What happened to flags on 16 August
2 flags in the atlas carry this date. The sentence under each one is where that is written down, in its own article.
- Netherlands 1949
It was only on 16 August 1949 that the exact colour parameters were defined by the Ministry of the Navy as bright vermilion (red), white and cobalt blue.
From Flag of the Netherlands on Wikipedia, as it read on 2026-08-29
- Cyprus 1960
The flag of Cyprus (Greek: Σημαία της Κύπρου, romanized: Simaía tis Kýprou; Turkish: Kıbrıs bayrağı) came into use on 16 August 1960, under the Zürich and London Agreements, whereby a constitution was drafted and Cyprus was proclaimed an independent state.
From Flag of Cyprus on Wikipedia, as it read on 2026-08-29
How a day gets onto this site
A flag is here because a sentence in its own English Wikipedia article puts it on this date, and that sentence is printed above. Nothing was worked out from a year, and nothing was written for the occasion. Every sentence names the article it came from and the version of that article it was read in, so you can go and check it.
The calendar is still short rather than full. A third of the year has no page here, because a flag only gets a day when a sentence in its article puts something on one, and plenty of articles never do. Nothing is invented to fill the gap.