The flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

 of the Spanish Autonomous City of Ceuta

Ceuta

Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...

is a black and white gyronny with a central escutcheon displaying the municipal coat of arms

Coat of arms of Ceuta

Though a city of Spain, the coat of arms of Ceuta is nearly identical to the coat of arms of Portugal, since that city was conquered by King John I of Portugal on 21 August 1415...

. (The civil flag omits the escutcheon.)

The gironny is identical to that of the flag of Lisbon

Flag of Lisbon

The flag of Lisbon is a gyronny of four parts of black and four of white with the coat of arms in the center. For civil use there is a version without the coat of arms. The gyronny pattern indicates city status.-External links:*...

, to commemorate the conquest of the city by the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 in 1415. The city was a part of the Portuguese Empire

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

 until 1640, after which it decided to remain with Spain. Thus the coat of arms of the city is, in fact, almost the same as that of the Kingdom of Portugal

Coat of arms of Portugal

The coat of arms of Portugal was officially adopted on 30 June 1911, along with the republican flag of Portugal. It is based on the coat of arms used by the Portuguese Kingdom since the Middle Ages.-History and meaning:...

, showing the seven castles and the five escutcheons with silver bezant

Bezant

Bezant is a medieval term for a gold coin from the Byzantine Empire, which term is derived from the Greek name Βυζάντιον for the relatively minor city which in the 4th c. became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, renamed Constantinople by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great...

s.

See also

• Flags of the autonomous communities of Spain
  Flags of the autonomous communities of Spain
  This gallery of flags of the autonomous communities of Spain shows the distinctive flags of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain ....