Book Review: Arab Seafaring by George Hourani

This is a book review on Arab seagoing by George Hourani. Arab seafaring is a classic of its kind. It was foremost produce in 1951. It was ab initio submitted as a oratory to that university and has withheld the analyze of scholarly blame ever since.\n\n\nArab seafaring is a classic of its kind. It was first published in 1951. It was initially submitted as a dissertation to that university and has withheld the test of scholarly criticism ever since. The late Professor Hourani investigated trench into history largely to introduce the historical background and environs of Arab efforts. This is certainly a unparalleled work, packed with solid learning resulting from faultless sources, both Arab and non-Arab alike. As the author has put it, It is a history of Arab navigation, but it is non a nautical manual(a); although it deals only with the period until A.D. 1000, it draws judiciously on later Arab and European texts when they can illuminate the past. preceding(prenomi nal) all it welds together a mass of physical; as Hourani says, it is a history pen both in topographic point and time (p. xii).\n\nThe book is a history of trade routes in the Indian Ocean and of the ships that sailed on them. It is not an economic history. Hence, the products carried as cargoes are referred to only parenthetically. In the first chapter, Hourani traces trade routes in the Pre-Islamic era, when the first Arabs erected a mast and a sail and trusted to the winds on the open sea, and to the mercy of their gods (p. 4). geographics helped Arab seafaring, the Arabian peninsula was bounded by water, and the coral islands of the Red Sea and the Iranian Gulf defend piracy, to which the hungry nomads on both sides were all too prone, concerning it as a simple source of their desert raids. The narrative picks up with some historical soundness only after the classical conquest of Alexander the Great, although previous efforts on the authors part takes into matter the seafaring experiences of the Phoenicians on priming coat that tracing efforts in the Indian Ocean need not bar those of the Mediterranean. The subject set in the first chapter let in the period before Alexander, the Persian Gulf in Hellenistical and Roman times, the Red Sea during the same era, the Byzantine and Sassanid, and accounts of contract sailing between the Persian Gulf and China in pre-Islamic times with resource material obtain from Chinese, Arab, and Western accounts.\n\n hearty order custom do Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers, Thesis, Dissertation, Assignment, defy Reports, Reviews, Presentations, Projects, Case Studies, Coursework, Homework, Creative Writing, vital Thinking, on the topic by clicking on the order page.If you call for to get a entire essay, order it on our website: Custom essay writing service. Free essay/order revisions. Essays of any complexity! Courseworks, ter m papers, research papers. 100% confidential! Homework live help. Custom Essay Order is available 24/7!