Escalante Department, Chubut Province, Argentina

The municipality of Comodoro Rivadavia (173,300 inhabitants in 2010; 566.81 sq. km) is located in central western Patagonia. Comodoro Rivadavia is the most populous town in Chubut Province and Argentine Patagonia.

Comodoro Rivadavia was founded on 23 February 1901. The municipality was named for Commodore Mart�n Rivadavia (1852-1901), captain of the corvette "Argentina" that surveyed the area in 1890, on behalf of Colonel Luis Fontana, first Governor of Chubut. Mart�n Rivadavia was the nephew of the statesman Bernardino Rivadavia (1780-1845), the first head of state of Argentina (President of the United Provinces del R�o de la Plata, 1826-1827).

Oil extraction started in Patagonia in 1907, which boosted the development of Comodoro Rivadavia, known today as the "National Capital of Oil". The boom of the town attracted several immigrants; Comodoro Rivadavia is the proud "Capital of Foreign Communities", with an impressive list of registered foreign cultural associations (Galician, Spanish, Argentine-Arab, Bolivian, Italian, Polish, Greek, Yugoslav, Chilean, Portuguese, Basque, Asturian, Welsh, Paraguayan, Bulgarian, South African, German, Czech and Slovak, Croat, Andalusian, former USSR, Brazilian, and Israelite).

The Military Government of Comodoro Rivadavia was established by Decree No. 13,941 of 31 May 1944, with jurisdiction on Chubut and northern Santa Cruz. The military presence in the town dates back to 1935, when the 8th Infantry Regiment, founded on 13 July 1813 by Manuel Belgrano, was relocated to Comodoro Rivadavia.

The flag of Comodoro Rivadavia is prescribed by Municipal Ordinance No. 7,308 of 21 February 2001. The design proposed by Luis Eduardo Hammerschmidt was unanimously selected on 26 January 2001 by the jury made of Ms. Lila H. De Gastaldi, Mariela C�rdoba and Liz Cristina L�pez.

The flag is horizontally divided celeste blue-white with an oval emblem (different from the municipal coat of arms), portraying the local landscape, in the middle.

Celeste blue and white are the colors of both the country and the town.

The sun in the emblem's background represents the light of hope for the local people.

The Chenque Hill [a 212 m high hill that divides the town in two parts] is part of the landscape from which the town emerged. The windpumps highlight the significance of the windpump park for the town, recalling that wind is common in the area [the town, nicknamed "Capital of the Winds", is the cradle of wind energy industry in Argentina].

The oil wells represent the natural resource that attracted the first inhabitants of the place. The sea is another natural resource that contributed to the progress of the town.

Ivan Sache, 03 March 2002 & 11 August 2013