather than in a diagonal line, cross, or complete circle.
The first Venezuelan flags used fewer stars. Seven stars were associated with the provinces that supported the 1811 declaration of independence. In 1817, Simón Bolívar ordered an eighth star to represent Guayana, a province incorporated into the republic after the Guayana campaign.
The modern eight-star version was introduced in 2006, when Venezuela restored the eighth star in accordance with Bolívar’s 1817 decree. Older images and historical flags may therefore show seven stars, and some earlier designs used different arrangements, including a circle. Those variations explain why the current arc can be confused with historical versions.