The flag of Anguilla is a so-called "Blue Ensign", a dark blue flag bunting with a flag representation – the British Union Jack – in the upper corner. The Union Jack points to the connections to Great Britain. Initially, this flag was only the flag of the government (state flag), but was also approved as a national flag ("Civil Ensign") on 30th of May in 1990. In the years before, only the British Union Jack was to be used on land and for this purpose. The United Kingdom introduced a flag system in 1864 in which:
• war ships fly the "White Ensign" (naval flag), a white flag often with an uninterrupted red St. George's-Cross and with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag • merchant ships fly a "Red Ensign" (also named "Civil Ensign" → civil flag, the real merchant flag), a red flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag, and • governmental ships fly the "Blue Ensign" (flag for the use by the gouvernment → the actual state flag), a blue flag with the Union Jack in the upper staff quadrant of the flag.
Since 1865 ships of colonial governments were permitted to fly the Blue Ensign with a badge in the flying end of the flag. The respective governments were asked to design appropriate badges. Merchant ships and seafaring persons from colonies were only permitted to use the Red Ensign with a badge, then also named Civil Ensign, if permission has been given to the respective colony by the British admiralty.
Such a badge was often a regional landscape representation placed on a disk, often showing ships, historical events or even a kind of a logo. Very often, a badge also showed the name of the country or a motto. Some British possessions, however, already had a coat of arms from the beginning, or their badge was replaced by a coat of arms over the years. To ensure a uniform appearance in the flying end of the flags, coats of arms and other symbols were displayed on a white disk in the size of the earlier badges. There were also exceptions, because some colonies did not use the white disk and placed their escutcheon or even coat of arms directly on the bunting, sometimes enlarged. Already in the '40s they started to remove the white disk and placed the coat of arms directly or enlarged. This conversion process was done gradually, nowhere at the same time and completely. In some British possessions, flags with the white disc are still in use, in others no more and in some areas are both variants in use, next to each other. However, in Anguilla there are still many flags in the old design in use, especially on land.
The coat of arms of Anguilla was adoped in 1980 and shows three dolphins above the water’s surface. The dolphins symbolize unity and strength. The blue top stands for the Caribbean Sea.
1493 · the Spanish seafarer Christoph Columbus discovers the island and names it Isla de Anguila, the island becomes a Spanish possession but was not colonized
1650 · appropriation of Anguilla by Great Britain
1696–1816 · part of the British Leeward Islands Colony
1745 · repulse of a French invasion
1796 · repulse of a French invasion
1816 · the Leeward Islands Colony becomes dissolved, St. Kitts becomes fused with Anguilla, Nevis and the Virgin Islands
1833 · re-estbalishment of the Leeward Islands Colony, to 1960 part of the British Leeward Islands Colony
1882 · the British possessions of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla become fused within the Leeward Islands Colony (Colony of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla)
1958–1962 · part of the British colony "Federation of the West Indies"
27th of February 1967 · Great Britain grants St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla interior self administration (autonomy as with Great Britain associated state)
1967–1969 · demands for independence on Anguilla
1971 · Anguilla becomes subordinated under the British administration again
1980 · Anguilla becomes separated from St. Kitts/Nevis and becomes a self-contained colony