Table of Contents

Introduction to the Expanded EditionPrefaceCh. ITrade Routes in the Pre-Islamic EraPrehistory and Geography3The East before Alexander6The Persian Gulf in Hellenistic and Roman Times13The Red Sea in Hellenistic and Roman Times17The Sassanid and Byzantine Empires36Appendix: Direct Sailing between the Persian Gulf and China in pre-Islamic Times46Ch. IITrade Routes Under the CaliphateGeneral Consequences of the Islamic Expansion51The Arabs on the Mediterranean53Persian and Arab Sea Trade with the Far East61East Africa and the Coasts of Africa79Later Times83Ch. IIIThe ShipsHulls and Their Equipment89Masts and Sails100Navigation and Life at Sea105Appendix: Four Sea Stories114Notes on Chapter I129Notes on Chapter II140Notes on Chapter III150Bibliography157Index179

Promotional Information

In Arab Seafaring George Hourani reviews--crisply, comprehensively and authoritatively--the story of Arab trade routes and the ships that plied them, from earliest times to the Middle Ages. His book is as indispensable today as it was when first published forty years ago; there is no other that covers this significant martime history. -- Lionel Casson, author of "The Ancient Mariners"

About the Author

George Houran (1913-19840 was Professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan. John Carswell is Director of Islamic Department at Sotheby's.

Reviews

"All in all, this brief account is rich in the depth of its analyses and in the authoritative sources cited, both Western and Arab... It is not likely that this superb work will be superseded in the near future."--Digest of Middle East Studies "This reprint of Professor Hourani's elegant monograph forty-five years after its first publication is a tribute to the soundness of his original conception and the excellence of its presentation. Hardly a word seems to need emendation."--Asian Affairs