Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
none other than those Arabian traders that da Gama obtained the necessary
information which enabled him to continue his voyage in a northward direction.
5
Another point to be stressed is that while the voyage from the eastern coast of
Africa across the Indian Ocean to South India is justly regarded by the Europeans as
the last and most important section of their so-called new route, since their fi nal
objective of reaching the East virtually hinged upon its successful completion, that
very route had not only been opened up by the Asian and African peoples long
before but had remained in constant use for a considerable period of time. Special
mention should be made of Ibn Madjid, a great Arabian navigator, who came from
a family of sailors and whose knowledge and experience about the sea was unri-
valed in his day.
6
It was with his expert guidance that da Gama fi nally accomplished
the last and most important section of his voyage.
Here it is necessary to recall the magnifi cent contribution made by the Asian and
African peoples toward opening up the trade route across the Indian Ocean.
Trading relations connecting the South China Sea with the Indian Ocean had
long existed prior to the end of the fi fteenth century. The scale and fi nancial prosper-
ity of these ventures were such that hardly any other areas in the world could offer
a contemporary parallel. On this topic, which forms an extremely important chapter
in the history of ancient navigation and transportation, many dissertations and topics
have been written by Chinese and foreign scholars. The scope of this essay permits
us merely to cite a few examples from Chinese documents by way of illustration.
The earliest mention in Chinese records of voyages over the South China Sea and
the Indian Ocean goes back to the fi rst and second centuries B.C.
7
Since then a long
line of messengers, monks and merchants had used the same sea route, voyages
back and forth between China and Ceylon or India being especially frequent. A
well-known example is that of the Chinese monk Fa Hsien, who in 409 sailed from
Tomoliti (whose ancient site was located on the western bank of the Hooghly River,
near the Ganges Delta in modern India) to Shihtzukuo (now Ceylon); and in 412
boarded a large merchant vessel which brought him from Shihtzukuo back to
China.
8
His contribution to the cultural exchange between China on the one hand
and India and Ceylon on the other has become almost proverbial down to the pres-
ent day.
The earlier seventh century saw the founding of the T'ang Dynasty (618-
906 A.D.) in China and the rise of the Khalifah Empire of the Arabs (632-1258 A.D.)
in Southwest Asia.
9
Contacts between the two were numerous, and a new stage
began in East-west trade over the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. The vol-
ume of trade in the two-way traffi c over the Indian Ocean continued to swell after
5
K. G. Jayne, V
asco da Gama and His Successors: 1460-1580
, London, 1910, p. 48. See also J. N.
L. Baker,
op. cit
., pp. 69-70.
6
With reference to the life and work of Ibn Madjid, see article on Shihab al-Din Ahmad
ъ
Madjid
in the
Encyclopaedia of Islam
, pp. 362-370, London, 1934.
7
Han Shu
(Dynastic History of Han), Chüan 28,
Ti Li Chih
(Book on Geography).
8
For detailed account of Fa Hsien's travel in India and Ceylon, see his own work
Fo Kuo Chi
.
9
The Khalifah Empire is recorded in ancient Chinese works as
Ta Shih
.
