Flag of Argentina

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Flag Ratio: 2:3

The national flag of Argentina consists of a triband of two sky blue stripes with a white one separating them. In the center band is the sun emblem, which according to tradition was created by General Manuel Belgrano before the Battle of Parana when he looked at the sky. The sun emblem "Sol de Mayo/Sun of May" is an important icon for Argentina and has appeared on earlier manifestations of the flag.

However, there are other theories about the origin of the flag. One of them states that the flag had the colors swapped at first (that is, white-blue-white). The blue simbolizes the River of Silver (R�o de la Plata), which is the widest river in the world. The white simbolizes silver (Argentina comes from the latin Argentum, which means silver, because early conquerors though there were large quantities of that metal in the river banks).

[(disputed — see talk page)

Another theory, which seems more plausible to me, is that those colors honor the Bourbon dinasty of Spain. That seems to explain why so many Latin American countries have these same colors in their flags. It might seem strange that a country that was in the process of becoming independent would adopt its motherland's symbols, but originally the May 25th Revolution did not declare independency, they merely declared that they would not aknowledge the present Spanish rule (who was Napoleon's brother at that time, after he had conquered Spain) and it swore loyalty to Ferdinand VII, the overthrown king of Spain. So probably the May revolutionaries thought it was a good idea to demonstrate their loyalty to the Spanish crown by adopting the same insignia. ]

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ca:Bandera de l'Argentina de:Flagge Argentiniens es:Bandera de Argentina fr:Drapeau de l'Argentine he:דגל ארגנטינה it:Bandiera Argentina ja:アルゼンチンの国旗