Ok, so that we stop spamming the "Post Your Picture" thread, i thought why not have a thread for History. We have quite a few Historians here that can help answer our questions and straighten out any loose ends.
So First on the menu
Did the Muslims discover America?
I read the paper my Professor gave me, and i'm going to summarize the main points here. Note that the paper is in Arabic, and this is all my personal translation, so if there are any mistakes, then my bad.
- Muslim scholar Abu Rayhan al Bayrooni(11th century) took it for granted that the earth was round, and because the earth is round, it cannot have one side of it land and the other side comprising completely of water, therefore there must be land on the other side. This encouraged many sailers at the time to go looking for land westward across the Atlantic
- Arab Historian and Geographer Al-Mas3udi writes in his book Mir2at Az-Zaman about mariners from Arabic Spain that sailed westward from across the Atlantic, one of them which was called Haikhas(who hailed from Cordova), Al-Mas3udi reports that Haikhas reached a remote land, most of those who sailed with him didn't want to go back, but Haikhas came back to Arabic Spain. According to Mas3udi this story of Haikhas was well known in the region at the time and he died in a naval battle with the Vikings. Though the author admits that the details of Haikhas's story are too vague.
- In the tenth century a group of mariners sailed from North Africa westward across the Atlantic and never came back
- Andalusian geographer and cartographer Il-Idrisi writes in his book Nuzhat Al-mushtaq fe ekhteraq el afaq, about an attempt quite famous at the time of 8 brothers from Arabic Lisbon to sail westwards across the Atlantic in search of the remote land. According to Il-Idrisi these attempts were quite common at the time. These 8 brothers were known at the time as "Al-Fitya Al-mogharareen" roughly translated into "The Stray Brothers". According to il-Idrisi, the Lisbon inhabitants were so happy and proud of the Stray Brothers that they named a dockside street in Lisbon "Darb Al-Mogharareen" roughly translated into The Road of the Strayers, they named it after the Stray Brothers. Il-Idrisi says in his book that after much hardship at sea, the Stray Brothers reached a land where sheep were free and had no shepherd, so they caught some of the sheep, slayed them with the intention of eating them, but then found their meat to be very sour and barely edible. Then they found the inhabitants of the land, they were surprised to find that amongst the inhabitants was a man that spoke perfect Arabic, he told them how he and a group of others had sailed from North Africa, and how only he had survived.
- Even when Christopher Columbus reached America and met with the Red Indians, after hearing them talk, he thought he heard a few Arabic words, which is why he assumed they were Arabs at first, so he called on one of his crew that was of Arab origin, to talk to the Red Indians, he then found out, that they weren't Arabs and didn't speak Arabic.
- Arab Linguist Anistas Karmali notes that as a result of Arab expeditions to America(that reached Mexico), there were some Arabic words in the Mexican's language. For example Typhoon(طوفان
and Mansoon(الموسمية.
- The Author notes that the first maps of America were infact Muslim and not Spanish nor Portuguese. He points to a map that was discovered in 1952 that now lies in El Escorial museum in Madrid, the map was drawn by Ibn Zayat in the tenth century. In the map he draws the Atlantic ocean and draws an inhabited Island, which is thought to be America.
- The Author also points to a map drawn by Ottoman Admiral Piri Rayes who passed away in 1513. The map was published by German Orientalist Paul Kahle. The map was of the Atlantic Ocean, with Spain on the East and another Island on the West(America). He draws the American continent with its coasts, its islands, its Animals and he then draws Red Indians shepherding sheep on the American Island. Russian Orientalist Krachkovsky argues that Peri Rayes must have based these maps from maps he may have confiscated from Columbus after a naval battle between the Turks and Venice in 1499. The Author dismisses this argument by claiming that Piri Rayes's map contained details of places Columbus had never been to. The author then suggests an alternative scenario/interpretation, that Piri Rayes might have got his data from Abu Abdulla the Second who was one of the last Arab rulers of Andalusia, Abu Abdulla the second lost Andalusia to Queen Esabella, the latter kept him to work for her, she then sent him to America to bring Columbus back to Spain. It was well documented that Piri Rayes and Abu Abdulla the second were good friends.
If any of the translation is unclear, please let me know.
So First on the menu
Did the Muslims discover America?
I read the paper my Professor gave me, and i'm going to summarize the main points here. Note that the paper is in Arabic, and this is all my personal translation, so if there are any mistakes, then my bad.
- Muslim scholar Abu Rayhan al Bayrooni(11th century) took it for granted that the earth was round, and because the earth is round, it cannot have one side of it land and the other side comprising completely of water, therefore there must be land on the other side. This encouraged many sailers at the time to go looking for land westward across the Atlantic
- Arab Historian and Geographer Al-Mas3udi writes in his book Mir2at Az-Zaman about mariners from Arabic Spain that sailed westward from across the Atlantic, one of them which was called Haikhas(who hailed from Cordova), Al-Mas3udi reports that Haikhas reached a remote land, most of those who sailed with him didn't want to go back, but Haikhas came back to Arabic Spain. According to Mas3udi this story of Haikhas was well known in the region at the time and he died in a naval battle with the Vikings. Though the author admits that the details of Haikhas's story are too vague.
- In the tenth century a group of mariners sailed from North Africa westward across the Atlantic and never came back
- Andalusian geographer and cartographer Il-Idrisi writes in his book Nuzhat Al-mushtaq fe ekhteraq el afaq, about an attempt quite famous at the time of 8 brothers from Arabic Lisbon to sail westwards across the Atlantic in search of the remote land. According to Il-Idrisi these attempts were quite common at the time. These 8 brothers were known at the time as "Al-Fitya Al-mogharareen" roughly translated into "The Stray Brothers". According to il-Idrisi, the Lisbon inhabitants were so happy and proud of the Stray Brothers that they named a dockside street in Lisbon "Darb Al-Mogharareen" roughly translated into The Road of the Strayers, they named it after the Stray Brothers. Il-Idrisi says in his book that after much hardship at sea, the Stray Brothers reached a land where sheep were free and had no shepherd, so they caught some of the sheep, slayed them with the intention of eating them, but then found their meat to be very sour and barely edible. Then they found the inhabitants of the land, they were surprised to find that amongst the inhabitants was a man that spoke perfect Arabic, he told them how he and a group of others had sailed from North Africa, and how only he had survived.
- Even when Christopher Columbus reached America and met with the Red Indians, after hearing them talk, he thought he heard a few Arabic words, which is why he assumed they were Arabs at first, so he called on one of his crew that was of Arab origin, to talk to the Red Indians, he then found out, that they weren't Arabs and didn't speak Arabic.
- Arab Linguist Anistas Karmali notes that as a result of Arab expeditions to America(that reached Mexico), there were some Arabic words in the Mexican's language. For example Typhoon(طوفان
and Mansoon(الموسمية.- The Author notes that the first maps of America were infact Muslim and not Spanish nor Portuguese. He points to a map that was discovered in 1952 that now lies in El Escorial museum in Madrid, the map was drawn by Ibn Zayat in the tenth century. In the map he draws the Atlantic ocean and draws an inhabited Island, which is thought to be America.
- The Author also points to a map drawn by Ottoman Admiral Piri Rayes who passed away in 1513. The map was published by German Orientalist Paul Kahle. The map was of the Atlantic Ocean, with Spain on the East and another Island on the West(America). He draws the American continent with its coasts, its islands, its Animals and he then draws Red Indians shepherding sheep on the American Island. Russian Orientalist Krachkovsky argues that Peri Rayes must have based these maps from maps he may have confiscated from Columbus after a naval battle between the Turks and Venice in 1499. The Author dismisses this argument by claiming that Piri Rayes's map contained details of places Columbus had never been to. The author then suggests an alternative scenario/interpretation, that Piri Rayes might have got his data from Abu Abdulla the Second who was one of the last Arab rulers of Andalusia, Abu Abdulla the second lost Andalusia to Queen Esabella, the latter kept him to work for her, she then sent him to America to bring Columbus back to Spain. It was well documented that Piri Rayes and Abu Abdulla the second were good friends.
If any of the translation is unclear, please let me know.
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