cross of the Order of Christ) had been already used as a badge of the Portuguese State of Brazil since the 17th century and, from 1822, continued to be present in the coat of arms of the Empire of Brazil. After the establishment of the republic in 1889, the armillary sphere was altered and transformed in the celestial sphere of the present Brazilian national flag and coat of arms. After the independence of Brazil in 1822, a Brazilian heraldry appeared, which continued the Portuguese tradition in most of its aspects. Regarding family heraldry, as most of the noble families of Brazil descended from Portuguese lineages, in many cases they continued to bear their coats of arms. The Portuguese tradition of civic heraldry was also partially followed in Brazil. In the 20th century, the Portuguese municipal heraldry official standards established in 1930 served as the model for the municipal heraldry of Brazil. Many Brazilian municipalities created new coats of arms or adapted their old ones to such standards. In the remaining parts of the Portuguese Empire, the official grant of civic coats of arms only started in the late 19th century, when a number of municipal achievements of arms were granted to several cities of the Overseas by the Portuguese Crown. These granted coats of arms joined municipal coats of arms that had been assumed earlier by other Overseas municipalities. In 1932, the Portuguese Institute of Heraldry proposed a model of coats of arms to be borne by the Portuguese colonies. Each coat of arms would have a field with the particular heraldic achievement of each colony and a common bordure or charged with four quinas alternating with four crosses of the Order of Christ. The shield was to be topped by a specific model of mural crown with five visible towers or, each tower charged with an armillary sphere gules and between each tower a shield argent charged with the cross of the Order of Christ. Particular heraldic achievements for each colony were also designed to be inserted in the fields of the respective coats of arms. Although this model was never officially adopted, it was apparently in limited use by some colonies. Finally in 1935, the Ministry of Colonies granted official coats of arms to all of the then Portuguese colonies. All these coats of arms followed the same model: a shield tierced in mantle, the I field argent