The Life of the Red Sea Dhow: A Cultural History of Seaborne Exploration in the Islamic World

Description

Few images are as evocative as the silhouette of the Arab dhow as, under full sail, it tacks to windward on glittering waters of Red Sea before moving across the face of the rising or setting sun. In this authoritative new book, Dionisius A. Agius, one of the foremost scholars of Islamic material culture, offers a lucid and wide-ranging history of the iconic dhow from medieval to modern times. Traversing the Arabian and African coasts, he shows that the dhow was central not just to commerce but to the vital transmission and exchange of ideas. Discussing trade and salt routes, shoals and wind patterns, spice harvest seasons and the deep and resonant connection between language, memory and oral tradition, this is the first book to place the dhow in its full and remarkable cultural contexts.

Dionisius A. Agius is Al Qasimi Professor of Arabic Studies and Islamic Material Culture at the University of Exeter. He is the author of numerous books including Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman (2005), winner of The Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation and British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize, and Class Ships of Islam (2008). He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Geographical Society.

This a work of such scholarship and erudition that it should become a classic the second it is published. As a child sailing through the Red Sea on the army troop ships travelling to and from the Far East I have known and remembered these extraordinary and majestic boats. They sailed alongside us as we dropped anchor at Aden, circled us at Port Said and accompanied us through the Suez Canal. As old as time, and as pertinent today as they were before Abraham was born, these sturdy, graceful vessels did more than carry goods and people: they represented freedom, trade, exploration and endeavour, war and peace. Above all, they symbolize the interaction between Islam and the rest of the world; the publication of this book is timely indeed. A painting of dhows, reddened by the setting sun, hangs above my desk as I write. I can hear the creak of their timbers and the slap of the sails in my small study in London. Romantic, trustworthy, the dhow occupies a place in my heart reached by no other memory. * Joanna Lumley, OBE, FRGS * The strength of this book is its holistic approach and the wealth of invaluable information gathered by interviewing 166 people of various groups and ages ... a significant source for students, researchers, and all those interested in the maritime cultures of the Red Sea and beyond. * International Journal of Nautical Archaeology * This book represents an outstanding contribution on both the tangible and intangible maritime heritage of the Red Sea and constitutes an extraordinary tool for archaeologists and historians. * International Association for the Study of Arabia * Reading this book, one has the feel of the sea: Dionisius Agius takes the reader aboard, shows how sailors lived and ate, where they went and what dangers they faced in the heat and wind of the Red Sea, observing the end of an era as the age-old sailing dhow gives way to fibre-glass and engine-power. * David Abulafia, LittD FBA, Professor Emeritus of Mediterranean History in the University of Cambridge and author of The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean * In this beautifully written study, Agius takes us on a journey through the rapidly vanishing world of traditional dhow and dhow voyaging. His exploration of this long-neglected subject relies on numerous informants and a wide-ranging array of important sources. This truly outstanding and definitive contribution to maritime history preserves priceless, vanishing traditional knowledge for future generations. A fascinating book to explore. * Brian Fagan, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Beyond the Blue Horizon *