In which city was Argentina's flag first raised in 1812?

Argentina’s flag was first raised in Rosario in 1812. Manuel Belgrano presented the new blue-and-white banner there on 27 February during the country’s struggle for independence from Spanish rule.

The ceremony took place at an artillery battery called Independencia, near the Paraná River. Belgrano had chosen the colors because they matched Argentina’s recently adopted national cockade and would distinguish his troops from forces using Spanish flags. Local tradition holds that María Catalina Echevarría de Vidal helped sew the first flag and that Cosme Maciel raised it.

The revolutionary government had not authorized the banner and soon ordered Belgrano to stop using it. At the time, the First Triumvirate still formally acted in the name of Ferdinand VII, who was imprisoned by Napoleon. Belgrano said he had not received the prohibition and continued carrying the flag during later campaigns.

Rosario commemorates the event with the National Flag Memorial, built near the traditional site of the first raising. The flag was not officially adopted as Argentina’s national flag until 1816.