Netherlands Antilles

For the territories of the Netherlands Antilles, see Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba.
The flag of the Netherlands Antilles, a former country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was white, with a horizontal blue stripe in the centre, one-third of the flag's hoist, superimposed on a vertical red stripe of the same width, also centred; five white, five-pointed stars are arranged in a pentagon pattern in the centre of the blue band, their points up.
==Symbolism==
The colours of the flag were the same as those of the Netherlands.
The five stars represented the five main islands of Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten.
==Other flags of the Netherlands Antilles==
Image:Netherlands Antilles (Governor).svg|Flag of the Governor
==History ==
In 1954 the six Dutch dependencies of the West Indies—Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Saint Martin (Sint Maarten), and Sint Eustatius—were established as the territory of the Netherlands Antilles, gaining the right to self-government in all affairs except defence and foreign policy. The islands of this new entity had been solely under the Netherlands national flag since the 17th century and thus had no traditional local flags. The first flag of the Netherlands Antilles was decreed by Queen Juliana of The Netherlands on December 15, 1959, which marked the fifth anniversary of the law giving autonomy to the territory.Netherlands Antilles, flag of. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica
In 1986, when Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles, the number of stars was reduced to five.
Some more of the islands making up the Antilles may eventually leave the group. St. Maarten voted to become a new country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in a referendum held in 2000 and a new flag for the Antilles was proposed.National Flag of the Netherlands Antilles on WorldFlags101.com Another referendum held in 2004 came out with a similar result on Curaçao, on Bonaire and Saba voting for semi-autonomous integration within the continental Netherlands and only Sint Eustatius voting to maintain the Netherlands Antilles, it was decided to altogether dissolve the Netherlands Antilles. On 10 October 2010 the Netherlands Antilles were officially dissolved.
Image:Netherlands.svg|Flag of the Netherlands was flown from 1634–1959 (still used to represent the Kingdom as a whole)
Image:Netherlands Antilles 1959.svg|1959-1986
Governor of the Netherlands Antilles (1966-1986).svg|Governor's flag from 1966-1986
Image:Netherlands Antilles.svg|1986-2010
==References==
Category:White background
Category:Caribbean
Category:Five-pointed stars
Category:Netherlands
Category:Proportions 2-3
Category:Netherlands Antilles
Category:Historical flags