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Flags of Uruguay

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Flags of Uruguay

The land on the eastern bank of the Uruguay River — the "Banda Oriental" — sat for more than a century on the exact seam between two American empires, and both fought for it accordingly. Portugal pushed a trading post across the water from Buenos Aires in 1680; Spain answered by founding Montevideo forty years later to hold the line; and when Spanish rule finally collapsed, Portuguese Brazil simply annexed the territory outright rather than let it go independent, precisely because whoever held the eastern bank held the mouth of the Río de la Plata.

What makes Uruguay's founding genuinely unusual in this atlas is that it did not become independent by winning its own war of liberation the way most of its neighbors did. After the 1825 Thirty-Three Orientals uprising dragged Argentina and Brazil into a war neither could win outright, Britain stepped in as mediator: the 1828 Treaty of Montevideo, guaranteed by the United Kingdom, created Uruguay as a deliberate buffer state wedged between its two much larger neighbors — independence granted less to satisfy Uruguayan self-determination than to keep Argentina and Brazil from fighting each other over the territory again.

Scope of this page: the lands of present-day Uruguay, c. 1500s (Charrúa era)–present. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

Two rulers at once, for a century

Uruguay's own real border, traced whole, split for one specific stretch — Portugal's small Colônia do Sacramento enclave against the Spanish Banda Oriental that surrounded it. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held which piece, era to era.

This atlas only splits a country's internal map when two pieces were genuinely, separately governed at once. From 1680 to 1777, that's exactly what happened here: Portugal held the small trading enclave of Colônia do Sacramento, directly across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires, while Spain held the rest of the Banda Oriental from Montevideo outward — two different crowns administering two different pieces of the same modern country, at the same time. Outside that span, whichever crown or state held the upper hand held the whole territory, not a separate piece of it.
to 1680s
BRAZIL BRAZIL ARGENTINA ATLANTIC URUGUAY COLÔNIA
Charrúa and other indigenous peoples

Real traced border, with one schematic internal cut: the small Colônia do Sacramento enclave carved out of the southwestern coast for 1680–1777, approximate rather than surveyed.

How we know this. 4 of 5 eras on this page carry an evidence panel (2 attested, 2 not yet checked). Only the ones marked attested are confirmed by the sources named under them; where sources disagree or a claim could not be confirmed, the panel says so. Eras without a panel have not been looked at yet.
nine white and blue stripes, Sol de Mayo in the canton — fixed 1830, sun formalised 1952
1830 – present

Oriental Republic of Uruguay (modern)

RepublicFructuoso RiveraRoman Catholic (until 1917–19 secularization)
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Italian & Spanish immigrants (1880s–1930s)Emigration: political exiles fleeing the dictatorship (1973–85)

Who & why: the 1830 constitution formally establishes the Oriental Republic of Uruguay following the 1828 British-brokered independence settlement, fixing the flag in its final form the same year. The 20th century brings real turbulence — including a 1973–85 civil-military dictatorship — but none of it touches the flag itself, which has flown unaltered through democratic government, dictatorship, and the return to democracy alike.

What it represents: nine equal blue and white horizontal stripes with a white canton over the top five holding the golden Sun of May, whose sixteen rays alternate straight and wavy. Wikipedia says a statute of 11 July 1830 cut the de facto nineteen stripes to nine (four blue and five white) because the dense stripes were hard to tell apart, and a 1952 decree formalised the sun's design. The earlier claim that each stripe stands for one of nine original departments is not in either source.

Attestedhow we know this

Wikipedia: statute of 11 July 1830 reduced the stripes from nineteen to nine; 1952 decree formalised the sun's design with sixteen rays. FOTW: nine equal blue and white stripes, white canton over the top five, yellow sun with sixteen alternating straight and wavy rays.

Not established: The departments claim is in neither source; the 1828 date is inconsistent inside Wikipedia (nineteen or nine stripes).

Paint guide
Proportions2:3, fixed by law; shown here simplified with five representative stripes rather than all nine.
LayoutNine horizontal stripes (five white, four blue) with a white canton bearing the golden Sol de Mayo, a sun with a face and sixteen alternating rays.
White#F4EFE1
Blue#0038A8
Gold sun#F6B40E
LIBERTAD O MUERTE
Thirty-Three Orientals banner, light blue/white/red with "Libertad o Muerte"
1825 – 1828

Independence and the buffer-state settlement

Republic, independence declaredJuan Antonio LavallejaRoman Catholic

Who & why: the "Treinta y Tres Orientales" (Thirty-Three Orientals), led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja, land on the Banda Oriental in April 1825 and rise against Brazilian rule, triggering a war between Argentina and Brazil over the territory. Neither side can settle it by force, so Britain steps in to broker the December 1828 Treaty of Montevideo, under which both Argentina and Brazil recognize an independent Uruguay — created deliberately as a buffer state between them, a genuinely distinctive founding rationale among this atlas's republics.

What it represents: Wikipedia says the Thirty-Three Orientals planted a tricolor marked "Libertad o Muerte" at Agraciada Beach in 1825, and that the flag law that followed specified light blue, white and crimson. The page's motto and colours match this; the details of how it was worn are not given.

Attestedhow we know this

Wikipedia: in 1825 the Thirty-Three Orientals planted a tricolour marked 'Libertad o Muerte' at Agraciada Beach, and the flag law that followed specified light blue, white and crimson. FOTW: Lavalleja's flag had three horizontal bands of sky-blue, white and deep scarlet with 'Libertad o Muerte' on the middle band, and a contributor notes the flag was defined as celeste by an 1825 law; the Flag Law of 18 December 1828 later replaced it with the striped sun-canton flag.

Not established: FOTW's page for the 33 Orientales flag does not mention the Agraciada landing or the 1825 law (only the uy_hist contributor note does); how the flag was worn is not described.

Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for this irregular, campaign-era banner.
LayoutThree horizontal bands — light blue, white, red — with the motto "Libertad o Muerte" across the field.
Light blue#75AADB
White#F4EFE1
Red#9C3B28
left: Portuguese/United Kingdom colonial banner (1816–22); right: Brazilian Empire banner (1822–25)
1816 – 1825

Cisplatina (Portuguese/Brazilian rule)

Annexed provinceCarlos Frederico LecorRoman Catholic
Ruling house:House of Braganza

Who & why: Portuguese-Brazilian forces invade in 1816 and complete the annexation of the Banda Oriental by 1817, renaming it the "Cisplatine Province" and formally folding it into the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. After Brazil's own 1822 break from Portugal, the province passes intact into the newly independent Empire of Brazil. Brazilian rule over the province is a direct trigger for the Thirty-Three Orientals' 1825 uprising.

What it represents: Wikipedia says that during Brazilian control a provincial flag of white between two green stripes was used. The sources read do not describe the Portuguese flag of 1816–22 shown on the left.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

Wikipedia: during Brazilian control a provincial flag of white between two green stripes was used. FOTW (historical page): Uruguay joined the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves in July 1821 and was a Brazilian province from February 1824 to October 1828; the Portuguese invasion defeated Artigas in July 1816; it links a separate Cisplatine page but gives no flag.

Not established: Neither publisher describes the Portuguese flag of 1816-22 or a Brazilian Empire banner as drawn here; the Wikipedia green-striped provincial flag differs, and the dates of Brazilian control differ from this page's 1822-25 (FOTW 1821/1824-1828).

Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for the province's own use; shown as an illustrative split panel.
LayoutLeft half: Portuguese colonial blue field. Right half: Brazilian Empire green field. Center: simplified gold armillary/imperial emblem.
Portuguese blue#204B5C
Brazilian green#2A7F3E
Gold emblem#F6B40E
Cross of Burgundy on white — standard Spanish colonial banner
1680s – 1816

Banda Oriental (Spanish colonial, contested with Portugal)

Colony, contestedManuel LoboRoman Catholic
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Canary Islander settler families (1726–29)
Ruling house:House of Habsburg (Spain)House of Bourbon (Spain)House of Braganza (Portugal)

Who & why: Spain and Portugal dispute this stretch of the eastern riverbank for well over a century. Portugal opens the contest by founding Colônia do Sacramento in 1680, directly across the river from Buenos Aires; Spain answers by founding Montevideo in 1724–30 to secure the eastern bank against further Portuguese encroachment. The territory remains a genuine, long-running frontier flashpoint between the two empires' American claims until Portuguese/Brazilian forces finally seize it outright in 1816.

What it represents: Wikipedia's article on Uruguay's flag has no entries for Spanish colonial flags or the Cross of Burgundy and begins with Artigas's flag of 1814; Flags of the World does not cover flags used before 1816. The sources read do not confirm the Cross of Burgundy as the banner of the Banda Oriental.

Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this

Wikipedia: the earliest flag described is Artigas's 1814 flag (white stripe between two blue, with red). FOTW (historical page): Artigas used red, blue and white for the Eastern Province's flag, in use 1814-1817; no Spanish colonial or Banda Oriental flag is described.

Not established: The Cross of Burgundy over the Banda Oriental is not mentioned by either publisher (for Spanish use of the Cross of Burgundy generally see the Argentina entries); the 1680 start is not a flag event.

Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for colonial-era use.
LayoutWhite/cream field, red saltire (Cross of Burgundy); shown here with straight bands rather than the historically jagged, knotted-branch edges.
White#F4EFE1
Red saltire#9C3B28
NO FLAG DOCUMENTED
placeholder field — pre-contact era, no flag survives
to 1680s

Charrúa and other indigenous peoples

No unified polityNo single ruler documentedCharrúa spiritual tradition (poorly documented)

Who & why: the Charrúa and other indigenous peoples inhabit the territory in small, mobile communities before European contact, with no single ruling authority over the region. Comparatively sparse Spanish and Portuguese settlement follows contact, a direct consequence of the territory's position as a frontier zone between the two empires rather than a core holding of either.

What it represents: no flag or fixed territorial banner is documented for this era or these peoples. Shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

No unified polity — no single ruling authority
Colony, contested — disputed frontier between two empires
Annexed province — absorbed outright into a larger state
Republic, independence declared — sovereignty claimed, not yet settled
Republic — sovereign, internationally recognized
Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start
State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's

Find the records

Family history research for Uruguay lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.

Search Record Atlas for Uruguay →

More of the atlas

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Compiled from Wikipedia, Flags of the World (fotw.info / crwflags.com), and Britannica. Colors are close historical approximations for painting reference; pre-19th-century swatches are informed reconstructions, not official specifications.