^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Canada, historical flags

The Union Flag
The Royal Banner of France
Other Flags
The Spanish Flag

See also:

The Union flag

Following the Treaty of Paris, 1763, the Royal Union Flag was flown over British North America. Originally combining the English red vertical St. George Cross on a white field with the Scottish white diagonal St. Andrew's cross on a dark blue field, in 1801 the Irish red diagonal Fitzgerald Cross on a white field was added.

peter cawley 25 May 1995

The Royal Banner of France

From 1534 to 1763 the royal banner of France was the the most commonly used flag in New France (east and Central Canada) during the French regime. This flag displayed three gold fleur-de-lis on a dark blue field ("Azure, three fleurs-de-lis or, arranged two and one"). French military flags, including the white flag of la marine royale, were also flown in New France.

peter cawley 25 May 1995

The Spanish Flag

The flag of Spain flew on the west coast of Canada between 1789 and 1795.
Spain claimed the west coast of North America by virtue of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). Spanish explorations and landings on the west coast of Canada in 1592 and 1774, however, were not consolidated by any settlement.
In 1789, fearful of Russian intentions to move down the coast from Alaska, and concerned by British trading activity that followed Cook's visit in 1778, Spain asserted its sovereignty in the region by establishing a fort at Friendly Cove at the entrance to Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Spain withdrew from Nootka in 1795.
A contemporary print in Jose Cadero's _Atlas para el riaje de las goletas "Sutil" and "Mexicana" ... en 1792_ (in the British Columbia Provincial Archives), shows the flag flying over the Spanish Fort at Friendly Cove as the national flag adopted by Spain in 1785. The length of the flag is about three times the width. The flag has three horizontal stripes: the yellow centre stripe is twice the width of each of the red stripes along the top and bottom of the flag (similar to the modern Spanish flag. A circle with the arms of Leon (a red lion) and Castile ( a yellow castle) is set in the yellow stripe towards the hoist.

peter cawley 13 Sep 1995

Other Flags

It is possible that other flags were flown over various territories that are today parts of Canada.
Cabot, sailing for England, in 1497 flew the St. George's Cross (red vertical cross on a white field) in Newfoundland and eastern Canada. The Union Flag (described above) flew in north American British colonies (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick) before 1763. This flag, along with flags of Spain, the United States and Russia probably appeared on the Pacific coast until the region was finally established as a British possession in the 1790's.

peter cawley 25 May 1995