Monday, March 17, 2014

Flags of the 19th Century


A lot of 19th century world maps included sidebars showing various flags - military, royal, naval etc - belonging to different political entities from the time. Some of these seem more factual, others more decorative. This set, for example, has a lot of fanciful looking flags for places that wouldn't have necessarily had one. In this case it's not immediately clear what the Tartary, Arabia or Jerusalem flags would have referred to, although by all means if you have an idea let me know. Also I assume the Morocco flag features a pair of crossed swords, but it certainly looks a lot like scissors.