San Salvador, the smallest of the Central American Republics, {124} established itself in 1839, on the break-up of the Spanish State of Guatemala. Its flag is shown in Fig. 175. The country now held by the Argentine Republic was discovered in 1517, and settled by the Spaniards in 1553. The war ensign is represented in Fig. 176; the merchant ensign has the three stripes, but the golden sun is missing. The Government of Ecuador has Fig. 177 as its war flag, the merchant ensign being without the ring of white stars. The last flag on the sheet (Fig. 178) is the merchant flag of Haiti; the Government flag has the blue and red reduced to a broad border, the central portion of the flag being white. In the centre of this white portion stands a palm tree, and below it a trophy of arms and flags, flanked on either side by a cannon. The flag of the Cuban national forces in conflict with Spain has at the hoist a triangular portion of blue, one side of this triangle being the depth of the flag itself, and on this blue field is a white, five-pointed star. The rest of the flag is made up of the following horizontal and equal stripes--red, white, red, white, red. Japan--known to the Japanese as Niphon, derived from _Nitsu_, Sun, and _Phon_, the rising--the Land of the Rising Sun,[82] has adopted this rising sun as its emblem. Japan claims to possess a written history of over 2,500 years, but the fairly authentic portion begins with the year 660 B.C., when the present hereditary succession of rulers commenced. English merchants visited Japan in 1612, and the Portuguese almost a century before. By 1587 the converts of the Portuguese Jesuit Missions numbered some six hundred thousand. At this time some Spanish Franciscans appeared on the scene, and political and religious discord soon followed. The Japanese ruler took alarm at the Papal claim to universal sovereignty, and the Buddhist Priesthood and the English and Dutch Protestant traders fanned the flame of suspicion and jealousy. This was done so effectually that the Japanese Government banished all foreigners, and closed the country against them. This state of things lasted for over two centuries, and it was only in the year 1853 that Japan was re-opened to the outside world. The flag of Japan, the rising sun, is represented in Fig. 244. The red ball without the rays is used as a Jack, in which case it is placed in the centre of the white field. Fig. 245 is the Standard of the Emperor. The chrysanthemum is the emblem of Japan, and its golden flower, somewhat conventionally rendered it must be admitted, is the form we see introduced in Fig. 245.[83] Figs. 246 and 248 are the transport flag and the guard flag respectively of the Japanese war marine. {125}