A Manuscript from ibn Madjid called Alnunyia Al Kubrah
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Ibn Majid:
Other Poems
Taken from :
Ibrahim Khoury in Bulletin d'etudes orientales 1985-86/87-88 .
H. Grosset-Grange: la cote Africaine dans les routiers nautiques Arabes au moment des grandes decouvertes. Azania 1978
I nowhere found
the complete text; this is just a collection of extracts as found. The original text will have way more information available.
Al-Urguza as-Sabiyya (the poem of the 7 nautical sciences.)
Ibrahim Khoury in Bulletin d'etudes orientales 1985-86/87-88
Sailing between the western coast of the Deccan (1) and the Hedjaz (2) or the harbor of Gudda (3)
The trip is made in four steps. The 100st day of Nirouz (4) is the best day to leave Malabar (5).
Malabar (5)-Kalpeni (6) to the Laccadive (7).
First one navigates for a distance of 12 zam (11) to reach the island of Kalpeni (6). Ibn Majid describes it as well as several other islands.
Kalpeni (6)-Cape Guardafui (8)
One then goes through the sea of Oman to arrive in front of cape Gardafui (8) where the pole star is seen at 4 fingers.
Cape Gardafui-Aden
From Cape Gardafui (8) there are two routes to choose from to go to Aden: or one goes to cape Filuk (9) at 2 zam (11), then Mayt (10) at 12 zam, and then you have Aden at 20 zam on the other side
of the sea of Berbera (12). One can also go strait from Filuk (9) to Aden for 30 zam (11).
Aden-Gudda (3): the last part.
Mawasin as-Safar (the calendar for Sea voyages.)
Taken from: Ibrahim Khoury in Bulletin d'etudes orientales 1985-86/87-88
This poem is only 19 verses,
In the first paragraph there are no travels to or from east Africa.
Then:11 verses talk about the travels between the Indian ocean ports after the appearance of Spica (13) this is on 326 day of Nirouz (4) or 5 October.
The ships can leave Aden for the opposite coast of Somalia or for Sihr (14); they leave Hormuz for India and Yemen; out of India they go to many directions; They leave Madagascar to go to the
land of Zang; and from Zang they go to Yemen or Hormuz
The 3 last verses are about the travels after the appearance of Acrux (15) on the 117 day of Nirouz (4) or 10 March.
The sailors of al-Ahqaf (16) and the ones from Zafari (17) leave to the land of Zang; the ones of Java leave for Malacca (18) and Sanf (19).
Qismatul-Gumma ala angumi Banati nas;
(Dividing the seas according to the Big Wagon =Big Bear)
Taken from: Ibrahim Khoury in Bulletin d'etudes orientales 1985-86/87-88
Latitude of Pole star is 4 fingers:
At Gardafun (8); Canope (20) and Fomalhaut are 4+ fingers
At Al-Qumr; ? of the Big Bear and ? Pegassus (21) are 4 fingers
At Hafun (22); Canope (20) and Rigil Kent (23) are 51/2+ fingers.
Al-Muarriba (About sailing in the Gulf of Berbera) (12)
Taken from: Ibrahim Khoury in Bulletin d'etudes orientales 1985-86/87-88
Navigation in the eastern part of the Gulf.
Two routes leave from Ras Hafun (22); the first for Socotra, Samha (25), Darza, and Abd al-Kuri (24); the other for the Red Mountains (Cape Gardafui)(8) and for cape Filuk (9).
Two other routes are described between the Red Mountains and the islands of Abd al-Kuri and Sager (26).
Two lines connect Ras Filuk (9) with Dafari (17) and Dar Zayna on the coast of Arabia, a third connects with Hagra on the Somali coast.
Kitab al Fusul (Book Chapters)
Taken from: H. Grosset-Grange: la cote Africaine dans les routiers nautiques Arabes au
moment des grandes decouvertes. Azania 1978
Tome1 p181 R l.13 and following lines
The meridian of Hormuz passes by the Cape of Salt (27); the one of Hadd (28) at the Zarrin (Seychelles) and at Qumr at 12 fingers, then continues into the unknown; the one of Masira (29)
reaches Qumr to the west of the one of the one of Hadd (28) at 4 zam (11); the one of Madraki (30) reaches Qumr to the west of the one of Masira (29) at 8 zam; the one of Kuria (31) passes
Socotra with Jah (32) at 5 fingers then reaches the western Cape of Qumr to the west of Hadd (28) at 20 zam; the one of Dofar (17) passes west of Socotra at 8 zam, and east of Fartak (33) and
Gardafui (8) at 4 zam (11) then at Qumr at 10 fingers; the one of Fartak (33) and Gardafui reaches Qumr at 91/2 fingers. (Gosset-Grange uses the figures here given to calculate where Qumr was
situated in the ocean; see his map I added to Majid's Sufaliya)
Dariba al-dara'ib (nature of proportions)
Taken from Roshdi: Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science
in which he associates distances with variations in the altitudes of stars.
The estimated distance of the first rhumb (34) is heavy...... One does not count it from Hadmati to your Muluk (from 2deg35min to 1 deg 50min North, in the Maldives) as one counts it from Bab
(el Mandeb)(35) to Zuqur (36), nor from Muruti (37) to Brava (38).
(1) the Deccan: In South India.
(2) Hedjaz or Hijaz: the province of Mecca.
(3) harbor of Gudda; Jeddah: town at the shore, close to Mecca.
(4) Nirouz; Nouruz: is the Iranian New Year, also known as the Persian New Year.
(5) Malabar: India's southwestern coast.
(6) Kalpeni: Kalpeni atoll Laccadive Islands (close to India).
(7) Laccadive: group of three islands off the west coast of India.
(8) Cape Guardafui: Al Jardafun: Cape Guardafui, Ra's Jardafun, Ra's 'Asir.
(9) cape Filuk: also known as Cape Elephant, is a headland in the northeastern Bari province of Somalia.
(10) Mayt: port in Somaliland.
(11) zam: = 12 nautical miles (one nautical mile= 1852m).
(12) Berbera: in North Somalia or also the Berbera coast north of Mogadishu.
(13) Spica: is a bright binary star, visible in the northern constellation Virgo.
(14) Sihr; coastal town in Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen.
(15) Acrux: in the constellation of Crux.
(16) al-Ahqaf: Valley of Ahqaf in Yemen.
(17) Zafari: or Dhafar; Dofar; Dafari is an ancient Himyarite site situated in Yemen, some 130 km south-south-east of today's capital, Sana'a.
(18) Malacca: is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca.
(19) Sanf: Champa in Indochina.
(20) Canope: Canopus: is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina and the second-brightest star in the night sky. The south celestial pole can be approximately located using Canopus and another bright star, Achernar, as the three make an equilateral triangle.
(21) Pegassus: is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the winged horse Pegasus in Greek mythology.
(22) Hafun; a promontory in the northeaster Bari region of Somalia.
(23) Rigil Kent: of Centaurus.
(24) Samha, Darza, and Abd al-Kuri : Socotra is the principal island of the archipelago of four the others are Abd al Kuri, Darsa (ou Darza) et Samha.
(25) Samha: is an inhabited island in the Guardafui Channel. A part of the Socotra archipelago, it is located between the island of Socotra and Somalia.
(26) Sager: should be the island of Samha.
(27) Cape of Salt; Ras al-milh cape in the north of Madagascar.
(28) Hadd: Ras al Hadd, the end of the Persian Gulf in the south east of Oman.
(29) Masira: island of Oman, in the Arabian Sea, off the country's southeastern coast.
(30) Madraki: port on the Indian Ocean coast of Oman.
(31) Kuria: The Khuriya Muriya Islands are a group of five islands in the Arabian Sea, 40 km (25 mi) off the southeastern coast of Oman.
(32) Jah: Djah: polestar.
(33) Fartak: port on the Indian Ocean coast of Oman.
(34) rhumb: a line or course on a single bearing.
(35) Bab (el Mandeb): is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa.
(36) Zuqur: the tiny Red Sea island of Jebel Zuqur (Yemen) one of the busiest slave - trading centres in the Near East .
(37) Muruti: is Collina Murot the small hill south of Itala, which marked the end of the Banadir coast and where the inhospitable regions of Somaliland began when coming from the South. (Tibbetts)
(38) Brava: Baduna: Brawa or Barawa or Brava on the south Somali coast; The Bedouna of Idrisi (1150).
Azimuthal of Ibn Majid