thumb|Johnson's new chart of national emblems, published c. 1868. The large flags shown in the corners are the 37-star flag of the United States (flown 1867–1890), upper left; the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom, upper, right; the Russian Imperial Standard, lower left; and the French tricolore with inset Imperial Eagle, lower right. Various other flags flown by ships are shown. The Flag of Cuba is labelled "Cuban (so called)". The Chinese dragon on the Flag of China was drawn mistakenly as a western dragon. Originally, flags representing a country would generally be the personal flag of its rulers; however, over time, the practice of using personal banners as flags of places was abandoned in favor of flags that had some significance to the nation, often its patron saint. Early examples of these were the maritime republics such as Genoa which could be said to have a national flag as early as the 12th century. However, these were still mostly used in the context of marine identification.
thumb|Johnson's new chart of national emblems, published c 1868. The large flags shown in the corners are the 37-star flag of the United States (flown 1867–1890), upper left; the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom, upper, right; the Russian Imperial Standard, lower left; and the French tricolore with inset Imperial Eagle, lower right. Various other flags flown by ships are shown. The Flag of Cuba is labelled "Cuban (so called)". The Chinese dragon on the Flag of China was drawn mistakenly as a western dragon. Originally, flags representing a country would generally be the personal flag of its rulers; however, over time, the practice of using personal banners as flags of places was abandoned in favor of flags that had some significance to the nation, often its patron saint. E.arly examples of these were the maritime republics such as Genoa which could be said to have a national flag as early as the 12th century. However, these were still mostly used in the context of marine identification.