Montserrat was first spotted by
Christopher Columbus in November 1493 during his
second voyage to the
West Indies, and was named after the
Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey in Spain. It was later colonised by the
Kingdom of England in 1632, when
Thomas Warner – the first
governor of Saint Christopher – sent
Irish Catholics from his island to Montserrat. Other Irish settlers from the
Colony of Virginia consequently relocated to the territory. Sovereignty over the island changed hands between the British and the French for the duration of the 17th and 18th centuries. This continued until 1783, when the
Peace of Paris saw
France permanently relinquish Montserrat to
Great Britain. Montserrat became part of the
British Leeward Islands federation in 1871. This was adopted as a proxy national flag in 1960, after authorisation was granted by the
Admiralty. Montserratians ratified the territory's constitution that same year, and the island became a distinct
crown colony in 1962. The flag was later redesigned in 1999, with the size of the shield increased, and the white disc removed and replaced with a white outline. To coincide with the
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2012, the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office started flying the flags of
overseas territories over its Main Building in
Whitehall to commemorate a "significant day in each of their respective histories". The date chosen for Montserrat was 17 March, a public holiday on the island honouring both
Saint Patrick's Day and an unsuccessful slave uprising there on that day in 1768. ==Design==