The state flag of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay was adopted as an official symbol in 1830, five years after the country's independence.
Description and proportions of the flag of Uruguay
It is no coincidence that the national flag of Uruguay is very similar to the symbol of the neighboring state - Argentina. This is a consequence of the fact that Uruguay was part of its territories before the declaration of its own independence.
The fabric of the flag of Uruguay has a classic rectangular shape, and the ratio of its sides to each other is determined by the proportion of 3: 2. The flag field is horizontally divided into nine stripes of equal width, five of which are white and four are bright blue. In the upper part, closest to the shaft, there is a white canopy, in which the golden "May sun" is applied. The kryzh has a square shape and its side width is equal to the width of five stripes of the Uruguayan flag.
The nine stripes on the flag symbolize the nine departments of the country, which existed at the very beginning of its appearance on the international stage. Today Uruguay has 19 regions, but the number of stripes on the national flag has remained unchanged since 1830.
The "May sun" on the flag of Uruguay is a stylized image of the sun god of the Incas, tribes that lived in Central America several centuries ago. "May" it is named in honor of the Argentine revolution that took place in 1810.
The "May sun" also took pride of place on the coat of arms of Uruguay, officially adopted as one of the state symbols of the country in 1829. The Inca symbol is crowned with an oval shield on which images of the main values of the Uruguayans are inscribed.
History of the flag of Uruguay
The original version of the Uruguayan flag was adopted in 1828. It differed from the modern one in several ways. Firstly, the number of stripes on the cloth reached nineteen, and the blue color of some of them was much lighter, which made it possible to call the flag of Uruguay blue and white. The "May sun" also had a different form. It had a larger number of beams, and the square canopy with its image occupied a slightly smaller part in proportion to the total area of the flag than in the modern version.
This version lasted only two years, and already in 1830, the author of the new flag of Uruguay, Joaquin Suarez, proposed a version of the country's state symbol, which has remained unchanged for almost two centuries.
