The Netherlands Flag

The Netherlands Flag

The Netherlands Flag

Many Dutch towns, which were generally ruled by merchant groups, became prosperous during the Middle Ages. During the 15th century, the Low Countries (Holland, Belgium and Flanders) passed to the dukes of Burgundy and to the Spanish Hapsburgs in 1504. Opposition to Spanish rule grew, however, and in 1568, led by William, Prince of Orange, the Dutch rebelled against King Philip II of Spain, seven northern provinces forming the United Provinces which was formally recognized as the Dutch Republic in 1648. A struggle between the Orangists, who favored the rule of the stadholder (chief magistrate), and republicans ended in 1672, when William of Orange (King William III of England) became stadholder, the country becoming a kingdom in 1814.

The Dutch flag, which was possibly the first revolutionary tricolor, may well have been the model for the French Tricolore. The first Dutch tricolor, the Prinsinvlag ("prince's flag"), of orange, white and blue, was based on the Prince of Orange's livery. Having proved unstable, by 1660 the orange dye had been changed to red. Until 1800, the order and number of the flag's stripes often varied and it was not until 1937 that the colors and arrangement were officially established for The Netherlands flag. Every June in the Netherlands, graduating students fly The Netherlands flag with a school bag on top of the flagpole!