Flag of the East India Company English East India Company adopted a flag of thirteen red and white stripes with the flag of England in canton. It was reported that the number of stripes was chosen because many of the East India Company's shareholders were Freemasons, and the number thirteen is considered powerful in freemasonry. However, different reports gave varying initial numbers of stripes. The flag caused problems for the East India Company at first when trading in the Far East, because of its use of the St George's Cross. In Japan in 1616, the Company's ships were turned away because the cross on the flag
Flag of the Natalia Republic Flag of the Natalia Republic The flag of the Natalia Republic was the official flag of this short lived South African state, which existed from 1839 to 1843. Emigrant Boers ('voortrekkers') from the Cape Colony established an independent state in 1839, on territory conquered from the Zulus. They named it 'Natalia'. It is uncertain what flag – if any – they flew at first, but on 24 December 1839 they raised a new flag at Port Natal (now Durban. The same flag was raised in the capital, Pietermaritzburg, in January 1840. British forces invaded the republic in May 1842, and