Manuel Belgrano

Manuel Belgrano designed the flag of Argentina and is regarded there as a founding father, though he never sought command and was not a soldier by training. He was the son of an Italian merchant in Buenos Aires and studied law at Salamanca and Valladolid, where he encountered Enlightenment economics and became an advocate of free trade, public education and the education of women. As secretary of the merchants' guild he spent years arguing for agricultural improvement and schools against a colonial administration that was not interested. He took part in the May Revolution of 1810 and was given military command despite having no experience, leading an unsuccessful expedition to Paraguay which nonetheless helped push that country to its own independence. In 1812, on the banks of the Paraná, he raised a blue and white cockade as a flag for the first time, and was reprimanded by the government for it. That year he was ordered to retreat from Salta and instead evacuated the whole population of Jujuy, burning what could not be moved, then turned and won at Tucumán against orders, saving the revolution in the north. He won again at Salta. He later went to Europe seeking a monarch for the River Plate, and died in poverty in 1820 on a day when Buenos Aires had three rival governors and no newspaper reported it. He gave the prize money from his victories to found four schools, and the endowment document he wrote for them survived long enough to be acted on a century later. He died on 20 June 1820, and Argentina marks its Flag Day on that date rather than on his birthday.

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