Journal of Islamic Studies (Jan 1978)
Ibn Majid and his Contributions to Maritime Geography
Abstract
bn Majid is considered as the pioneer of maritime geography during the fifteenth century A. D. He was born in Gilivar on the western coast of the Gulf of Oman. He decended from a Najdi family that lived in central Arabia. His family was famous because most of its members worked as ship pilots and sailors. Ibn Majid was a voracious reader and prolific writer. He studied literature, astronomy, mathematical and maritime geography. Orientalists estimate that Ibn Majid wrote between thirty and forty books in the second half of the fifteenth century (1462 — 1495). Prominent among his books is "" Kitab al - Fawa'id fi Ussool Ilm al-Bahr wal Qawa'id. " This book contains one hundred seventy six pages, each of which has ninetten lines. The book consists of twelve chapters. There is another important work by Ibn Majid, that is, Hawi'at al ikhtisar fi' Usool ilm al-Bihar"" This is a poetic transcript of more than one thousand verses.
