Netherlands

Information about the Dutch Flag: Colors and Meaning of the Flag of Netherlands

The Netherlands flag is tri-color, consisting of three horizontal bands of equal size. The red band is on top, with blue at the bottom and the white stripe in between the two. The country can erroneously be referred to as Holland, mainly because it rose to prominence as an economic and maritime power but in fact Holland is just a western region of the Netherlands. The country’s flag has a ratio 2:3, meaning its length is one and a half times longer than its width.

Although the national flag was officially adopted only on the 19th of February 1937 after a royal decree from Queen Wilhelmina, it had been used from the 1500s. However, at that time the red stripe was in fact orange in color, following the official colors of William of Orange who ruled the first republic after the Netherlands gained independence from Spain in 1568. Prince William of Orange was a leader in the nation’s campaign to be break free from Spanish colonization and the flag colors were taken from his coat of arms and the flag was appropriately called the Prinsvlag or the Prince’s flag. According to some theory, as the change of color was not verified, the dye used for orange faded in time and became red and became the official color ever since. The national flag was not used for a brief time when the French occupied the Netherlands in the 19th century until the country regained its independence by 1813.

The use of red, white and blue in the national flag of the Netherlands inspired the Tsar of Russia to adopt the colors for its flag. From then on the used of these three colors were predominant in the national flags of major countries in Europe and became the Pan-Slavic colors, just like there are Pan-African colors.

:: References ::
http://www.worldflags101.com/n/netherlands-flag.aspx
http://www.flags-flags-flags.org.uk/dutch-flag.htm