![[Bovril flag]](../images/a/ar-e-bo.gif)
Last modified: 2021-12-24 by rob raeside
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image by Ivan Sache, 06 Aug 2013
The municipality of Bovril is located in central northern Entre Ríos Province.
Bovril is named for the British company "Bovril Ltd.", known in
Argentina as "Sociedad Argentina Bovril" or "Compañía Bovril". The
company was founded in London in 1889 by the Scot John Lawson Johnston
(1839-1900), who had registered in 1887 an extract of meat of his
invention under the trademark "Bovril". Johnson named his product for
the Latin word "bos, bovis", "a bovine", and for "vril", the liquid
substance at the origin of the success of the underground humanoid
race described by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) in his once famous
novel "Vril: The Power of the Coming Race" (1871).
Extract of meat was invented by the German chemist Justus von Liebig
(1803-1876) and his associate, the Belgian engineer Georg Christian
Giebert. The "Kemmerich & Giebert" company, registered in Antwerp
(Belgium), founded near Santa Elena, in the north of Entre Ríos Province, the first extract of meat factory in Argentina; in 1909,
they sold the factory and the neighbouring ranches to Bovril Ltd.
Bovril quickly grew up as a worldwide economical empire. The company
had its headquarters in Buenos Aires and owned thousands hectares of
land in several provinces. At his peak, Bovril owned in Argentina an
area equal to half the area of England, where 1,500,000 were bred; in
Entre Rios, the company managed in 1926 more than 130,000 ha.
In 1970, Sir Ian Lawson Johnston (1905-1996), the founder's nephew,
sold Bovril Ltd. to Cavenham Co. The company was purchased in 1973 by
the Santa Fé-base SAFRA, which managed it until 1984. Acquired by the
Entre Rios provincial government, Bovril was privatized in 1991.
The "Colony and village of Bovril" was officially established on 26
March 1913, when the governor of the Entre Ríos Province validated
the draft of the new settlement designed by the land surveyor Antonio
Tost and the civil engineer César Menegazzo. Originally known as "Km
49" (from its location on the railway), the village was renamed for
the company that had ceded the plots of land required to build the new
settlement. The railway station was inaugurated on 11 April 1914, the
village counting then 2,350 inhabitants.
The second-rank municipality of Bovril was established by Provincial
Decree No. 2,441 of 27 June 1951. Provincial Decree No. 2,375 of 20
November 1981 upgraded Bovril to a first-rank municipality.
Original source: Genaro Tomás O. Gaitz &Alcides Darío
Coronel,"Despertando los Recuerdos. Un Recorrido por la Historia de la
Ciudad de Bovril y Zonas Vecinas".
The flag of Bovril is horizontally divided yellow-dark green, with a
white triangle placed along the hoist and an emblem, different from
the municipal coat of arms, placed in the middle o the ooloured field
(triangle excluded).
White represents purity, joy, liberty and light.
The upper, yellow stripe refers to the sun, as a source of light,
force and life.
The lower, green stripe alludes to the land, the fields, hope and the
natural environment.
The emblem features in the middle a family entering the area [more
precisely, a man riding a horse pulling a cart with the rest of the
family, all black], recalling the history of the town, built by
immigrants, under the sun and the sky present on the national flag.
Below is a cultivated field, as the product of the men settled in the
area, and one of the most important sources of income in the area. The
oval shield is framed by wheat grains and maize cobs, two of the main
crops the most representative of the region. Beneath the shield is a
scroll made of the flags of Argentina (left) and of Entre Rios
(right), as a symbol of confraternity in unity and support to the
nation.
The flag was selected in a public contest organized in 2006 by the
Directorate and the Commission of Arts and Culture. The jury met on 30
May 2006 to examine the 24 submitted proposals; the design proposed by
Irma Liduvina Ortiz de Rueda was proclaimed the winning design by Act
no. 70 of the Commission of Arts and Culture.
The flag was formally approved by Ordinance No. 593 of 30 May 2006,
promulgated by Decree No. 117. The flag was officially unveiled on 20
June 2006.
Original source: Genaro Tomás O. Gaitz &Alcides Darío
Coronel,"Despertando los Recuerdos. Un Recorrido por la Historia de la
Ciudad de Bovril y Zonas Vecinas"
Ivan Sache, 06 Aug 2013
