ARGENTINA, FLAG OF

horizontally striped celeste-white-celeste national flag, often including a central golden sun. Its width-to-length ratio varies: proportions of 1 to 2 and of 9 to 14 are commonly used on land, while the ratio 2 to 3 is used at sea. The blue cockades worn by patriots in May 1810, when the Spanish viceroy in Buenos Aires yielded authority to the local government, and the uniforms worn by Argentines in 1806, when the British attacked Buenos Aires, may have been the origin of the celeste-white-celeste horizontally striped flag first hoisted on February 12, 1812, by General Manuel Belgrano. On July 9, 1816, Argentina, then part of the United Provinces of the Ro de la Plata, proclaimed its independence from Spain. However, it was not until February 25, 1818, that the golden Sun of May was added to the centre of the flag in reference to the events of May 1810, when the sun supposedly shone through the clouds. At first there were struggles between those who wanted a strongly centralized Argentina and those who favoured broad autonomy for the individual provinces, many of which had flags of their own. Even when they acted as independent states, however, those provinces had few contacts with foreign powers, and the flag of Buenos Aires province generally represented the Argentine Confederation in the international sphere. Finally, in 1860 definitive unification firmly established the celeste-white-celeste as the sole flag for the whole country. The exact colour shade has never been determined. On August 16, 1985, permission was granted to private citizens to fly the version that incorporates the Sun of May in the centre, a right previously restricted to the government and military. The Argentine flag influenced the designs of the national flags of five Central American states (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua), as well as that of neighbouring Uruguay. Whitney Smith History The following discussion focuses on events in Argentina from the time of European settlement. For events in a regional context, see Latin America, history of. Events that affected northwestern Argentina prior to the 16th century are described in Pre-Columbian civilizations: Andean civilization. The population of the area now called Argentina may have totaled 300,000 before the arrival of the Europeans. Some of the indigenous peoples were nomadic hunters and fishers, such as those in the Chaco, the Tehuelche of Patagonia, and the Querand and Puelche (Guennakin) of the Pampas, but others, such as the Diaguitas of the Northwest, developed sedentary agriculture. The highlands of the Northwest were a part of the Inca empire. Early period Discovery and settlement The main Atlantic outline of Argentina was revealed to European explorers in the early 16th century. The Ro de la Plata estuary was discovered years before Ferdinand Magellan traversed the Strait of Magellan in 1520, although historians dispute whether the estuary was first reached by Amerigo Vespucci in 150102 or by Juan Daz de Sols in his ill-fated voyage of 1516. Sols and a small party sailed up the Plata, which he called the Mar Dulce (Freshwater Sea), and made landfall. Ambushed by Indians, Sols and most of his followers were killed, and several disappeared. The survivors of the expedition returned to Spain. The Ro de la Plata was not explored again until Magellan arrived in 1520, and Sebastian Cabot in 1526. Cabot discovered the Paran and Paraguay rivers and established the fort of Sancti Spritus (the first Spanish settlement in the Plata basin). He also sent home reports of the presence of silver. In 1528 Cabot met another expedition from Spain under Diego Garca, commander of a ship from the Sols expedition. Both Cabot and Garca had planned to sail for the Moluccas but altered their courses, influenced by excited tales about an enchanted City of the Caesars (a variant of the Eldorado legend), which later incited many explorations and conquests in Argentina. While Cabot was preparing to search for the fabled city, a surprise attack by the Indians in September 1529 wiped out his Sancti Spritus base. Inspired by the conquest of Peru and the threat from Portugal's growing power in Brazil, Spain in 1535 sent an expedition under Pedro de Mendoza (equipped at his own expense) to settle the country. Mendoza was initially successful in founding Santa Mara del Buen Aire, or Buenos Aires (1536), but lack of food proved fatal. Mendoza, discouraged by Indian attacks and mortally ill, sailed for Spain in 1537; he died on the way. In the same year, a party from Buenos Aires under Juan de Ayolas and Domingo Martnez de Irala, lieutenants of Mendoza, pushed a thousand miles up the Plata and Paraguay rivers. Ayolas was lost on an exploring expedition, but Irala founded Asuncin (now in Paraguay) among the Guaran, a largely settled, agricultural people. In 1541 the few remaining inhabitants of Buenos Aires abandoned it and moved to Asuncin, which was the first permanent settlement in that area. In the next half-century Asuncin played a major part in the conquest and settlement of northern Argentina. The main population of Argentina was concentrated there until the late 18th century. Buenos Aires, reestablished in 1580 by Juan de Garay with settlers from Asuncin, was largely isolated from this northern area. Northern Argentina as well as Buenos Aires was settled mainly by the overflow from the neighbouring Spanish colonies of Chile, Peru, and Paraguay (Asuncin). There was little direct migration from Spain, probably because the area lacked the attractions of Mexico, Peru, and other Spanish coloniesrich mines, a large supply of tractable Indian labour, accessibility, and the privilege of direct trade with Spain. Nevertheless, in the early communities a simple but vigorous society developed on the basis of Indian labour and the horses, cattle, and sheep imported by the Spaniards, as well as native products such as corn (maize) and potatoes. Some of the Indians worked as virtual serfs, and densely populated missions (reducciones) established by the Roman Catholic church played a notable role in the colonizing process. European men often took Indian wives, because few Spanish women were among the settlers.