Majid, Ahmad ibn / Tibbetts, G[erald] R[andall]. Arab Navigation in the Indian Ocean Before the Coming of the Portuguese, being a translation of Kitab al-Fawa'id fi usul al-bahr wa'l-qawa'id of Ahmad b. Majid al-Najdi [...].

€ 480.00

First edition. Scholarly English translation of the most important work by the Arab navigator and cartographer Ahmad ibn Majid (ca. 1432-1500), known as the "Arab Admiral" and the "Lion of the Sea", long considered the pilot of Vasco da Gama. Enriched with an introduction on the history of Arab navigation, notes on the navigational techniques and on the topography of the Indian Ocean, and a glossary of navigational terms.

Born in Julfar, the present-day Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, Ibn Majid wrote several books on marine science and the movements of ships, which helped people of the Gulf reach the coasts of India, East Africa and other destinations. His present "Kitab al-Fawa'id fi Usul 'Ilm al-Bahr wa'l-Qawa'id" ("The Book of the Benefits of the Principles and Foundations of Seamanship") can be considered a nautic encyclopedia, describing the history and basic principles of navigation, latitude and longitude by way of celestial navigation, lunar mansions, loxodromes, the difference between coastal and open-sea sailing, the locations of ports from East Africa to Indonesia, accounts of the monsoon and other seasonal winds, typhoons and other topics for professional navigators. Ibn Majid drew from his own experience and that of his father, also a famous navigator, and the lore of generations of Indian Ocean sailors. His book encompassed the entire science of navigation in the Indian Ocean at the time.