Astronomy for Landlubbers and Navigators

Astronomy for Landlubbers and Navigators PDF Author: David A. King
Publisher: UC Biblioteca Geral 1
ISBN:
Category : Astronomia àrab
Languages : en
Pages : 20

Get Book Here

Book Description

Astronomy for Landlubbers and Navigators

Astronomy for Landlubbers and Navigators PDF Author: David A. King
Publisher: UC Biblioteca Geral 1
ISBN:
Category : Astronomia àrab
Languages : en
Pages : 20

Get Book Here

Book Description


Islamic Astronomy and Geography

Islamic Astronomy and Geography PDF Author: David A. King
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000585018
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 421

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume of 12 studies, mainly published during the past 15 years, begins with an overview of the Islamic astronomy covering not only sophisticated mathematical astronomy and instrumentation but also simple folk astronomy, and the ways in which astronomy was used in the service of religion. It continues with discussions of the importance of Islamic instruments and scientific manuscript illustrations. Three studies deal with the regional schools that developed in Islamic astronomy, in this case, Egypt and the Maghrib. Another focuses on a curious astrological table for calculating the length of life of any individual. The notion of the world centred on the sacred Kaaba in Mecca inspired both astronomers and proponents of folk astronomy to propose methods for finding the qibla, or sacred direction towards the Kaaba; their activities are surveyed here. The interaction between the mathematical and folk traditions in astronomy is then illustrated by an 11th-century text on the qibla in Transoxania. The last three studies deal with an account of the geodetic measurements sponsored by the Caliph al-Ma'mûn in the 9th century; a world-map in the tradition of the 11th-century polymath al-Bîrûnî, alas corrupted by careless copying; and a table of geographical coordinates from 15th-century Egypt.

World-maps for Finding the Direction and Distance to Mecca

World-maps for Finding the Direction and Distance to Mecca PDF Author: David King
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004450734
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 670

Get Book Here

Book Description
Two remarkable Iranian world-maps were discovered in 1989 and 1995. Both are made of brass and date from 17th-century Iran. Mecca is at the centre and a highly sophisticated longitude and latitude grid enables the user to determine the direction and distance to Mecca for anywhere in the world between Andalusia and China. Prior to the discovery of these maps it was thought that such cartographic grids were conceived in Europe ca. 1910. This richly-illustrated book presents an overview of the ways in which Muslims over the centuries have determined the sacred direction towards Mecca (qibla) and then describes the two world-maps in detail. The author shows that the geographical data derives from a 15th-century Central Asian source and that the mathematics underlying the grid was developed in 9th-century Baghdad.

Volkstümliche Astronomie im islamischen Mittelalter

Volkstümliche Astronomie im islamischen Mittelalter PDF Author: Petra Schmidl
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047420500
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 879

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume deals with the determination of the times of Muslim prayer and the direction towards the Kaaba in Mecca (Arabic qibla) in a little known astronomical tradition of the Islamic Middle Ages. It presents an edition, translation, and explanation of selected chapters from three of the most important folk astronomical treatises, written by al-Aṣbaḥī (Yemen, 13th c.), Ibn Raḥīq (Hejaz, 11th c.), and al-Fārisī (Yemen, 13th c.). The first part introduces the authors and their works and describes the relevant religious and astronomical background. The second part comprises the edition of the selected – and now for the first time published – chapters of the three works and a German translation. The third part contains a lexicographical survey with basic astronomical, religious, and related information, and a commentary on each chapter. The fourth part gives an overview of the topics dicussed.

Lost Maps of the Caliphs

Lost Maps of the Caliphs PDF Author: Yossef Rapoport
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022655340X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Get Book Here

Book Description
About a millennium ago, in Cairo, an unknown author completed a large and richly illustrated book. In the course of thirty-five chapters, this book guided the reader on a journey from the outermost cosmos and planets to Earth and its lands, islands, features, and inhabitants. This treatise, known as The Book of Curiosities, was unknown to modern scholars until a remarkable manuscript copy surfaced in 2000. Lost Maps of the Caliphs provides the first general overview of The Book of Curiosities and the unique insight it offers into medieval Islamic thought. Opening with an account of the remarkable discovery of the manuscript and its purchase by the Bodleian Library, the authors use The Book of Curiosities to re-evaluate the development of astrology, geography, and cartography in the first four centuries of Islam. Their account assesses the transmission of Late Antique geography to the Islamic world, unearths the logic behind abstract maritime diagrams, and considers the palaces and walls that dominate medieval Islamic plans of towns and ports. Early astronomical maps and drawings demonstrate the medieval understanding of the structure of the cosmos and illustrate the pervasive assumption that almost any visible celestial event had an effect upon life on Earth. Lost Maps of the Caliphs also reconsiders the history of global communication networks at the turn of the previous millennium. It shows the Fatimid Empire, and its capital Cairo, as a global maritime power, with tentacles spanning from the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus Valley and the East African coast. As Lost Maps of the Caliphs makes clear, not only is The Book of Curiosities one of the greatest achievements of medieval mapmaking, it is also a remarkable contribution to the story of Islamic civilization that opens an unexpected window to the medieval Islamic view of the world.

Arab Seafaring

Arab Seafaring PDF Author: George F. Hourani
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691214891
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this classic work George Hourani deals with the history of the sea trade of the Arabs in the Indian Ocean from its obscure origins many centuries before Christ to the time of its full extension to China and East Africa in the ninth and tenth centuries. The book comprises a brief but masterly historical account that has never been superseded. The author gives attention not only to geography, meteorology, and the details of travel, but also to the ships themselves, including a discussion of the origin of stitched planking and of the lateen fore-and-aft sails. Piracy in the Indian Ocean, day-to-day life at sea, the establishment of ancient lighthouses and the production of early maritime guides, handbooks, and port directories are all described in fascinating detail. Arab Seafaring will appeal to anyone interested in Arab life or the history of navigation. For this expanded edition, John Carswell has added a new introduction, a bibliography, and notes that add material from recent archaeological research.

Honour Is in Contentment

Honour Is in Contentment PDF Author: William Lancaster
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110223406
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 625

Get Book Here

Book Description
Based on interviews and field research, the authors explore the sets of ideas Arab tribespeople from Ras Al-Khaimah had about tribe and community; social and economic networks, and jural contracts for livelihoods and profits; their uses of their environments; the moral relations of credit, debt and labour; ruling; economic and political transformations; and ideas of regional history where conflicts were regarded as disputes over sets of ideas, and informal accounts of tribal and local histories. Their lively descriptions and explanations of life before oil portrayed tribal societies whose relationships were moral rather than political and were between jurally equal persons. All lived from their own resources; 'wealth' was material self-sufficiency; 'riches' the richness of social relationships. Political arenas were decentralised and underpinned by common cultural and moral values. Published sources give a wider context to these ideas and events which show the great complexity and differing perspectives of 'life before oil' in the Gulf.

Exploring Ancient Skies

Exploring Ancient Skies PDF Author: David H. Kelley
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 038726356X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 623

Get Book Here

Book Description
Exploring Ancient Skies brings together the methods of archaeology and the insights of modern astronomy to explore the science of astronomy as it was practiced in various cultures prior to the invention of the telescope. The book reviews an enormous and growing body of literature on the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, the Far East, and the New World (particularly Mesoamerica), putting the ancient astronomical materials into their archaeological and cultural contexts. The authors begin with an overview of the field and proceed to essential aspects of naked-eye astronomy, followed by an examination of specific cultures. The book concludes by taking into account the purposes of ancient astronomy: astrology, navigation, calendar regulation, and (not least) the understanding of our place and role in the universe. Skies are recreated to display critical events as they would have appeared to ancient observers - events such as the supernova of 1054, the 'lion horoscope' or the 'Star of Bethlehem.' Exploring Ancient Skies provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships between astronomy and other areas of human investigation. It will be useful as a reference for scholars and students in both astronomy and archaeology, and will be of compelling interest to readers who seek a broad understanding of our collective intellectual history.

Astronomies and Cultures

Astronomies and Cultures PDF Author: Clive L. N. Ruggles
Publisher: Ocarina Books
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

Get Book Here

Book Description
Ten thematic articles illustrating the broad scope, diversity and cultural significance of contemporary studies in archaeoastronomy. Contents: The Study of Cultural Astronomy ( Clive Ruggles and Nicholas Saunders ); The Yao Dian and the Origins of Astronomy in China ( Chen Cheng-Yih and Xi Zezong ); The Riddle of Red Sirius: An Anthropological Perspective ( Roger Ceragioli ); Astronomies and Rituals at the Dawn of the Middle Ages ( Stephen McCluskey ); Folk Astronomy in the Service of Religion: The Case of Islam ( David King ); Cosmos and Kings at Vijayanagara ( John McKim Malville and John Fritz ); Medicine Wheel Astronomy ( David Vogt ); Venus-Regulated Warfare and Ritual Sacrifice in Mesoamerica ( John Carlson ); Astronomical Knowledge, Calendrics, and Sacred Geography in Ancient Mesoamerica ( Johanna Broda ); The Pleiades in Comparative Perspective: The Waiwai Shirkoimo and the Shipibo Huishmabo ( Peter G. Roe ).

Shipbuilding, Navigation and the Portuguese in Pre-modern India

Shipbuilding, Navigation and the Portuguese in Pre-modern India PDF Author: K.S. Mathew
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351588338
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 181

Get Book Here

Book Description
India, especially coastal India, has a long history of shipbuilding and navigation dating back to the Indus Valley Civilization. Indian shipwrights and the labour force associated with various aspects of shipbuilding excelled in naval architecture. Their native wisdom was adopted by the Europeans engaged in shipbuilding in coastal India. Similarly some of the techniques of navigation followed by Indians were emulated by the European mariners. A comprehensive peep into the science of naval architecture and navigation is attempted in this work making a comparative study of Indian and Portuguese architecture and navigation. The volume discusses the importance of the timber grown in the monsoon-fed forests of the Malabar coast and its appreciation by the Portuguese shipwrights and theoreticians of naval architecture. The work shows that increase of the tonnage of ocean-going vessels and the appearance of hostile mariners from other quarters of Western Europe compelled the Portuguese to adopt enhanced technology in naval architecture and navigation. The fact that the use of canons for defence against intruders made the Portuguese vessels stronger than the Indian ships which, for centuries, were accustomed to considerably peaceful navigation is also brought out in this much anticipated volume.