Flags of Spain and first flag of United Provinces of the Río de la Plata The first flags used in the territory of modern Argentina were those associated with the
Spanish crown. The last formally used
Spanish flag was a red and yellow one, established by King
Charles III in 1785 and used mainly for naval and military purposes. When the
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata became independent in the
May Revolution of 1810, they continued to use Spanish flag. This was due to the political position that the new government was acting on behalf of King
Ferdinand VII of Spain, who was then a prisoner of
Napoleon during the
Peninsular War. The yellow and red flag that flew over the seat of government in the
fort of Buenos Aires is currently kept in the
National Historical Museum. This flag does not maintain the proportions imposed by Charles III, as the three stripes are the same width. The Spanish flag was finally abandoned after the formal
declaration of independence on 9 July 1816, being replaced by the blue and white flags created in 1812 by General Manuel Belgrano.
War of Independence The origin of colors The light blue and white colors were used on the
cockade before they were used on the flag. The origin of the colours of the cockade and the reasons for their election cannot be accurately established. Theories include the symbolism of the
House of Bourbon, especially the
ribbon of the
Order of Charles III. Another version speaks of the colors of the then unofficial
Buenos Aires coat of arms, where blue meant the sky and silver, later changed to white, meant the waters of
La Plata. Another possible source of colours is the
plume of the
Los Patricios during the
British invasion of 1806 and 1807.
Belgrano flag On 26 February 1812, General
Manuel Belgrano wrote to the government of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata to propose the creation of a national flag, arguing that the colors of the recently adopted national cockade should also be reflected in the banners flown by patriot forces. In his letter, he noted the problem of using flags identical to those of the enemy, and proposed adopting distinctive symbols that would reflect the new political reality. Without waiting for a formal response, Belgrano inaugurated the following day an
artillery battery called "Independencia" on Espinillo Island in the
Paraná River, near present-day
Rosario, and presented the new flag in a ceremony. Local tradition has it that the first flag was sewn by María Catalina Echevarría de Vidal and raised by Cosme Maciel, a civilian sailor. In a second letter sent the same day, Belgrano informed the government of the events, describing the raising of a flag made in white and light blue, matching the cockade. On that day, Belgrano said the following words: The exact color scheme of the first flag remains a subject of debate, due to the fact that, in describing the flag in a non-intuitive way, he first mentioned white. Some historians suggest that this first flag was with two stripes with white above light blue. In his first letter, Belgrano described the location of the first raising of the flag as the "Libertad" artillery battery. In a letter dated July 18, 1812, he corrected that the flag was flown at the Independencia battery, not the unfinished Libertad battery. In early March 1812, the
First Triumvirate ordered General Manuel Belgrano to abandon the new white and light blue flag, since they were still acting in the name of Ferdinand VII. Belgrano, who continued the campaign of the
Army of the North, was unable to receive this order. After reaching
San Salvador de Jujuy, Belgrano celebrated the second anniversary of the revolution on 25 May 1812. On that day,
Canon Juan Ignacio Gorriti blessed the white and light blue flag in the
cathedral. Belgrano then ordered his soldiers to swear allegiance to this banner, which he called the "national flag". It is not known whether it was the same flag that first flew in Rosario or a different one, since military tradition dictated that flags remain with military units, not commanders. On May 29, Belgrano sent a letter informing the government of the ceremony. In response, he was reprimanded by the Triumvirate for using the new flag without authorization. In his response on July 18, Belgrano explained that he was unaware of the previous ban and repeated that the flag was white and light blue. Despite this, the Army of the North continued to use the flag, including in the victorious
Battle of Tucumán on 24 September 1812. In early February 1813, during the Army of the North’s advance toward Salta, General Manuel Belgrano received orders from the Assembly of Year XIII to have his troops swear allegiance. On 13 February 1813, after crossing the
Salado River, later known also as the "River of the Oath". Belgrano led a solemn ceremony in which the troops swore obedience to the Assembly under the white-and-light-blue flag. In that ceremony, the flag was carried by Major General Eustoquio Díaz Vélez, preceded by Colonel Martín Rodríguez and Belgrano himself, escorted by granaderos playing music. On February 20, 1813, the
Battle of Salta was fought, in which Belgrano achieved a complete victory. After the battle
Eustoquio Díaz Vélez placed the flag on the balcony of the Cabildo, and the trophies captured from the royalists were placed in the Chapter House. Díaz Vélez, appointed by Belgrano as military governor of the province of Salta del Tucumán, was the first official to use the blue-and-white flag. While stationed in the city of
San Salvador de Jujuy on 23 May, Belgrano presented the residents with a white cloth bearing the coat of arms of the Assembly of the Year XIII, which is today known as the
flag of the Civil Freedom. The Army of the North used light blue and white flags until its
destruction at Ayohuma in modern-day
Bolivia at 14 November 1813. After the defeat, two of the flags used in this campaign were hidden in a chapel in the village of
Macha to avoid capture by royalist forces. These flags remained hidden until their accidental discovery in 1885. Both banners consist of three horizontal stripes of white and light blue, with one having a white stripe between two blue stripes and the other having a blue stripe between the white stripes. One was returned to Argentina and is currently located at the
National Museum of History in Buenos Aires, while the other remained in Bolivia and is kept at the Casa de la Libertad in
Sucre, Bolivia.
Artigas flag In 1814,
José Gervasio Artigas, leader of the
Provincia Oriental (now
Uruguay), began to organize the
League of the Free Peoples. Artigas adopted a modified Belgrano flag with two narrow red stripes placed within blue fields. The blue stripes symbolized the banks of the Río de la Plata, while the red symbolized the struggle for
federalism. Later, Artigas changed the two red stripes to one diagonal one, to clearly distinguish his flags from similar flags of
his opponents. The final design was not created directly by Artigas but by José María de Roo, a customs official from
Montevideo and an expert in
heraldry. De Roo likely served as a consultant to Artigas, though the exact nature of their collaboration and the extent of Artigas's influence on the design remain unclear The new flag was first raised at Artigas's military camp in
Arerunguá on 13 January 1815. In
Montevideo it was flown for the first time on 26 March by order of the military governor of Montevideo, Colonel
Fernando Otorgués, and in
Entre Ríos on 13 March. Over time, the flag spread throughout the League. Another privateer who used the Argentine flag in Central America was
Louis-Michel Aury, who occupied
Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands. On 25 January 1818,
Juan Martín de Pueyrredón formally established the national flag, with the Sun of May as its central symbol. The May Sun added to the flag is based on the design of Argentina's first coin. It is a yellow-gold disc with a human face surrounded by 32 alternating rays – 16 straight and 16 wavy. Shortly thereafter, the official shade of blue was changed to heraldic blue, which remained in legal definitions until the color light blue was reestablished in the early 20th century. The session noted that "white and blue shall be the exclusive colors of this state, and on them shall be placed a golden embroidered sun." For naval purposes, a war flag was designated with two blue stripes, one white stripe, and a golden sun surrounded by stars. However, this flag was never used, as it was invalidated seven days later.
Federalist Party and Argentine Confederation With the rise to power in Buenos Aires of Brigadier General
Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1829, the official shade of the national flag was modified to turquoise blue. The change stemmed partly from Rosas’s interpretation of the flag specifications approved by the Congress of Tucumán in 1818, and partly from his wish to differentiate it from the lighter blue commonly associated with the
Unitarians, his opponents in the
civil war. Although formally only
governor of Buenos Aires Province, Rosas authority extended over the
Argentine Confederation, a political union in which the provinces retained significant autonomy but delegated foreign affairs to Buenos Aires.
Rosas flag In 1836 four
Phrygian caps were placed in each corner, and the Sun of May was depicted in red, a color used by the federalists since the time of Artigas. The changes introduced by Rosas were not recorded in any law or decree, so it is presumed that they were simply Rosas's personal decision. Rosas also never established a special flag for the province of Buenos Aires. Federalist supporters often used these variants, both in official and military contexts. In combat, the Federal Army frequently carried dark blue versions of the Argentine flag, sometimes inscribed with slogans such as
“¡Viva la Confederación! ¡Mueran los salvajes unitarios!” (“Long live the Confederation! Death to the savage Unitarians!”). In addition, some regiments used a red-and-white bicolor flag. By the late 1840s, especially in the northern provinces, where dissatisfaction with Rosas was growing but still respecting his dominance, flags bearing the slogan
“¡Libertad, Constitución o Muerte!” (“Liberty, Constitution, or Death!”) appeared. In turn, units of the
Grand Army commanded by
Justo José de Urquiza used flags bearing the slogan
“¡Constitución Federal o Muerte!” (“Federal Constitution or Death!”).
Urquiza flag Justo José de Urquiza,
governor of Entre Ríos, assumed national leadership as president of the Argentine Confederation after defeating Rosas at the
Battle of Caseros on 3 February 1852. Urquiza retained the Phrygian caps introduced under Rosas, but their orientation was changed so that each cap faced the corner of the flag in which it was located. These changes symbolized continuity with the Confederation while also marking a shift away from Rosas's personalist domination.
Unitarian Party and State of Buenos Aires During the Confederation era, Unitarian exiles in
Montevideo continued to use light blue national flags and their own naval flags. These flags remained in use until 1852. On 11 September 1852, the Unitarian Party carried out a
bloodless coup in the province, which led to the creation of the
State of Buenos Aires. The state effectively controlled only the coast of
La Plata. Although Buenos Aires was then an independent state, with its own diplomatic relations, it tried to reintegrate with Argentina. The State of Buenos Aires used a flag consisting of two light blue stripes and a white one in the middle, where the Greater
Coat of Arms of Argentina was located. It was replaced by the national flag with the unification of the country in 1861. Since then, no provincial flag has been used in Buenos Aires until the adoption of the current design. Buenos Aires warships continued to use the
naval ensign previously used by the Unitary Party. This was the original light blue Argentine flag with an additional thin white stripe at the top.
Argentine Republic Buenos Aires and the Confederation clashed at the
Battle of Pavón, which was won by the Unitarians in 1861. After this victory, Buenos Aires was reincorporated into the national structure, and
Bartolomé Mitre assumed office as president of the united Argentine Republic in 1862. His rule ushered in a more centralized government, with Buenos Aires as its political and economic center. In 1869, President
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento authorized the display of flags on homes and buildings during national holidays, a practice that had previously been prohibited. On September 24, 1873, during the unveiling of the
Belgrano Monument in Buenos Aires, Sarmiento delivered his "Discourse on the Flag." In it, he rejected the former Confederate flags, calling them the invention of barbarians, tyrants, and traitors, and declared that they could not be considered the Argentine flag. The debate over the flag's colors resurfaced in 1878. Bartolomé Mitre argued for maintaining the Unitarian light blue and white, while Mariano A. Pelliza and C. Frigeiro argued that the original color of the 1818 flag was turquoise. On April 25, 1884, President
Julio Argentino Roca issued a decree that again restricted the use of the sun flag to government institutions. A year later, a blue and white flag was approved for the diplomatic corps. In 1895, President
José Evaristo Uriburu established light blue and white as the official colors, a decision confirmed by President
Figueroa Alcorta's decree of May 24, 1907. Further regulations were introduced in 1943 under the administration of
Pedro Pablo Ramírez. Decrees 1027, 5256, and 6628, issued on June 19, August 13, and August 26 of the same year, defined the design of the official national flag, the image of the sun, and the manner of wearing the sash. It stipulated that the national flag must always display the sun when flown by government offices, while private individuals were required to use it without the sun. On June 8, 1938, president
Roberto Ortiz sanctioned national law no. 12,361 declaring June 20 "
Flag Day", a national holiday. The date was decided as the anniversary of Belgrano's death in 1820. In 1957 the
National Flag Memorial (a 10,000 m monumental complex) was inaugurated in Rosario to commemorate the creation of the flag, and the official Flag Day ceremonies have customarily been conducted in its vicinity since then. According to the Decree 10,302/1944 the article 2 stated that the Official Flag of the Nation is the flag with sun, approved by the "Congress of Tucumán", reunited in Buenos Aires on 25 February 1818. The article 3 stated that the flag with the sun in its center is to be used only by the Federal and Provincial Governments; while individuals and institutions use a flag without the sun. In 1985 the Law 23,208 repealed the article 3 of the Decree 10,302/1944, saying that the Federal and Provincial Governments, as well as individuals have the right to use the Official Flag of the Nation. In November 2010, the exact design specifications for the flag were standardized and promulgated via presidential decree, specifying the exact colors, proportions, and aspect ratio. ==Anthems to the flag==