 | |
| Proportion | 2:3 |
|---|---|
| Adopted |
|
| Designed by | José Gervasio Artigas and José María de Roo |
 | |
| Use | Early version |
| Adopted | c. 1914 |
TheArtigas flag is a flag created in the early 19th century by the South Americanlibertador and political leaderJosé Gervasio Artigas. It was originally designed to be the national flag of theFederal League, a confederation of provinces that briefly existed between 1815 and 1820.
Since 1952, it has been one of thenational flags ofUruguay and since 1987, theflag of theArgentineprovince ofEntre Ríos.[1] The flag consists of a white horizontal stripe between two blue and redbend. The blue and white stripes come from theflag created byManuel Belgrano, while the red was added as a symbol of the fight forfederalism.
In 1810, as a result of theMay Revolution, theViceroyalty of Rio de la Plata declared independence, becoming theUnited Provinces of South America, but for some time continued to use theSpanish flag. On 27 February 1812,Manuel Belgrano designed aflag for his soldiers with two blue stripes on the edges and a white stripe in the middle and proposed it as the flag of the United Provinces, however, due to the complicated situation, thePrimera Junta officially fought on behalf of theSpanish KingFerdinand VII, who was in captivity toNapoleon.
In 1814José Gervasio Artigas, the leader of theProvincia Oriental, began to organize theLeague of the Free Peoples. The first flag was created before the League was formed and was based on the Belgano flag. The flag consisted of horizontal blue-white-blue bands, with each blue band having a horizontal red band inside. The blue stripes were to symbolize the two banks of theRío de la Plata.
Later, Artigas changed the two red stripes to one diagonal one, to clearly distinguish his flags from similar flags ofhis opponents. The final design was not created directly by Artigas but by José María de Roo, a customs official fromMontevideo and an expert inheraldry. 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[2][3]
The new flag was first raised at Artigas's military camp inArerunguá on 13 January 1815. InMontevideo it was flown for the first time on 26 March by order of the military governor of Montevideo, ColonelFernando Otorgués, and inEntre Ríos on 13 March. Over time, the flag spread throughout the League. In 1820, after defeating theUnitarian forces, the governors of the provinces of Entre Ríos,Santa Fe, andCorrientes signed theTreaty of Pilar with Buenos Aires and reunited with the United Provinces, thus dissolving the Federal League. Faced with thePortugueseinvasion and conflict with his former allies, Artigas was defeated and fled toParaguay. Pursuing Artigas, the governor of Entre Ríos,Francisco Ramírez, captured the city ofCorrientes on 19 September, declaring himself governor of the province of Corrientes and all ofMesopotamia.[2]
Ramírez created aRepublic of Entre Ríos from the territories he controlled in September 1820. Despite the title "Republic" and its practical independence, Ramírez had no intention ofseceding from the United Provinces. Entre Ríos quickly came into conflict withEstanislao López,governor ofSanta Fe. Since Ramírez used Artigas' old flag as his own, Santa Fe abandoned it and adoptedits own design. The republic came to an end a year later when, during the campaign in Santa Fe, Ramírez was betrayed by one of his commanders,Lucio Norberto Mansilla, and then killed after being captured by López's troops.[2]
After the restoration of the province of Entre Ríos by Governor Lucio Mansilla in 1821, on 12 March 1822, the provincial congress banned the use of the federal flag and any other flags used and instead introduced new symbols. Following Mansilla's resignation in 1824, during the government ofJuan León Solas, the Ramírez flag informally returned to the province along with thenational flag, although it was not formalized due to factional fighting in the following years.[4][5]
Dark blue, white and red were widely used by theFederalist Party throughout its existence, but the Artigas flag itself was used less and less compared to theRosas flag and the provincial flags.
The Artigas flag remained one of the patriotic symbols inUruguay, but it lacked official status until the 18 February 1952 when a decree came into force which, among other things, officially recognized the Artigas flag and theflag of the Treinta y Tres as national symbols amongst thenational flag, thecoat of arms and thenational anthem. The law states that all public buildings, offices and ships must fly the three official flags in national holidays.
On 5 March 1987, GovernorSergio Montiel instituted the Artigas flag as theflag of the Entre Ríos province inArgentina.[6]
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
The diagonal stripe pattern did not become common throughout the league right away. Especially in 1815, other arrangements of federal colors were used locally. Usually these flags took the form of simple tricolors. Apparently, the military governor of Montevideo,Fernando Otorgués, and the commander,Andrés Guacurarí, enteringMisiones, used three horizontal stripes from the top of the colors red, blue and white. Otorgués flag quickly changed the order of the stripes to blue-white-red and became the Banda Oriental flag used throughout the period of the League's control over the eastern bank of theUruguay River. The Banda Oriental flag was again used as the basis for theflag of the Treinta y Tres and as the first flag of theRepublic of Uruguay in 1825.
José de Silva, who overthrew the pro-centralist government inCorrientes in December 1914, introduced the flag with horizontal stripes, which was used there until the end of the League's existence.
.svg)
_with_arms.svg)
.svg)
From 1930s to 1990s, warships of theUruguayan Navy flew the Artigas flag as thenaval jack[7], until being replaced by modified pre-1930s design.
The aircraft of theUruguayan Air Force display the Artigas flag on the fins, as well as a circular version of the flag (roundel) on the fuselages and wings.
There is also a different version of the roundel, known as theArtigas' cockade, which is worn as acockade on the uniforms of the military of Uruguay, and also serves as the emblem of theUruguayan Army. It is likewise based on the Artigas flag, but with blue at the centre, surrounded by white then blue, and with the red diagonal stripe overall.[8]
The symbols of thefirst division football Club Nacional de Football were inspired by the Artigas flag,[9][10] as were those of thethird division club Club Atlético Artigas and Paysandú Fútbol Club.
The leftist urban guerrilla groupTupamaros, founded in the 1960s, uses an Artigas flagdefaced with their emblem of ared or yellow star and the letter "T."
Currently, the first Artigas flag is used by the far-left partyCOMUNA, which added its logo on the white stripe, and byCabildo Abierto, which is considered a right-wing party.
The flag with green stripes is used as one of the modern unofficial symbols of theindigenous Charrúa people. The flag colored green is attributed to the Charrúa cavalry that fought in the League's army. No sources mention that the Charrúa cavalry used a special flag intentionally different from the basic Artigas flag, but there is an account describing the green stripeflags used byAndrés Guacurarí inMisiones. Guacurarí was the adopted son of Artigas and came from theGuarani people. It is usually assumed that the flags seen at Misiones werefaded. TheCharrúa language and theGuarani language of that time did not distinguish between the colors blue and green.[13]
