I have a small reproduction of an old map made by Fernão
Vaz Dourado in 1576. This map reproduces the southeastern coastal areas
of Africa, from southern Namibia to the easternmost tip of Somalia. It
contains 9 reproductions of flags over those “city drawings” so common
in the maps of that time. I GIFfed the flags to the best of my eye resolution
(the reproduction is small and some details are not obvious). These are:
Are these flags really the flags used by those places at the time? Or,
rephrasing the question: are these maps reliable in what concerns flag-info
(they are not in what concerns geo-info, that’s for sure!...)
Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998
Kenyan local flag c. 1576
by Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998
Placed in Kenya. A deep swallow-tail,
dark blue, with a thin dark yellow "Scandinavian" cross. There may be something
in the canton, but I'm not sure.
Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998
by Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998
