Ever wondered why the Dutch wear orange? Their flag is red, white, and blue. The short answer to this question is a very simple one, but there's a lot more to it than first meets the eye. I also look at the far-reaching influence of the Dutch, and how the colour orange has spread throughout the world. The Netherlands isn't the only country that has a national colour not on their flag though, as I discuss at the end of this video! Thanks so much for watching, really hope you all enjoy this video. Don't forget to checkout this video's sponsor, Squarespace, if you're in need of a website, domain, or online store. Start a free trial, and you can get 10% off your first purchase with offer code WONDERWHY. Go to: squarespace.com/wonderwhy Until next time!
Honestly (I am dutch) I think we should change our flag back to having orange on top. 1 it is unique, 2 history, 3 we would no longer have a sideways french flag....
@@Grofvolkoren no its not.... The prinsenvlag has seen most battles. The prinsenvlag whas also the flag of holland not the netherlands. And napoleon changed it to red, White and blue. So the currant flag isnt the real dutch flag.... And a real dutch patriot should fly the prinsenvlag.
@@pieterboon8201 no no no, napoleon didn't change it to red white and blue, he just changed the shades to match the french flag. The two flags were actually both used side by side for a long time.
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As a Dutchman I usually watch these videos with skepticism, expecting mistakes and oversimplifications, and especially not to learn anything. But I did! I didn't know Ireland got their orange from us! And you had a perfect degree of detail. You keep being amazing WonderWhy!
@benjamin dat wist ik zeker ook, had alleen niet het besef dat het oranje van de Ierse driekleur (die toch een hele tijd na Willem III de kop op deed (dit is niet koning Willem III maar stadhouder/prins Willem III in de tijd van de republiek)) er een verbintenis mee had.
6 лет назад
Het uniform dat wordt gedragen op Prinsjesdag is nog steeds blauw als referentie naar de 'blauwe garde' die bij de Slag om de Boyne de beslissende factor vormde. Fun fact: Als jij in het leger zit en eraan mee wilt doen, trek dan maar een paar jaar uit. Het is de meest over-ingetekende activiteit bij Defensie, zelfs nog meer dan parachutespringen.
@@thepunisher4356 it is a great flag, but because of the NSB (Dutch Nazi's before/during ww2) it's associated with fascism.
6 лет назад
"Well, we maintained and upheld the shit out of those Spanish...."
6 лет назад
+swamidude Uhm... The confederacy were people who betrayed their country to fight against freedom and for slavery.... Not comparable. The VOC never traded slaves, that's nonsense. That was the WIC, they took part in the 'triangle trade' because it was not profitable enough to just transport sugar.
@@hoihoi1312 I wouldn't say archaic. It's still used quite often in religious and judicial writing nowadays. I'd rather say it's a little old fashioned and bit a posh.
The Dutch Republic was quite an impressive commercial state, in many ways the Venice of Northern Europe. It also established what was for the time a remarkably tolerant society in terms of religious practice.
9:00 The de facto national colour of Japan is indigo (blue). Ai-zome (藍染め) is a millennia old tradition and really picked up during the Edo period where commoners were banned from wearing silk so indigo-dyed cotton became the standard. With Indigo's antimicrobial properties clothes dyed blue would last longer in the humid Japanese summers and warriors/samurai were less likely to die from infection if they were injured through indigo clothes. In one of Japan's largest traditional sports, kendo, practically everyone wears an indigo dyed outfit, which is hilarious when new as it stains the wearers skin blue for the first couple of weeks due to excess dye releasing from the fabric.
This is high quality - with a perfect balance of basic facts, historical motivation, and fun-facts for the curious mind! I love the perseverance with which potential follow-up questions are anticipated. Good job! :-)
if you want to take a nosedive deep into the 80 years war from beginning to end and all in between i recommend defragged history she will blow you away
Well done! I also can add that everybody that eats carrots, will have to remember William of Orange. Dutch farmers made the carrots orange by "inbreeding" as a tribute to William of Orange. Before that, they were white. True story!
@@nicolaistolwijk The Dutch were primarily known as carrot farmers. They grew carrots in the traditional hues of purple, yellow, and white. In the 17th century, a strain of carrot was developed that contained higher amounts of beta carotene -- the first orange carrot. Dutch carrot farmers started growing the new orange carrots in honour of William of Orange.
Venezuela also plays in a color not featured in the flag. We got our burgundy kits from the colors of the national guard in the 1940’s, which in turn got burgundy because it’s a combination of the yellow, blue, and red tricolor of the flag.
Portugal's colours are also different than the flag's in some occasions. They are usually red and green, but when sports teams play away, it's usually white with a few hints of either red or blue. That's because of the very first flag, which resembles the current flag of Finland.
Fun fact: the official decree at 4:13 in the video was actually a response from Queen Wilhelmina to a claim of the Dutch NSB (National Socialist Movement), that the orange-white-blue flag was the 'true' flag of The Netherlands. This was the shortest and quickest Royal decision ever in the Netherlands.
"Apparently the gold represents Australia's beaches, mineral wealth, and grain harvests, while the green represents forests, eucalyptus trees and pastures of the Australian landscape" Not sure how accurate it is but in school we were taught the the gold and green represented the Golden Wattle, Australia's national flower.
Prottimus I also thought it was for the golden wattle which is Australias national flower. I think the meaning behind the colours was just tacked on later. I could be wrong though
yeah, seems like it. www.pmc.gov.au/government/australian-national-symbols/australian-national-colours "Long associated with Australian sporting achievements, the national colours have strong environmental connections. Gold conjures images of Australia’s beaches, mineral wealth, grain harvests and the fleece of Australian wool. Green evokes the forests, eucalyptus trees and pastures of the Australian landscape." I wish they just say "golden wattle". would be more correct and much more simple.
Unsure what kind of answer you're fishing for here. The three colours (whether these are orange-white-blue or red-white-blue) refer to the people, the church and the king/nobility of the Dutch republic.
The Republic of Cyprus also has a national colour not featured on its flag: Blue. When the republic was established in 1960, it was forbidden to use the colours blue or red as well as the symbols of the cross or the crescent on the flag in order to promote unity between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot population. So the flag is white with copper-yellow colour for the island and green olive branches. Following the 1963 departure of Turkish Cypriots from the government, the Cyprus Sports Association decided to carry on without them anyway and incorporated white and blue as the main colours for the national teams, representing Greek heritage and the desire for unification with Greece. The home team football kit of Cyprus is still predominantly blue, which was the same as Greece until 2004 when Greece changed its home kit to mostly white and made the blue kit its away kit, as a way to celebrate Greece's Euro 2004 victory (Greece wore its white kit in the final against Portugal).
Yeah it’s crazy that New York City, even New York State had Dutch origins. But you think about some of the names. Harlem for instance. The flag is orange white and blue. It was founded as a commercial center and still is. Very interesting
Nobody: Absolutely nobody: Me when seeing the William of Orange assasination as a Dutch person: BALTHASAR GERARDS Legit the only thing I remember from my 5 years of full blown history is the dude who killed William of Orange
if you want to take a nosedive deep into the 80 years war from beginning to end and all in between i recommend defragged history she will blow you away
You’ve rather oversimplified the reasoning behind the Dutch flag having red instead of orange if you think it was only because of fading. If I recall correctly, the usage red or orange was associated with political debate in the Netherlands for quite some time as people sought a conclusion to the question of a Dutch monarchy or republic for their government. Supporters of the monarchy used orange for the house of Oranje-Nassau whereas the republicans used red. As the Republicans one out after the several wars that changed their government it became more clear who had won out and red was being used more often but what really put the nail in the coffin was the usage of the flag by the Dutch National Socialists before and then during German occupation in WWII. It’s a shame it’s put such a good flag in a bad light but nearly every Dutchman I’ve asked says that it’s not something they feel very comfortable using anymore with such negative feelings attached to it. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong or if you know better than I. I am not an expert.
And you call yourself a patriot? Go and wash your mouth little boy. You don't know what patriotism is.
6 лет назад
These days few people even know the NSB (nazi party) used the Prinsenvlag as their symbol, but that is what gave it a negative connotation yes. But one correction: The staatsgezinden ('state minded' or 'state loyal' is the best translation) were not republicans. They weren't opposed to the concept of monarchy, they just didn't want a monarch with absolute power. It was mostly wealthy merchants and nobles backing that side. They feared a too powerful king would reduce their influence and reduce the influence that money had on politics. Which is also why the royal house remained so powerful: People saw that there was tension between the wealthy and the royalists, so the royalists were seen as 'of the people' politically. A bulwark against tyranny of the wealthy. You really saw that in 1917 when there was a socialist rebellion and they demanded power or civil war. The socialists made the mistake of opposing the queen, and many socialists refused to support the socialist cause because getting rid of the royal family was vastly impopular. The uprising was ignored. There's a folklore story about a socialist demonstration in Den Haag being mostly ignored despite demanding the overthrow of government, but when two socialists held up signs that said 'death to the queen', the crowd beat them up, and only them.
@ Dutch Patriot : kan ik mij iets bij voorstellen als jij dat niet gewend bent, maar naar verhouding gaat het uitstekend in Rotterdam, veel beter dan twintig jaar geleden en ook veel beter dan in vergelijkbare steden in onze buurlanden. Ik moet wel toegeven dat het voor een belangrijk deel betaald wordt met geld uit Overijssel, Gelderland en Brabant.
Actually, we also wear a lot of other colors, not just orange as of common believe. We also wear: Cider, amber, bronze, ginger, sandstone, merigold, Tangerine, Ochre, pumpkin and amber 2.
Why is slovenias nationalcolor green? Their nationalsportsteam always wearing green. Just incase you want to make another video like that also i know slovenia isnt that popular.
@ David : Good question, no clear answer. Most convincing is what Željko Heimer wrote on 5 November 2012 ( see www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/si-061.html ) The symbols of Ljubljana are prescribed by Decision Odlok o grbu, zastavi in imenu Mestne občine Ljubljana ter znaku Ljubljana, adopted on 23 April 2012 and published on 4 May 2012 in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, No. 32 (text). The flag is in proportions 2:5, horizontally divided white-green, with the municipal coat of arms in the middle, the width of which is 1/2 of the hoist size. The white and green colurs have been associated with Ljubljana since the 19th century, but their origin and meaning are unknown. Maybe you should consult with history specialists from Ljubljana.
Fun fact: The Dutch national anthem has no mention of the Netherlands or the Dutch whatsoever. However it does refer to a German Prince and pledges loyalty to Spain!
Because William of Orange always was loyal to the Spanish king until the start of he 80 year war, The Spanish king before Phillip II, Charles V gave the title to William because of his loyalty after the previous holder of that title died. Also in the Dutch national anthem there's a line "ben ik van Duitse bloed." translated it would " I am of German blood." but "Duits" wasn't always meant to be that originally it was "Duytsche" which means something along the lines of "folk." or "people." it has the same origin as the German "Deutsch" nowadays there still is a word for that tho it has fallen a bit out of use out site of nationalists, the word is "Diets".
Ban All Pineapples No, it doesn't. It is set from the perspective of William of Orange, who 'says' in the anthem that he has always honoured the king of Spain (this is because of various reasons which I won't explain). It does not refer to a German prince. 'Duits' or 'Diets' was a neutral word back then, which could refer to any Germanic peoples. Germany didn't even exist back then
@wonderwhy great video! I didn´t know the "official" explanation for Italy´s national football team colour was because of the colour of the Savoy family... we actually say that they wear "azzurro", which translates into "light blue" or even "sky-blue", cause it´s the colour of italian clear sky (but I guess is the same as in every other country on a nice sunny day lol)
A little further upstate in New York, Syracuse University's official school color is also orange, with their sports teams being the Orange--and according to a little internet research, it is in fact (probably) linked back to the Dutch. In 1890, when the change was made, it was referenced back to the House of Orange, though it looks like later years changed up the reasoning for the color choice.
my favorite color has been orange ever since I was a little boy, so I had to click on this video and I have to say I loved all the talk about orange! I always wondered whether the color or the fruit came first
Im Australian, and I was told that the green and gold colour of Australia is derived from the colour of the golden wattle, which is Australia's national flower.
I am learning several languages. I got a blue for my Swedish, green for German, yellow for French and I had no idea what to get for dutch and decided I love orange and it would be a good idea, not knowing it was the right choice
@@AnaisAzuli He partially mentioned in the video, when William 3rd became king of England it caused a lot of sectarian conflict in Ireland between majority Catholics and minority Protestants who had control of the British plantations in Ireland, particularly in the northern region, Ulster, having political, economic, and social control over the majority Irish Catholic population that represented the lower commoner classes. The latter of which today are mostly conservative unionist/royalists that support the monarchy and United Kingdom, while Catholics are more aligned to Irish republican nationalists that got rid of rule from the British crown in other counties of Ireland. The Orange Order, being a fraterity that was founded way back then to uphold the protestant ascendancy of William of Orange still operates to this day, much an indication of the on-going conflict that basically continues today to a lesser degree.
Very good video. Small correction of a mistake that is generally made in both the Nertherland and Belgium aswell: You refer to 1581 as the year that 7 of the 17 provinces declared independence (of the King of Spain). What you show however are the 7 provinces that in the end (1648) formed the Republic of the 7 provinces. In 1581 the so called "Plakkaat van Verlatinghe" (Act of Abjuration) was singed. However this was signed by the Duchy of Brabant, the county of Flanders and the Lordship of Mechelen aswell. Only these were (by and large) (re)taken by Spanish troops.
3:25 didn't know that orange had its roots in Tamil. I thought the Hindi word for orange came from Arabic, but apparently it's the other way. On a side note, this doesn't explain why orange (the colour) in Bengali is called "Komola" (the first o is said like the o in hot, the second o is said like the o in open), though Bengali is an evolved Apabhramsha (literally meaning corrupted - think of how various Latin dialects evolved into Romance languages like French, Spanish, etc. Similar thing happened to Sanskrit and North Indian languages).
In 5:30 you mentioned about Treaty of Breda. The treaty of Breda is related with my country Indonesia. In 1667 dutch exchanged one island that name Rum (in Indonesia) with New York because in that location exist a lot of Nutmeg.
@Wira : the second Anglo-Dutch war and the following peace negotations, culminating in the Treaty of Breda, were a complex affair. The issues of who ran the trade on the spice islands was effectively settled by J.P. Coen more then fourty years earlier. The English were here just recognizing a fait accompli.
Just a little addition or rephrasing: The Netherlands used another flag during the time of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, called the 'Prinsenvlag'. (Flag of the Prince) That flag was orange, white and blue and was also very much used on the sea, during the fleet power. After a while, the orange became red again. But it was France, who also used the same colors, that persuaded Willem 1 to take back a bit of nationality, by bringing in the orange again. But due to budget reasons, instead of changing the red back to orange, they added it as a separate entity. The dutch call it a 'Wimpel' (Streamer) which is a small separate piece of flag on the top side which colors orange. In modern times, we only use the wimpel when we celebrate traditions or royal events, but in fact this is the complete flag of the Netherlands, at all times. So the dutch flag is actually orange, red, white and blue. But you know it only as red white and blue. www.dvc.nl/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/n/e/nederlandse_vlaggen_set_3_1.jpg
Fascinating. Groundbreaking. Really, this could entirely change the meaning of the universe, and the laws of physics. Congratulations dude. The revelation that you are from Orange County NY has changed so many scientists’ views on life that they have instantly made unthinkable new scientific advances. Astronomy is now called universe study. NASA discovered alien life on mars after realising what they needed to do after reading your comment. And finally, as a result of your comment, the mayor of Athens, Georgia had a revelation, and FINALLY changed the city’s name to “Another American City that Stole another, much better city’s name.” and stopped appropriating a name that means a lot to Greeks. Cheers. (P.S no offence intended, it’s just a joke, lol. Plus I was bored.)
I am fascinated by the fact that Arabic gave the orange word _laranja_ to Portuguese a thousand years ago, but nowadays _orange_ in Arabic is pronounced _portugali_ wtf?
Also the unionist community in Northern Ireland (which is mostly protestant) wears orange as their main colour because of William III of Orange. This is especially embodied by the existence of the Orange Order. I'm surprised you didn't mention that.
@WonderWhy The Japanese team wears blue because it is seen as the color of victory, prosperity, and youth. This goes back to the introduction of Chinese court culture to Japan during the Heian Period, but the Samurai Blue refers mainly to the color being symbolic of victory. The court system established during the Heian Period dictated that only the upper classes were allowed to wear blue (the dyes were expensive). This later translated to samurai of higher status and influence wearing the color. Those who could wear the color were more likely to win in battle, so it became seen as a color of victory in battle. This perception of blue being the color of victory is why the Japan Samurai Blue wear blue.
It's not directly relevant to this video, but I really like that you avoid injecting personal opinion into these videos, and when you do you make it clear that it's your opinion. A lot of history and fact channels fail to do that.
0:21 you write: "present-day king of the Netherlands is a direct descendant of William" is not true. He is a descendant of Williams brother Jan. Edit: bollocks, you're right. I forgot about the inbreeding.
Do you know why the colors of the Dutch flag are horizontal? Because the Dutch are extremely frugal: you can use the flag all the way until the flag pole.
Good question : probably has to do with differences of supply of oranges between eighth and eighteenth century. I know that since around 700 or 800 years ago fresh oranges were shipped yearly from Iberia to Flanders (now part of Belgium), so Portuguese must have been doing this for some time.
Imagine watching this as a Dutch person and hearing the Wilhelmus play throughout the whole video. So patriotic and as a Dutch person I absolutely love it
Great video and even as a Dutch person myself, I learned some things I didn't know before 😊. I just wanna add that in Holland we say Oranje-Nassau Instead of the other way around when we refer to the royal family. Just as a fyi 😊👍.
8:22 The Australian national flower is the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) which is on the Commonwealth Coat of Arms. Golden Wattle in bloom has gold flowers and green foliage. These colours are evocative of beaches and pastures.
The Malaysian football team also has a colour that isn’t from the flag (black) on their jerseys. Now I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s probably because of the national animal, the Malayan Tiger. Even the team is sometimes nicknamed Harimau Malaya (Malayan Tigers).
A few additions to this story: the changing from orange to red has another possible explanation. Maybe it is because of the Dutch reputation of being cheapskates, but the other explaining is that the colour red was way cheaper to put on a flag than orange in those days. Also, you saw a Dutch flag with an orange streamer on it. This streamer is a sign of the house of Orange and is only allowed to put on the flag when a member of the Royal family has his or her birthday. You see in some places that the streamer is in provincial colours sometimes as well, this is always allowed.
Just for reference it's not just rugby team in nz called "X Blacks". The national basketball team is called Tall Blacks, diamond blacks - baseball, Black caps - cricket, Black sticks - hockey, etc. Also alternatively White is sometimes used; All Whites - football (soccer), etc.
Dunno what I expected coming into this, but I certainly wasn't expecting to learn something about my own country! To think the Irish idea of Orange = Protestant can be traced that far back...
