Ahmad ibn Majid
Ahmad ibn Mājid | |
|---|---|
أحمد بن ماجد | |
| Born | c. 1432 Julfar (present-day Ras Al Khaimah |
| Died | c. 1500 |
| Other names | The Lion of the Sea |
| Occupation | Navigator/Cartographer |
| Years active | c. 1450 – c. 1500 |
| Known for | Navigator |
| Notable work | The Book of the Benefits of the Principles and Foundations of Seamanship (Kitāb al-fawā’id fī uṣūl ʿilm al-baḥr wa-l-qawā’id) |
Aḥmad ibn Mājid (Arabic: أحمد بن ماجد), also known as the "Arab Admiral" (أمير البحر العربي, ʿAmīr al-Baḥr al-ʿArabī) and the "Lion of the Sea", was an Arab navigator and cartographer born c. 1432 in Julfar, the present-day Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. He was raised in a family famous for seafaring; at the age of seventeen he was able to navigate ships. The exact date is not known, but Ibn Mājid probably died around 1500. Although long identified in the West as the navigator who helped Vasco da Gama find his way from Africa to India, contemporary research has shown Ibn Mājid is unlikely even to have met Da Gama. Ibn Mājid was the author of nearly forty works of poetry and prose.