Color source for the First Argentinean Flags

PICONE, A. LORENA; ROMANO, ROSANA MARIEL; DELLA VÉDOVA, CARLOS OMAR

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Año: 2019 vol. 4 p. 11424 - 11432

0002-7863

: In this work, a historical controversy of more than 200years is settled by the study of the oldest preserved Argentinian flag.The results of the present work reinforce the hypothesis of a number ofhistorians who consider it to be the first flag that was originally hoistedon February 27, 1812, on the banks of the Paraná River. The workconsists of a study of the original textile. Through chemical analysis andimplementation of different types of analyses, techniques, andspectroscopies such as UV−vis, UV−vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy,attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy−energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy,and resonance Raman, the original characteristics of the flag of Machawere determined. The flag was colored with indigotin from Europe (from Isatis tinctoria) and made of silk; it is white, blue, andwhite in a horizontal arrangement. It was not treated with tin, and its blue color was subsequently adopted by the CentralAmerican Confederation and later by various states of Central America. According to related contemporaneous stories, itspreservation was due to the watchfulness of the patriots.