Flag of Argentina
South America
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Buenos Aires
- Flag adopted
- 1818
- Population
- 46,735,004
- Area
- 2,780,400 km²
- Languages
- Guaraní, Spanish
- Currency
- Argentine peso ($) — ARS
- Demonym
- Argentine
- Government
- presidential republic
- Subregion
- South America
- Driving side
- Right
- Timezones
- UTC-03:00
- Independence
- 1816
Religions
- Roman Catholic 62.9%
- None 18.9%
- Evangelical 15.3%
- Jehovah's Witness and Church of Jesus Christ 1.4%
- Other 1.2%
- Unspecified 0.3%
About This Flag
The flag of Argentina consists of three equal horizontal bands — light blue on top, white in the middle, and light blue on the bottom — with a golden Sun of May centered on the white stripe. The light blue and white colors were first used by Argentine patriots during the May Revolution of 1810 against Spanish rule.
The Sun of May (Sol de Mayo) represents the Inca sun god Inti and commemorates the appearance of the sun through clouds on May 25, 1810, when the first mass demonstration in favor of independence took place in Buenos Aires. The flag without the sun (the civil flag) was adopted on February 12, 1812, by Manuel Belgrano, and the version with the Sun of May was officially adopted on February 25, 1818.
What the colors & design mean
Light blue represents the sky and the Argentine aspiration for justice. White symbolizes peace and purity. The Sun of May represents the Inca sun deity Inti and commemorates the May Revolution of 1810, when the sun appeared as Buenos Aires declared its path toward independence.
Pattern: Horizontal Stripes
Bordering countries (5)
Fun Facts
- The Sun of May has a human face with 32 rays (16 straight and 16 wavy, alternating), and it appears not only on Argentina's flag but also on Uruguay's flag, as both nations share the revolutionary heritage of the Rio de la Plata.
- Manuel Belgrano, a lawyer and military leader who created the flag, reportedly chose the colors based on the blue-and-white cockades worn by Argentine patriots during the independence movement.
- Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world by area, stretching from subtropical regions in the north to the sub-Antarctic Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America.
- Until 1985, only the government and military could fly the full flag with the Sun of May — private citizens were restricted to the 'civil flag' version without the sun.
Similar looking flags
These flags share similar colors and patterns:
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