That has always puzzled me. The EIC was not exactly popular in the colonies to say the least. It cannot have escaped anyones notice at the time that the standard that the rebelling colonies adopted was so similar to that of the EIC and initially, exactly that of the EIC.
Escaped their notice? I think the one was deliberately modeled on the other.
Actually I believe the East India Company and the Colonies were united in their opposition to the duty on tea.
Some versions of the EIC flag had 13 stripes, which happened to match the number of the Colonies.
“Grand Union” flags could be easily made from British merchant seamen’s Red Ensigns, by sewing six white stripes across the field.
The EIC flag, the one with the flag of GB in one corner, and stripes on the rest, is much like the US flag. The EIC flag was adopted in 1801, the Stars & Stripes in 1777. There is some evidence that the EIC did use a flag a little like their 1801 unofficially before that date, but with a lot of variation, including differnt cross and different number of stripe. Apparently the Admiralty thought that at one time the “cross and stripe” flag looked too much like the Merchant marine flag, so forbade the EIC to use it.
The older flag is a weird three sided thing like a caltrop, with E, I and co , one in each segment:
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=british+east+india+company+flag+old&hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&biw=1385&bih=854&tbm=isch&tbnid=1i2RpWOkZOFBzM:&imgrefurl=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/flagfilm.html&docid=njf7Q7zHd_GvQM&imgurl=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/f/film_eic1.gif&w=324&h=216&ei=eKzvUMWHL6qK2wWW1oCwCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=243&vpy=141&dur=4270&hovh=172&hovw=259&tx=79&ty=196&sig=107501122581487917636&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=219&start=0&ndsp=34&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:84
In what sense was it unofficial? There are pictures of it in Company histories going back to the 17th century. The form of the cross was naturally updated in 1707 to mark the Union, and that was the form used in all British flags at the time of the Colonial uprising.
Well wiki disagrees Theflag of 1801 was adopted to reflect the changed Union flag after the Act of Union with Ireland, in the same way that the EIC flag in 1707was changed tp reflect the Union flag after the English union with Scotland. This flag was indeed the one that existed in 1707 and had thriteen stripes, the original onehad a variable number of stripes
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Interesting. The flag of Malaysia looks very much like the US flag…I wonder if maybe it is patterned instead after the East India Company’s. (I’d think not, since Malaysia achieved independence from British colonialism…but, then again, Malaysia is known for its interest in global trade activities…)
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Wow! Very cool, thanks.