White flag

The Umayyad dynasty (661–750) used white as their symbolic color as a reminder of Muhammad's first battle at Badr. The Alids and the Fatimid dynasty also used white in opposition to the Abbasids, who used black as their dynastic color. For the same reason, the color white was adopted by other Shia regimes, like the Qarmatians of Bahrayn, and the Zaydi rulers in northern Iran and Yemen. The Sunni Khanate of Kokand (1709–1876) also used a white banner. under Taliban ruling The white flag was the official flag of the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan between September 1996 and October 1997. It is sometimes used as an unofficial variant of the current flag which includes the Shahada written in black on a white field. ==Ancien Régime in France==

During the period of the Ancien Régime, starting in the early 17th century, the royal standard of France became a plain white flag as a symbol of purity, sometimes covered in fleur-de-lis when in the presence of the king or bearing the ensigns of the Order of the Holy Spirit. The white color was also used as a symbol of military command, by the commanding officer of a French army. It would be featured on a white scarf attached to the regimental flag as to recognize French units from foreign ones and avoid friendly fire incidents. The French troops fighting in the American Revolutionary War fought under the white flag. The French Navy used a plain white ensign for ships of the line. Smaller ships might have used other standards, such as a fleur-de-lis on white field. Commerce and private ships were authorized to use their own designs to represent France, but were forbidden to fly the white ensign. During the French Revolution, in 1794, the blue, white and red Tricolore was adopted as the official national flag. The white flag quickly became a symbol of French royalists. (The white part of the French Tricolor is itself originally derived from the old Royal flag, the tricolor having been designed when the revolution still aimed at constitutional monarchy rather than a republic; this aspect of the Tricolor was, however, soon forgotten.) During the Bourbon Restoration, the white flag replaced the Tricolore, which by then was seen as a symbol of regicide. It was finally abandoned in 1830, with the July Revolution, with the definitive use of the blue, white and red flag. In 1873, an attempt to reestablish the monarchy failed when Henri of Artois, the Count of Chambord refused to accept the Tricolore. He demanded the return of the white flag before he would accept the throne, a condition that proved unacceptable. File:Villars a Denain1.jpg|French white regimental flag at the battle of Denain (1712) File:White ensign Battle martinique 1779 img 9388.jpg|A French ship of the line at the Battle of Martinique (1780) File:BattleOfVirginiaCapes.jpg|French ships (left), flying the white flag of the Monarchy, at the battle of Chesapeake (1781) File:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg|Surrender of the British after Yorktown in 1781. The French (left) are displaying the white ensign. File:Armées des émigrés.jpg|Royalist army used the white Bourbon ensign, during the French Revolutionary Wars (here, the battle of Quiberon, 1795) ==Flag of Antarctica==

In 1929, members of the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition on RRS Discovery used white cotton sheeting to improvise a courtesy ensign (a flag used as a token of respect by vessels while in foreign waters) for a continent without a flag of its own. It is now in the National Maritime Museum in London. The white flag was used to represent Antarctica on at least two occasions on the voyage to Antarctica. On 1 August 1929, The Times noted that "the ship was flying the Union Jack at her forepeak, the white Antarctic flag at the foremast, and the Australian flag at the stern." ==See also==