The national flag of the Argentine Republic, often referred to as the Argentine flag (), is a triband, composed of three equally wide horizontal bands coloured baby blue and white. There are multiple interpretations on the reasons for those colors. The flag was created by Manuel Belgrano, in line with the creation of the Cockade of Argentina, and was first raised at the city of Rosario on 27 February 1812, during the Argentine War of Independence. The National Flag Memorial was later built on the site. The First Triumvirate did not approve the use of the flag, but the Asamblea del Año XIII allowed the use of the flag as a war flag. It was the Congress of Tucumán which finally designated it as the national flag in 1816. A yellow Sun of May was added to the center in 1818.
The full flag featuring the sun is called the Official Ceremonial Flag (). The flag without the sun is considered the Ornamental Flag (). While both versions are equally considered the national flag, the ornamental version must always be hoisted below the Official Ceremony Flag. In vexillological terms, the Official Ceremonial Flag is the civil, state, and war flag and ensign, while the Ornamental Flag is an alternative civil flag and ensign.
There is controversy of the true colour of the first flag between historians and the descendants of Manuel Belgrano between blue and pale blue.
Design
thumbnail|right|The flag at [[Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada.]]
Popular belief attributes the colors to those of the sky, clouds and the sun; some anthems to the flag like "Aurora" or "Salute to the flag" state so as well. However, historians usually disregard this idea, and attribute them to loyalty towards the House of Bourbon.
After the May Revolution, the first times of the Argentine War of Independence, the Triumvirate claimed to be acting on behalf of the Spanish King Ferdinand VII, who was prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte during the Peninsular War. Whether such loyalty was real or a trick to conceal independentism is a topic of dispute. The creation of a new flag with those colors would have been then a way to denote autonomy, while keeping the relations with the captive king alive.
Sun of May
thumbnail|right|200px|The Sun of May on the first coin of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.
The sun is called the Sun of May because it is a replica of an engraving on the first Argentine coin, approved in 1813, whose value was eight escudos (one Spanish dollar). It has 16 straight and 16 waved sunbeams.
In 1978 the sun color was specified to be golden yellow (), to have an inner diameter of 10 cm, and an outer diameter of 25 cm (the diameter of the sun equals the height of the white stripe. The sun's face is of its height). It features 32 rays, alternately wavy and straight, and from 1978 it must be embroidered in the "Official Flag Ceremony".
Shape and size
In 2002, the Instituto Argentino de Normalización y Certificación defined the flag's official proportions as 10:16, or 5:8. It is one of five national flags that use the ratio 5:8, the others being Guatemala, Palau, Poland, and Sweden.
From 1978, the flag's official proportions was 9:14, and its official size was 0.9 by 1.4 meters, which each stripe being 30 centimeters high. In the center stripe there is an emblem known as the Sun of May (), a golden sun. Historian Diego Abad de Santillán claimed that the Sun of May was a representation of the Inca sun god Inti.
Flags with proportions of 1:2 and 2:3 are also in use.
Colors
The colors are officially defined using the CIE 1976 standard:
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|- style="text-align: center; background: #eee"
! Scheme
! Sky blue <!-- restoring section -->
! Yellow
! Brown
|-
| CIE (L*, a*, b*)
| 67.27, -6.88, -32.23
| 74.97, 29.22, 81.58
| 44.53, 27.16, 22.48
|-
|colspan ="4"|<small>*Black and white are as normal. *Source: http://manuelbelgrano.gov.ar/bandera/normas-iram/ </small>
|}
The following are given for computer, textile, print and plastic use:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!30px<br>Colours scheme !! style="background-color:#74ACDF"|<span style="color:white;">Sky Blue</span> !! style="background-color:#F6B40E"|<span style="color:white;">Yellow</span> !! style="background-color:#85340A"|<span style="color:white;">Brown</span>
|-
| RGB || R: 116, G: 172, B: 223|| R: 246, G: 180, B: 14 ||R: 133, G: 52, B: 10
|-
| Hexadecimal || #74ACDF || #F6B40E || #85340A
|-
| CMYK || C: 100%, M: 68%, Y: 0%, K: 37% || C: 0%, M: 18%, Y: 100%, K: 0% || C: 16%, M: 0%, Y: 10%, K: 24%
|-
| Pantone (textile) ||16-4132 TC ||14-1064 TC||18-1441 TC
|-
| Pantone (print) || 284 C / 284 U || 1235 C / 116 U || 483 C / 483 U
|-
| Pantone (plastic) || Q 300-4-1 || Q 030-2-1 || Q 120-2-4
|-
| Number || 75AADB || FCBF49 || 843511
|-
|}
The Spanish word (sky blue) is used to describe the colour of the blue stripes.
<!--The colors are subject to discussion, and there is no official position on colour usage. Cerulean blue's is defined by Pantone as N21-01, which equals "155, 196, 226" in RGB notation.
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|- bgcolor=#C1D8FF
!Color
!RGB
!HTML
!HSV
!Lab
!CMYK
!Sample
|-
|Cerulean Blue
|align=center|156, 196, 226
|align=center|#9BC4E2
|align=center|201, 31, 89
|align=center|77, -9, -20
|align=center|37, 12, 3, 0
|bgcolor=9BC4E2|
|-
|Cerulean Blue (Websafe)
|align=center|153, 205, 255
|align=center|#99CCFF
|align=center|210, 40, 100
|align=center|80, 4444 6jm
|align=center|35, 10, 0, 0
|bgcolor=99CCFF|
|-
|White
|align=center|255, 255, 255
|align=center|#FFFFFF
|align=center|0, 0, 100
|align=center|100, 0, 0
|align=center|0, 0, 0, 0
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|-
|Golden Yellow
|align=center|255, 205, 51
|align=center|#FFCD33
|align=center|45, 80, 100
|align=center|85, 8, 76
|align=center|1, 19, 89, 0
|bgcolor=FFCD33|
|-
|Black
|align=center|0, 0, 0
|align=center|#000000
|align=center|0, 0, 0
|align=center|0, 0, 0
|align=center|75, 68, 67, 90
|bgcolor=000000|
|}-->
History
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 18 July 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".