Flag of the British South Africa Company underneath it. The British South Africa Company headed by Cecil Rhodes received a royal charter from Queen Victoria to create a new British colony in Africa. The Pioneer Column of the BSAC set out and founded Salisbury in 1890. The BSAC flag they had ordered to be made did not reach South Africa from England in time before the column set off. As a result, the Union Flag was raised instead, although it had been suggested that they use a white flag with the letters "BSACo" on it. The BSAC flag eventually arrived in the newly-established Rhodesia in 1892 and
Flag of the United States this flag until 1777, when it would form the basis for the subsequent "de jure" designs. The name "Grand Union" was first applied to the Continental Colors by George Preble in his 1872 history of the U.S. flag. The flag closely resembles the British East India Company flag of the era, and Sir Charles Fawcett argued in 1937 that the company flag inspired the design. Both flags could have been easily constructed by adding white stripes to a British Red Ensign, one of the three maritime flags used throughout the British Empire at the time. However, an East India Company