P oceedings o he Semina o A abian S udies 51 (2022): 1–5
The six een h-cen u y Po uguese Suma O ien al and he A ab pilo s:
a compa a i e summa o ien alis?
Juan Ace edo
Summa y
S a ing om a conside a ion o Tomé Pi es’ 1515 Suma O ien al, his a icle conside s he easibili y, na u e, and ele ance o a
summa o ien alis in he o m o a Po uguese Ea ly Ma i ime Co pus. When his co pus is compa ed wi h A abic nau ical li e a u e,
p ima ily Ibn Mājid and Sulaymān al-Mah ī, and especially wi h a en ion o he echnical aspec s o hei w i ings, hen he
desi abili y o an Indian Ocean Ma i ime Co pus is en isaged. The cen ali y and he media ing ole o A ab pilo s and A abic
nau ical li e a u e indica e ha he i s s ep is he delimi a ion o an A abic Ea ly Ma i ime Co pus.
Keywo ds: A ab na iga ion, ea ly mode n encoun e s, Indian Ocean nau ical li e a u e, knowledge ans e , Po uguese
expansion
My ini ial subjec o in e es o his a icle was e y
speci ic. I was a amous six een h-cen u y Po uguese
wo k, he Suma O ien al by Tomé Pi es (Pi es 1944
p o ides he only exis ing English ansla ion),
desc ibed as ‘ he oldes and mos ex ensi e accoun o
he Po uguese Eas a he beginning o he 16 h cen u y’
(Kwa e al. 2019: 57), and as ‘ he i s g ea ea ise o
Asian geog aphy by a Eu opean au ho , ollowing he
disco e y o he ma i ime ou e o India’ (Pi es 2017:
17). I wan ed o ack down, analyse, and pu in con ex
any men ion o he legenda y ‘A ab’ pilo s, and I was
going o do ha by del ing in o he Suma O ien al. Wha
exac ly did hey do? Wha did hei skill consis o ? How
o en we e hey men ioned? Wha was hei s a us?
How did hey compa e wi h hei Wes e n coun e pa s,
especially as cha ac e ized in he wo ks o Aḥmad ibn
Mājid and Sulaymān al-Mah ī?
Howe e , as I made p og ess in he p epa a ion
o his a icle, I ealized ha he Suma was no qui e
wha I had expec ed, and ha I had been lu ed by i s
esounding scholas ic i le, Suma O ien al, so p omising
and g andiose. I holds a migh y p omise, because i
o e s o he eade ’s mind a comp ehensi e accoun o
all hings ela ed o he Eas , a Summa O ien alis, and his
especially because i came om he hand o one o he
i s Eu opeans who had di ec , unmedia ed access o
he O ien al ou es. We mus emembe ha when Tomé
Pi es collec ed his weal h o in o ma ion ega ding he
Indian Ocean and beyond, you could s ill coun in dozens
hose who we e sailing di ec ly om Eu ope o Asia.
I was he e o e ini ially dismayed o ealize ha
his Suma, inalized by 1515 in Malacca, did no hold
all he p omising ma e ial I had expec ed, and ha i
was ac ually mo e simila o he ancien G eek pe iploi
and o Ma co Polo’s Milione han I had an icipa ed — a
gene ally d y accoun o ins ances o a oyage, wi hou
oo much on he ci cums ances; ich on he wha o he
a els, wi h li le on he how. Fascina ing in i s own
way, bu o en all oo p ac ical, pe haps in need o an
explana o y sub i le.
This ini ial disappoin men had h ee e ec s: i
allowed me o unde s and clea ly ha he implici
p omise o he Suma is ul illed no by one single wo k,
bu by a body o li e a u e; i also allowed me o e ine
he objec o my ques ions; and i p omp ed me o y o
a icula e and o delinea e in some mo e de ail he wo k
needed o answe my ques ions. I is hus on hese h ee
elemen s ha I shall elabo a e b ie ly he e, especially
because he las wo a e di ec ly ela ed o A abic
li e a u e.
As a so o con ex ual ca ea , i may be wo h
no ing ha my cu en esea ch is insc ibed wi hin a
la ge p ojec in he his o y o science, he ERC RUTTER
P ojec based in Lisbon, wi h he gene al aim o d awing
Juan Ace edo
2
new, explici knowledge and wide cul u al implica ions
om he ea ly mode n Eu opean ma i ime li e a u e.
This means in e ec mos ly Ibe ian li e a u e since, as i
is well known ha Po ugal and Spain held in exclusi i y,
o almos 100 yea s, he echno-scien i ic knowledge o
he di ec sailing ou es o Asia and he Ame icas.
The body o li e a u e I am e e ing o is wha I
shall call — hoping i also sounds a bi g andiose bu no
oo pompous — he Po uguese Ea ly Ma i ime Co pus,
including logbooks, u e s, jou nals, ch onicles, and
any o he accoun s o o e seas oyages p oduced in he
wake o Po uguese expedi ions, mos ly in Po uguese,
bu also in I alian and o he languages, by c ew and
passenge s alike. The ime ame o his should be,
en a i ely, om he e u n o Da Gama’s i s expedi ion
in 1499, o he depa u e, in 1595, o he i s Du ch
lee o India, which would e ec i ely pu an end o he
Po uguese monopoly o he Cape ou e. This co pus,
which is he p ima y objec o s udy o he RUTTER
P ojec and pa ly he con en s o i s ela ed lib a y,
A Sea o Books (www.aseao books.o g/), is o a ce ain
ex en s ill in manusc ip o m and la gely un ansla ed.
In ac , only a ew o i s wo ks ha e ecei ed a ull
sa is ac o y edi o ial ea men ; i is o una ely he
case o he Suma O ien al, a c i ical edi ion o which
was published in 2017 by Rui Lou ei o. Some o hese
ea ly wo ks, like Da Gama’s oyage jou nal and he
impo an Esme aldo de si u o bis, lay in lib a ies o
cen u ies o esu ace haphaza dly and en e he wo ld
o schola ship and publica ions only in he eigh een h
o nine een h cen u y.
On he eas e n side o he Cape, a ound he sho es o
he Indian Ocean, we do no ha e any hing like a uni a y
co pus o li e a u e, o cou se; ins ead we ha e as
lib a ies o all so s o a el- ela ed gen es in a hos o
languages o di e en amilies: A abic books o wonde s
and ch onicles om a ious p o enances, oyal annals
in a ious Indian languages and in Chinese, Pe sian
ea ises. Fo one example close o my case, and as a
elling sign o he si ua ion, i is as onishing ha e en o
his da e some o he wo ks o Aḥmad ibn Mājid and o
Sulaymān al-Mah ī ha e emained in manusc ip o m,
and ha no hing o al-Mah ī has ye been ansla ed,
aside om ci a ions he e and he e.
Wi h ega d o he idea o a co pus and o pa icula
in e es he e, is he p ominence o A abic nau ical
li e a u e h oughou he many ace s o Indian Ocean
ma i ime li e a u e. Al hough i is clea ha sailing
echniques and p ac ices a e mos ly he e ogeneous and
un aceable, he impac o A abic e minology goes hand
in hand wi h he geog aphical cen ali y o he A abian
Peninsula in he wes e n Indian Ocean, and i can be
e i ied in Swahili, Guja a i, and Malayalam con ex s
as ecen ly as he middle o he wen ie h cen u y (Al
Salimi & S aples 2019: 9, 13). I is no by chance ha he
wo au ho s o wha is a unique A abic nau ical co pus
— he abo e-men ioned Aḥmad ibn Mājid and Sulaymān
al-Mah ī — we e om he lands o ou con empo a y
Oman and Yemen. As is e i ied in o he ields o
knowledge, and due in pa o he expansion o Islam
along he Indian Ocean sho es, o a g ea ex en A abic
se ed he pu pose o a ma i ime lingua anca, enabling
and acili a ing ade and many o he exchanges. These
A ab cap ains and hei c ews mus ha e been uly
in e na ional d agomans a an la le e, media ing on a
ange o di e en ields o ac ion and amilia wi h an
equally imp essi e ange o languages. In ac , as has
been poin ed ou by Michael Pea son, Po uguese and
A abic, o colou ul a ie ies o hem, e ol ed oge he
in o he wo mos common lingua ancas o he Indian
Ocean wo ld (Pea son 2009: 22).
My ques ions e e mo e speci ically o ou pa icula
con ex o A abian s udies, and I will he e o e dwell
a li le longe on hem: hey ha e o do wi h wha I
called abo e ‘ he legenda y A ab pilo s’. Who we e
hey exac ly? Wha did hey do? Wha did hei skill
consis o ? How o en we e hey men ioned? Wha was
hei s a us? How did hey compa e wi h hei Wes e n
coun e pa s?
I ha e called hem ‘legenda y’ because as soon as
he Po uguese s a ed ecei ing di ec in o ma ion
abou Indian Ocean ade — as ea ly as 1487 when
Ba olome Dias ounded he Cape, and 1490 when King
John II ecei ed de ailed news om his in e na ional
scou ex ao dinai e Pê o da Co ilhã (Al a es 1883:
127–129) — he e we e accoun s o A ab pilo s who
mas e ed he ou es be ween A ica, A abia, and India.
Da Gama’s oyage jou nal con i med hese ea lie
epo s, and i desc ibed he spec acula ly c ucial
help sough by he a mada om he local pilo s o he
A ican coas . Acco ding o he ex , colla ed wi h o he
con empo a y sou ces, a pilo called Malemo Caná o
Canaqua, a iously desc ibed as Ch is ian, Moo , o
Guja a i, guided he a mada om Malindi o Calicu (Da
The six een h-cen u y Po uguese Suma O ien al and he A ab pilo s: a compa a i e summa o ien alis?3
Gama & Ames 2009: 67). This is he s a ing poin o he
legend acco ding o which Vasco da Gama, on his i s
oyage o India (1497–1499), would ha e had Aḥmad ibn
Mājid himsel , he A ab pilo pa excellence, as his pilo .
This legend has long been disp o ed, bu i s b oad lines
e lec a eali y which became almos commonplace
in Po uguese ma i ime li e a u e: ha he e was
his weal h o accumula ed Indian Ocean know-how,
comme cial, nau ical, geog aphical, diploma ic… and
ha he Po uguese explo e s we e able o en ol help
he e and he e and so ap in o his knowledge when
hey we e new o he egion.
Thei iden i ies emain ague, in ac hey a e only
e y excep ionally named, and he de ails o hei
echnical guidance a e o he mos pa also qui e
ague. In he Li o de F ancisco Rod igues (1515), a u e
called by some ‘ he i s wo ld a las’ and, in e es ingly
o us, copied alongside he Suma O ien al in he same
manusc ip , he e is epea ed men ion o a ‘Moo
ubbān’ (‘o obão mou o’). The A abic ubbān usually
means ‘cap ain’, bu in he con ex he meaning is
close o ‘pilo ’, someone who akes a majo ole in he
decisions o he c ew: hey ask him a e e y u n abou
geog aphical ea u es and o nau ical di ec ions (Pi es
1978: 106–108).
An impo an pa o hei skills was he knowledge
o he monsoon and acco dingly, o he igh imes o
sail h oughou he yea . Ano he se o skills o hese
pilo s, which my colleague Inês Béna d is cu en ly
documen ing, is he ich knowledge o nau ical
as onomy used ac oss he Indian Ocean, whe e sailing
by he s a s had a le el o sophis ica ion and complexi y
which was nei he needed no de eloped unde he
Medi e anean and no he n A lan ic skies (Malhão
Pe ei a 2012: 10–15).
One o he mos ema kable passages ound in Ibn
Mājid’s Fawā’id (Khou y & Hasan 1970–1972, I: 1; he
closes we ha e o a single- olume ea ly mode n A abic
nau ical summa) abou he Medi e anean-Eu opean in
con as o he Indian Ocean-A abic nau ical echniques,
is when he speaks abou he Wes e ne s, e e ing o
hem as ‘ he people o he Egyp ian abodes’ (ahl al-diyā
al-miṣ īyah):
‘… hey ha e he compass, and in i hey ha e lines,
and ma ks o miles, and hei humbs a e only
six een… We use hi y- wo humbs… and hey a e
incapable o unde s anding ou le el o a ainmen ,
whe eas we do each as a as hei knowledge goes
and we can sail hei ships, o he Indian Ocean is
connec ed o he A lan ic Ocean [al-Baḥ al-Muḥīṭ],
and i has a knowledge eco ded in w i ings and
s ella al i ude measu es…’
نوردقي لا تاسايقو ماوزأو تاّفرَت انلو اّنَخ نوثلاثو نانثا انُنانْخأ نحنو …
مهكرد لمحن نحنو انكرد اولمحي نأ نوردقي لاو مهدنع يه سيلو اهيلع
رحبلاب قّلعتم وه يدنهلا رحبلا ّنلأ مهبكارمب رفاسنو مهتفرعم كردنو
…سايقو بتكـلا يف ملع هلو طيحملا
One pa icula poin o in e es in his quo a ion is
he iden i ica ion wi h he Egyp ians. I is well known
ha ea ly mode n A ab pilo s used o e e o he sola
new yea as Nay ūz (Tibbe s 1971: 361–366), which is
ob iously somehow ela ed o he Pe sian Now uz, bu
he e is also a ema kable and as ye uns udied Cop ic
connec ion in he A ab nau ical co pus, ob ious in
calend ical wo ks by al-Mah ī, like his Qilādā al-shumūs.
I ha e ound his connec ion in ela ed li e a u e as la e
as he nine een h cen u y (Ace edo 2021), and i may
ha e o do wi h he au umnal beginning o he nau ical
Nay ūz. This Cop ic connec ion wa an s u he s udy,
and my cu en hypo hesis is ha i may be ela ed o
he ac ha he consolida ion o he A abic nau ical
adi ion ook place du ing he Mamluk Sul ana e, when
he cul u al adia ion o Cai o was in ull swing. I am
awa e o a leas one e y echnical nau ical manusc ip
which is ela ed o his, Cai o’s Dā al-Ku ub DM 570,
which has so a only been pa ially desc ibed by Da id
King (1986: 91).
A g oup o key playe s in all hese in e ac ions
was ha o in e p e e s, who we e impo an and
in a di e en ca ego y om ha o he pilo s. The
Po uguese knew ( hanks o Dias and da Co ilhã)
ha hey would ind A ab speake s on he A ican
sho es, and Da Gama’s a mada included a leas h ee
in e p e e s known by name (Hein 1993: 46–48). When
he la e sailed no hwa ds along he Eas A ican
sho es, i was he ole o his A abic in e p e e s o
es ablish communica ions — his is how hey we e able
o secu e he help o he amous ‘Ch is ian’ pilo and
each India.
As o he wo k needed o answe he ques ions, i
is ema kable how much — o en o high quali y — has
been done in e mi en ly and unsys ema ically o e
decades and ac oss coun ies and con inen s.
Juan Ace edo
4
We need o de ine he co po a men ioned abo e:
is an Indian Ocean Ma i ime Co pus possible a all?
Pe haps no ; i would be o all g eedily in o he
emp a ion o doing wi h he Indian Ocean wha B audel
did wi h he Medi e anean. I would by a exceed he
A abic linguis ic sphe e and i would demand a eam o
esea che s wi h o midable language skills. We ha e
encou aging signs in his di ec ion, o example, in he
de elopmen o Indian Ocean s udies as a dis inc and
e y in e na ional ield o s udies, wi h new jou nals
appea ing and majo ini ia i es based in Delhi, Leiden,
To on o, Réunion, and elsewhe e. Las yea we s a ed
keeping ack o hese ini ia i es when we published
a echnical no e on A ab na iga ion wi h he RUTTER
P ojec (Ace edo & Béna d 2020: 43–44).
Bu now, an A abic Ea ly Ma i ime Co pus does sound
like a possibili y—and i would in ac be a con inua ion
o wha Ib ahim Khou y s a ed pu ing oge he in
he ea ly se en ies in Damascus, when he launched he
se ies al-ʿUlūm al-baḥ īyah ʿinda al-ʿa ab (Ma i ime sciences
among he A abs). In his case, howe e , i is e iden
ha ch onological bounda ies would be much mo e
di icul o es ablish, since he e is ha dly a his o ical
b eak h ough in wha seems o ha e been a con inuous
A ab p esence h ough many cen u ies.
As o compa ing, compa ing wha ? How? No
jus in o ma ion, like he men ion o some s a s used
in a ce ain way, o o a ce ain pa icula echnique,
o a way o ollowing a ou e, bu also li e a y opes,
like an emphasis in he kind o ansmission, o e en
a pa icula o m o add ess o he eade — a e hey
se s o ins uc ions in he second pe son? A e hey
jou nal na a i es? A e hey o e ed as ibu e o a high
pe sonage? And how a e hese a ia ions combined
(o no )? We would need o s a eco ding men ions
o na iga o s and pilo s om bo h sides, and o do so
sys ema ically, keeping allies which may e en ually be
he ounda ion o u he wo k beyond he quan i a i e.
Mo e cha ac e is ically, wi hin a his o y o science
enqui y p ope , we mus look a echnicali ies wi h an eye
o he as idious de ail, because some imes appa en ly
mino echnical de ails migh e eal a connec ion, like
he exac deg ee o he sols ice in as onomical ables
o he p ecise dep h measu emen s o a gi en ha bou
(Ace edo 2021: 13).
Finally, wha a e we compa ing o ? A e we hun ing
o in luences o de e mine he i s o igins o heo ies
and p ac ices? No eally, because al hough en icing
he eal-li e complexi y o he his o ical eco d has
long gi en way o a less ambi ious aim, o ocus less
on he in luences and mo e on he low o knowledge.
Occasionally i may be possible o single ou a s a ing
poin o a p ime mo e , bu he mo e modes and
ealis ic aim is o ollow and s udy he poin s o con ac
ha may e en ually c ys allize in he ce ain y o a
ansmission.
O e decades o uncoo dina ed e o s, i has
become almos a uism ha A abic-speaking and
Po uguese sailo s exchanged echnical in o ma ion
in hei ea ly mode n encoun e s. I is known ha
when he Po uguese ounded he Cape, ‘a ce ain
closeness, amilia i y and e en skill wi h he language
and alphabe o he Qu an… enabled hem o en e he
linguis ic complexi y o he Indian Ocean, and, be o e
ha , o communica e on A ican sho es’ (Delmas 2017:
186).
The ask ahead — wha I wan ed o ou line wi h
his a icle, and wha is al eady unde way — is a
comp ehensi e pa sing o he Po uguese and he
Indian Ocean ele an li e a u es, o y o emb ace
and comp ehend he mul icul u al ichness o hose
encoun e s, and o do jus ice o he di e en ields o
s udy — no jus his o y o science bu also eligion, a ,
medicine, linguis ics, e c. h ough specialized esea ch
and analysis. To a la ge ex en , his will be a wo k o
acknowledging, collec ing, and sys ema izing p e ious
e o s.
A speci ic way o con ibu ing o his join e o
is o d aw a en ion o he media ing ole o he ea ly
mode n A ab and Muslim na iga o s. I is no wi hou
eason ha he no ion o an Indian Ocean ‘A abic
cosmopolis’ has become cu en in ela ed academic
ields. I is also no wi hou eason ha A abic, as he
language o highly sophis ica ed nau ical wo ks, became
he de ac o language o sea a ing, and his may ac ually
be seen as a ema kable illus a ion o he Qu anic e se,
‘Thus We ha e made you a middle na ion’ (wa-ka-dhālika
jaʿalnākum umma an wasaṭan, 2:143), which became a
geog aphical eali y wi h he es ablishmen o he India
un. The A abian Peninsula was igh a he cen e o
his new enla ged Po uguese sphe e o ac ion and i
was playing again, hough now on a global scale, he
pi o al ole i had had o cen u ies.
The six een h-cen u y Po uguese Suma O ien al and he A ab pilo s: a compa a i e summa o ien alis?5
Acknowledgemen s
The RUTTER p ojec has ecei ed unding om he
Eu opean Resea ch Council (ERC) unde he Eu opean
Union’s Ho izon 2020 esea ch and inno a ion
p og amme (g an ag eemen No. 833438).
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Au ho ’s add ess
Juan Ace edo, Cen o In e uni e si á io de His ó ia das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Uni e sidade
de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisbon, Po ugal.
e-mail juan.ace [email p o ec ed]
