The flag was designed by Ángel Camblor, a captain of the Uruguayan Army. He was the winner of a contest organized by Juana de Ibarbourou in 1932. The flag was first raised in Montevideo, at the Independence Square, on 12 October 1932.
The flag was formerly known as "Flag of the Hispanic race" (Spanish: Bandera de la raza hispánica).
^Grosvenor, Gilbert; Showalter, William J. (September 1934). "Flags of the World". The National Geographic Magazine. Vol. 66, no. 3. pp. 361, 364, 367. ISSN0027-9358. OCLC643483454. Retrieved 2022-04-10 – via Internet Archive. This flag, with its three wine-colored crosses and its sun of the Incas, was hoisted on October 12, 1932 in the Plaza Independencia in Montevideo. It was officially recognized and dedicated by supreme decree by the governments of Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia and Peru. All of the nations of the Americas hoisted it shortly thereafter.