Discover the History Behind the Royal Standard Flag

The First Banners in the New World: Columbus's Flags of Spain

The Flag of Columbus, Royal Standard Flag of Spain. A quartered flag of red, gold, and silver—the standard of Castile and Leon—is generally accepted as having been the first European flag flown on American soil.

This truly regal standard was planted on the beach before the startled gaze of the awe-struck aborigines when Christopher Columbus, richly clad, set foot on shore on October 12, 1492, and, in the name of their Catholic majesties, Isabella and Ferdinand, formally took possession of the island which he called San Salvador, but which is believed to have been what is now known as Watling Island in the Bahamas.

The first banners planted upon the shores of the New World, of which there is any account, were those displayed by Columbus in 1492 when he landed upon the Island of San Salvador.

His son thus describes them, —

"Columbus, dressed in scarlet, stepped on shore from the little boat which bore him from his vessels, bearing the royal standard of Spain emblazoned with the arms of Castile and Leon, in his own hand, followed by the Pinzons in their own boats, each bearing the banner of the expedition, viz: a white flag with a green cross, having on each side the letters F and Y surmounted by golden crowns."

The latter was Columbus's personal banner. The "Royal Standard Flag of Spain" was composed of four sections: two with yellow castles upon red and two with rampant red lions upon white ground.

When Columbus 1498 reached the Continent he planted the Spanish banners at the mouth of the Oronoco.

Sources

The History and Significance of the American flag: By Emily Katharine Ide. 1917 – Boston, Massachusetts.