Search Results: Flag terminology

An artist's impression of how the Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts, aka 'Black Bart' Roberts (c. 1682-1722) may have looked. Roberts was one of the most successful pirates of the so-called Golden Age of Piracy. He was killed resisting arrest...

A pirate flag (often attributed to the pirate Christopher Moody) showing typical symbols of death. Various combinations of such symbols - weapons, a bleeding heart, hourglass, wings, skull and crossbones - were used by pirates on a black...

Silk damask flag from Istanbul, dated 1810–1811 CE; it depicts the zulfiqar, Caliph Ali's (r. 656-661 CE) two-pronged sword.

The Jolly Roger with its white skull and crossbones set against a black background has become a rather jovial part of pirate folklore but, in its day, this flag and others with similar blood-curdling designs, had a single and terrifying purpose...

Zheng Yi (also Cheng I, Ching Yih, Cheng Yao-I, Cheng Wen-Hsien, or Cheng Yud) was a Chinese pirate who lived from 1765 to 1807. Operating in the South China Sea, Zheng Yi famously led a 600-ship pirate confederation. This force of more than...

The original flag of the English East India Company (EIC), founded in 1600 by royal charter. The company later changed its name to the British East India Company and so the cross of St. George in the top right corner was replaced by a Union...

One of the most famous images of the Second World War, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press, was taken 23 February 1945 on the Japanese Island of Iwo Jima in the late stages of the Pacific War. The image...

According to legend, the flag of the pirate Blackbeard, aka Edward Teach (d. 1718). The skeleton holds an hourglass to signify that the time of those about to be boarded is coming to an end. The bleeding heart warns of the death which will...

This flag was used by the Abbasid Dynasty in addition to the simple black standard of their family.

An artist's impression of how the pirate Stede Bonnet (1689-1718) may have looked. Captain Bonnet was known as the 'Gentleman Pirate' since he was a former plantation owner before he turned to piracy. He was hanged in South Carolina in 1718...