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
Old flag on northern Tanzania
image
by Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998
Placed in northern Tanzania on an old map made by Fernão Vaz
Dourado in 1576. A triangular flag, very dark red (nearly marroon), whith
a white crescent at the hoist.
Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998
Old flag on central Tanzania
image by Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998
Placed in central Tanzania (in front of the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba
and Mafia, maybe Dar-es-Salaam) on an old map made by Fernão Vaz
Dourado in 1576. Another deep swallowtail, divided yellow over red, with
two white crescents at the hoist, centered vertically in each stripe.
Jorge Candeias, 04 Apr 1998