Why is ahmad ibn mājid famous

Ibn Majid must have died soon after that date, his life spanning the most critical century in the history of the ocean whose currents, winds, reefs, shoals, headlands, harbors, seamarks and stars he spent a lifetime studying. It is an encyclopedia of navigational lore: the history and basic principles of navigation, lunar mansions, rhumb lines, the difference between coastal and open-sea sailing, the locations of ports from East Africa to Indonesia, star positions, accounts of the monsoon and other seasonal winds, typhoons and other topics for professional navigators.

He drew from his own experience and that of his father, also a famous navigator, and the lore of generations of Indian Ocean sailors. The Book of Useful Information deals not only with the monsoon system, but also with the finer details of local wind regimes. The prevailing winds in the Red Sea north of Jiddah were among the most difficult, Ibn Majid writes, because they blew from the north all year round.

Where is ahmad ibn majid from

Normal practice was to sail to Jiddah and there either transfer cargo to smaller boats, whose pilots were experienced in the local conditions between Jiddah and Suez, or to send car- goes overland. Other specialized knowledge was needed to sail elsewhere: south of the equator, for example, where the monsoons gave way to the trade winds. The China Sea too had its own wind regime.

Ahmad Ibn Majid on European Navigation. We have 32 rhumbs, and tirfa , and zam , and the measurement of stellar altitudes, but they have not. They cannot understand the way we navigate, but we can understand the way they do; we can use their system and sail in their ships.

Ibn majid star trek

For the Indian Ocean is connected to the All-Encompassing Ocean, and we possess scientific books that give stellar altitudes, but they do not have a knowledge of stellar altitudes; they have no science and no books, only the compass and dead reckoning…. We can easily sail in their ships and upon their sea, so they have great respect for us and look up to us.

They admit we have a better knowledge of the sea and navigation and the wisdom of the stars. Around the year , the Chinese developed the axial stern-post rudder.