Aruba is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, only 29 kilometres from mainland South America.
The first Europeans to colonise Aruba were the Spanish early in the 16th century. In 1636, Netherlands wrested control of the islands from Spain during the Thirty Year’s War. Apart from two brief periods when the British took over the island during the Napoleonic wars, Aruba has remained Dutch.
On March 18th 1948, the Aruban politician Shon A. Eman presented the first formal proposal for Aruba’s “status aparte” as an autonomous state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
In the 1970s, there was a growing call and expectation for independence, led by Betico Croes. A committee was appointed to choose a national flag and anthem, which were adopted on March 18th 1976, with Croes declaring March 18th as National Anthem and Flag Day.
The flag of Aruba consists of a red star and two yellow stripes on a blue background. The red star represents the four points of the compass, reflecting the diversity of the people of the country. The blue represents the sea. The horizontal yellow stripes denote the free and separate position Aruba enjoys within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.