Flag: Anguilla Emoji

The flag of Anguilla: a Blue Ensign with the Union Jack in the canton and the Anguilla coat of arms on the fly. The shield shows three orange dolphins in a circle on a white background above a turquoise base stripe. Dolphins for endurance, unity, and strength. White for peace. Turquoise for the sea, for faith, and for hope. Adopted on May 30, 1990, which is also the anniversary of Anguilla Day.

The dolphins did not start as a British symbol. They came from the Dolphin Flag of 1967, which Anguillans raised during the Anguilla Revolution, the year the island expelled the Saint Kitts police force and declared itself a breakaway state. The whole fight was about not wanting to be governed from Basseterre; the islanders wanted British rule directly or no colonial rule at all. The 1990 Blue Ensign is the outcome of that argument: British flag in the top-left, Anguillan dolphins in the fly. The unofficial Dolphin Flag (without the Union Jack, just the three orange dolphins on white over a turquoise stripe) still flies all over the island. Anguillans treat it as the real national flag; the Blue Ensign is the one required for official use.

Socially, 🇦🇮 runs on an unusual mix. The first engine is luxury tourism: 33 white-sand beaches, 229,734 visitors in 2025 (island record), and the 'World's Leading Luxury Island Destination' crown at the 2024 World Travel Awards. The second is the island's .ai country-code top-level domain, which since ChatGPT launched in November 2022 has become a land-rush property for AI startups. Revenue to the government went from near-zero pre-ChatGPT to roughly $39 million in 2024 and was projected to exceed $100 million in total, more than a quarter of government income. The third is the Summer Festival in late July and early August, one of the Caribbean's most diaspora-oriented carnivals. Added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015 as the regional indicator sequence U+1F1E6 U+1F1EEU+1F1E6 U+1F1EE.

🇦🇮 has three big posting windows. May 30 is Anguilla Day, and it's the peak patriotic window. Flag-raising at The Valley, boat races at Sandy Ground, and a flood of flag posts from Anguillans in London, New York, and Toronto remembering the 1967 revolution. The story Anguillans tell themselves is one of the few Caribbean stories where the colony fought to stay British, not to leave, so the May 30 posts often carry a mix of pride and wry humor that doesn't show up elsewhere in the region.

Late July to early August is the Anguilla Summer Festival, the island's carnival. Boat racing (the national sport), soca and calypso shows, beach parties at Sandy Ground, J'ouvert morning, and the August Monday parade of bands. The 52nd edition runs July 24 to August 9, 2026. This is the single biggest 🇦🇮 window of the year for diaspora accounts, especially for the roughly 6,000 Anguillans abroad coming home to ride out with their bands.

The third and newest window runs year-round: AI-startup posting. Every time a new .ai domain gets announced, a small subset of the internet clarifies that .ai goes to Anguilla, not to some abstract 'AI namespace.' The flag shows up in X/Twitter threads about the $70M-plus revenue, in founder bios, and in half-ironic startup launch posts. It's one of the only flags whose social volume is driven substantially by tech content rather than travel, sport, or news.

Underneath all that runs a steady luxury-travel baseline: honeymoon and wedding content from Belmond Cap Juluca, Zemi Beach House, and Four Seasons Anguilla; food-blogger content from the island's 70-plus restaurants (more per capita than New York); and the annual Moonsplash reggae festival at Dune Preserve, Bankie Banx's beach club.

• 🏛️
  Capital: The Valley, near the center of the 16-mile-long island.
• 👥
  Population: ~15,900 (2024 est.). Population has grown slowly; large diaspora in the UK and US.
• 🗺️
  Area: 91 km² (35 sq mi). Flat coral island, highest point 65 m.
• 💵
  Currency: East Caribbean dollar (XCD), pegged at 2.70 to USD. USD widely accepted.
• 🗣️
  Languages: English (official); Anguillian Creole in everyday speech.
• 🏛️
  Government: British Overseas Territory. Elected House of Assembly; Governor appointed by the UK.
• 📞
  Calling code: +1-264 (North American Numbering Plan).
• ⏰
  Time zone: AST (UTC-4), no daylight saving.
• 🌐
  Internet TLD: .ai (Anguilla). Post-ChatGPT windfall: $70M+ in 2024 government revenue.

Foods that show up next to 🇦🇮

Landmarks that anchor travel content

Anguilla is a 91 km² flat coral island. Arawaks lived there for a thousand years, calling it Malliouhana ('arrow-shaped sea serpent'). The English settled from St Kitts in 1650, planted sugar, and found the island too dry. It became a salt-producing outpost and then a fishing, boat-building, and remittance economy. British administrators in Basseterre rarely visited; Anguillans ran their own affairs.

On February 27, 1967, Britain granted Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla the status of 'associated state' with a shared government in Basseterre. Anguillans, 60 miles north and with no ferry service to St Kitts, objected fiercely. On May 30, they expelled the Royal St Kitts Police Force from the island in the event now celebrated as Anguilla Day. On July 11, a referendum voted 1,813 to 5 for secession. The Republic of Anguilla existed from July 1967 to March 1969, complete with a Dolphin Flag featuring three orange dolphins on white above a turquoise stripe.

In March 1969, Britain sent the Royal Hampshire Regiment and London Metropolitan Police in Operation Sheepskin, expecting armed resistance. The Anguillans greeted them with tea and lobster. The operation became the punchline of the Caribbean's most peaceful 'invasion,' and London reporters called it 'the Bay of Piglets.' Britain reinstated direct rule, and on December 19, 1980, Anguilla formally separated from Saint Kitts-Nevis to become a standalone British Overseas Territory. The May 30, 1990 Blue Ensign was adopted 23 years to the day after the revolution that started it all. The Dolphin Flag still flies from fishing boats and rum shops; the Blue Ensign flies from government buildings.

• 🎉
  January 1: New Year's Day: Public holiday. Small countdown events at Sandy Ground.
• 👴
  March 2: James Ronald Webster Day: Honors the 'Father of the Nation,' leader of the 1967 revolution. Public holiday since 2018.
• 🐣
  April 3 to 6, 2026: Easter window: Four-day weekend. Easter Monday marks the ceremonial opening of boat-racing season.
• 🇦🇮
  May 30: Anguilla Day: The national day. Flag-raising at The Valley, boat races at Sandy Ground, parade. Peak patriotic 🇦🇮 window.
• 🎭
  July 24 to August 9, 2026: Summer Festival (Carnival): The [52nd edition](https://anguillasummerfestival.com). Boat races, J'ouvert, soca shows, beach parties. Peak diaspora 🇦🇮 window.
• ✊
  August 3, 2026: August Monday (Emancipation): Commemorates the 1834 abolition of slavery. Opens Carnival week; parade of bands.
• 📜
  August 6: Constitution Day: Marks the 1982 Anguilla Constitution that separated the island from St Kitts-Nevis.
• 🦞
  Early November: Crayfish Festival: Island Harbour food festival celebrating local Caribbean spiny lobster, grilled on the beach as fisher boats dock.
• 🏴
  December 19: Separation Day: Marks the 1980 formal separation from Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla.
• 🎄
  December 25 and 26: Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

• •Anguilla has more restaurants per capita than New York City. A 16,000-person island supports 70-plus restaurants, many run by French- and Italian-trained chefs.
• •The .ai country-code domain generated more than $70 million in 2024 alone for the Anguillan government. Before ChatGPT launched in November 2022, the same domain was earning a few million dollars a year.
• •Anguilla was the only British colony that revolted to stay British. In 1969, Britain sent 315 troops expecting armed resistance. The Anguillans greeted them with lobster. The British press named it 'the Bay of Piglets.'
• •The national sport is boat racing, not cricket. Hand-built wooden Class A boats (28 feet, huge sail areas, no engines) race from Sandy Ground to Road Bay and back every Anguilla Day and throughout the Summer Festival. The heritage traces to the island's schooner-building tradition.
• •Operation Sheepskin in March 1969 was the last time British troops 'invaded' a Caribbean territory. The only casualty was a sprained ankle. Anguilla had been a de facto independent republic for 20 months by then.
• •Anguilla's Dolphin Flag predates its Blue Ensign by 23 years. The three orange dolphins were raised on September 29, 1967, three months after the revolution; the Blue Ensign only arrived in 1990. Many locals still consider the Dolphin Flag the real national flag.
• •The legendary beach bar Dune Preserve was built by Bankie Banx, Anguilla's reggae elder, entirely from salvaged lumber and driftwood. His annual Moonsplash festival every March is a five-day roots reggae gathering that draws crowds from across the region.
• •Anguilla sits at 18° north, just outside the most active hurricane belt. Compared to the Leewards below it, the island gets hit less often, which is one reason luxury resorts concentrated here in the 1980s: fewer annual insurance write-offs.

• •🇦🇮 is a regional indicator sequence: U+1F1E6U+1F1E6 (A) + U+1F1EEU+1F1EE (I). ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code: AIAI.
• •Shortcode: :flag_ai::flag_ai: or :anguilla::anguilla: on most platforms.
• •The .ai.ai TLD is managed by the Anguillan government (not Anguilla companies directly). Since 2023 registrations have been open to anyone; rapid-registry premium domains regularly sell for five and six figures.

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