The flag of Cape Colony was the official flag of the Cape Colony from 1876 to 1910. It formed part of a system of colonial flags that was used throughout the British Empire ... The Cape government was initially not in favor of the system but eventually complied with British government requests to adopt a flag badge.

The written history of the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa began when Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias became the first modern European to round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. In 1497, Vasco da Gama sailed along the whole coast of South Africa on his way to India, landed at St Helena Bay for 8 days, and made a detailed description of the area.