Monday 10 October 2016

By Kent Sons


The Netherlands, on the coast of the North Sea. Julius Caesar found the low-lying Netherlands inhabited by Germanic tribes the Nervii, Frisii, and Batavi. The Batavi on the Roman frontier did not submit to Rome's rule until 13 B.C. , and then only as allies. The Franks controlled the region from the 4th to the 8th century, and it became part of Charlemagne's empire in the 8th and 9th centuries. The area later passed into the hands of Burgundy and the Austrian Hapsburgs and finally, in the 16th century, came under Spanish rule.

When Philip II of Spain suppressed political liberties and the growing Protestant movement in the Netherlands, a revolt led by William of Orange broke out in 1568. Under the Union of Utrecht (1579), the seven northern provinces became the United Provinces of the Netherlands. the war between the United Provinces and Spain continued into the 17th century but in 1648 Spain finally recognized Dutch independence.

It was an appropriate time to omit orange from the flag because in 1654 a defense treaty between the Dutch and the English permanently excluded members of the house of Orange from being heads of state in theNetherlands. In the 20th century many right-wing Dutch supported orange-white-blue as the "authentic flag" of the Netherlands, but the national flag was not changed.

After their revolution in 1789, the French recognized red, white, and blue as the "colors of liberty" and honored the Netherlands for first having used these in a flag. Pro-French "Patriots" in the Netherlands took the first step regarding an official Dutch national flag when their Batavian Republic legalized the red-white-blue tricolor on Feb. 14, 1796.

However, in the middle of the 17th century, the orange dye in the flag was replaced by red. It is because the people have noticed that the orange dye was actually unstable. After some time of using it, the orange dye turned to red.

The Netherlands flag influenced the design of the Russian flag when Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, visited the Netherlands in the 17th century to observe the country's shipping industry. When he returned to Russia he assembled his own shipping fleet and designed a white, blue and red flag in honor of the Netherlands. That flag eventually became the state flag of Russia. The Russian flag would then inspire the flags of many other Slavic nations, and the colors became known as the pan-Slavic colors. The Flag Company Inc specialized in flag designs offered a special edition of decals and flags to memorize the history of Netherlands flag for the future.




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