countries from the viceroyalty of the rio de la plata
argentina
The Spanish first arrived in the region of modern day Argentina in 1516. They used the flag of Spain at that time. Argentina was later a part of the Vice-royalty of Peru, which was created in 1541. They flew the Cross of Burgundy, which was the naval flag of Spain at the time and also the flag for land combat. The flag was a red cross on a white background, and represented the cross the the Apostle Andrew was crucified on. Then in 1776, the Vice-royalty of the Río de la Plata was created to better control the trade of minerals along the major rivers in Argentina. This new region was made up of the regions of modern day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. They then used the naval flag of Spain, which is similar to the national flag. After only 34 years, a rebellion broke out after Napoleon conquered Spain. In 1814, the country was renamed the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. At this time, the modern flag of Argentina emerges. One of the leaders of the patriots, Manuel Belgrano, noticed that both royalists were using Spanish colors. So he designed a cockade and later a flag to distinguish between the two sides, using the colors white and sky blue. There is speculation over what the colors represent. Some say it is out of reverence to the house Bourbon, a powerful French family. Others say the colors were chosen simply because blue and white clash with red and gold. This was used as a combat flag and was later adopted as a national flag in 1825. In 1818, the Sun of May was added to the center as well as on the currency of the new country. In 1835, four Phrygian caps were added to the corners. These were later removed in 1861. It has remained mostly unchanged since, making it another old flag to date.
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paraguay
Paraguay was conquered in the early 1500s, and was later attached to the Viceroyalty of Peru, flying the Cross of Burgundy. They rebelled in 1811 against Spain, and flew a horizontal version of the French flag since it represented liberty as well as their close ties to France. In 1826 the flag of their dictator, Jose Rodriguez, was used as a national flag. It was a blue flag with a white six pointed star in the corner. After he died in 1840, the flag was changed back to the french based flag, with the sea, in the center. While the seal has changed over time, the flag has remained unchanged since then.
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uruguay
Uruguay was a part of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la plata, which flew the Cross of Burgundy. Its history was relatively simple until 1811, when they fought a war against the Spanish Empire. They chose a flag of blue white and blue horizontal stripes, with a red diagonal cross over them. This was to distinguish between the flag or Argentina, who at the time they were fighting against. When they finally gained independence, they had to fight several wars to keep independence from Brazil and Argentina. To distinguish their flag, they chose a striped flag of blue and white with the Sun in the corner in 1828. Since then, the flag hasn't changed, except for dimension modifications.
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