The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World (118 page)

1.
   “the king of the island of Rubies”: Al-Baladhuri,
Origins of the Islamic State,
2:215–17. See Hitti,
History of the Arabs,
207–8. “Barks” is a translation of
barija,
a generic term for pirate ship. See Agius,
Classic Ships of Islam,
328–30.

2.
   “ships laden with men”: Al-Baladhuri,
Origins of the Islamic State,
2:217.

3.
   “a water-front for the world”: Al-Yaqubi, in Hourani,
Arab Seafaring,
64.

4.
   “in a place between rivers”: Al-Muqaddasi,
Best Divisions,
100.

5.
   “This is the Tigris”: Al-Yaqubi, in Hourani,
Arab Seafaring,
64.

6.
   “the frontier of India”: Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:53.

7.
   Basra attracted shipping: Hitti,
History of the Arabs,
241.

8.
   “Siraf nearly equaled Shiraz”: Al-Istakhri, in Hadi Hasan,
History of Persian Navigation,
115n3.

9.
   Zanj unrest: Al-Tabari,
History of al-Tabari;
Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:30–31; and Wilkinson, “Suhar,” 893.

10.
   Siraf was wracked: Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:58.

11.
   “all the merchandise”:
Ibn Khurdadhbih,
Book of Roads and Provinces,
in Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:29.

12.
   port of Aydhab: Peacock and Peacock, “Enigma of ’Aydhab”; Brett,
Rise of the Fatimids,
273; and Nasir-i Khusraw,
Book of Travels,
85–87.

13.
   Omani traders: Risso,
Merchants and Faith,
14; Wilkinson, “Oman and East Africa,” 278.

14.
   impressive size: Blench, “Ethnographic Evidence,” 439–41.

15.
   Swahili culture: Spear, “Early Swahili History,” 271–75.

16.
   Shanga: Ibid., 261–63. A Friday mosque (
jama’a
) is a city’s main mosque, as distinct from a smaller, local mosque (
masjid
).

17.
   town of Kilwa: Chittick,
Kilwa,
13–17 and passim.

18.
   “welcomed hospitably”: Al-Idrisi,
The Delight of Him,
in di Meglio, “Arab Trade,” 113. Some feel trade between Southeast Asia and Africa is “rather improbable,” notably Chittick, “East African Trade with the Orient,” 103.

19.
   Chinese ceramics: Rougeulle, “Medieval Trade,” 159.

20.
   2.5 million black Africans: Davis,
Slavery and Human Progress,
42–46.

21.
   “a trade that was excellent”: Buzurg ibn Shahriyar,
Book of the Wonders of India,
32 (pp. 31–36).

22.
   stories take place: Ibid., xvii–xviii.

23.
   “escaped the customs”: Ibid., 83 (p. 76).

24.
   “the port to al-Bahrain”: Al-Baladhuri,
Origins of the Islamic State,
2:53. See Wink,
Al-Hind
, 1:97.

25.
   “fixed the date”: Yijing,
Record of the Buddhist Religion,
xxviii.

26.
   Vajrabodhi sailed: Chou, “Tantrism in China,” 274–75; Sen,
Buddhism, Diplomacy and Trade,
26–27.

27.
   “The inhabitants being”: Huichao [Hwi Cao], in Hadi Hasan,
History of Persian Navigation,
103–4.

28.
   “the goods are carried”: Sulayman,
Account of China and India,
13 (p. 38).

29.
   “Chinese boats”: Hourani
, Arab Seafaring,
75.

30.
   kingdom of “Zabaj”:
Arabic accounts refer to
Kalah and al-Zabaj over many centuries. Kalah referred to
Takuapa, on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, until the eleventh century, after which it was used of
Kedah, to the south. Al-Zabaj probably refers to Java until 860, when a younger member of the Sailendra Dynasty of Java established himself on the throne of the Srivijaya kingdom at
Palembang, Sumatra. The Sailendras of Java were out of power by the tenth century, and subsequent references to al-Zabaj probably indicate Sumatra. See Hall,
Maritime Trade,
200; and Tibbetts,
Study of the Arabic Texts,
107, 118–28.

31.
   Major changes: Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:225, 230, 256.

32.
   “lord of both”: Keay,
India,
170. On medieval India, see Keay,
India,
160–74; and Thapar,
Early India,
328–30.

33.
   the Palas exerted: Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:270.

34.
   ports in Gujarat and Konkan: Ibid., 1:304–6.

35.
   Saymur had a population: Ahmad, “Travels of … al-Mas’udi,” 511; Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:68–72, 76.

36.
   “one whose wealth”: Chakravarti, “Nakhudas and Nauvittakas,” 37, 39–40.

37.
   Mappila: Wink,
Al-Hind
, 1:72. On “temporary marriage,” see Shahla Haeri,
Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Iran
(London: Tauris, 1989).

38.
   “to be admitted”: Lord,
Display of Two Forraigne Sects,
3 (with modernized spelling).

39.
   Chola Kingdom of Tamil Nadu, “Naval Expeditions of the Cholas,” 2.

40.
   merchant guilds:
Mukund,
Trading World of the Tamil Merchant,
25–41; Guy, “Tamil Merchant Guilds,” 295–302; Clark, “Muslims and Hindus in Quanzhou,” 63–65; and Wade, “Early Age of Commerce,” 236–37.

41.
   strategic patronage of Buddhism: Spencer,
Politics of Expansion,
144–45.

42.
   Southeast Asian rulers: Sen,
Buddhism, Diplomacy and Trade,
220.

43.
   “There are certain Indians”: Abu Zayd,
Concerning the Voyage
, 98–99.

44.
   
banias
: Wink,
Al-Hind,
1:75.

45.
   Indian sources: Jacq-Hergoualc’h,
The Malay Peninsula,
270.

46.
   “There are, among the Indians”: Abu Zayd,
Concerning the Voyage,
89.

47.
   “I am taken with a desire”: Ibid., 64–68.

48.
   “most likely to rebel”:
Telaga Batu
inscription, in Casparis,
Selected Inscriptions,
37, 39. See Hall,
Maritime Trade,
98–99; and Hall, “Economic History of Early Southeast Asia,” 201.

49.
   thirty-seven monks:
Jacq-Hergoualc’h,
The Malay Peninsula,
194.

50.
   “the pair of sails”: Yijing,
Record of the Buddhist Religion,
xxx.

51.
   “a recess of the sea”:
Xuanzang,
Si-Yu-Ki
:
Buddhist Records of the Western World,
2:200–201. A Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and translator, Xuanzang spent seventeen years (630–647) in India, to and from which he traveled overland.

52.
   on the Malay Peninsula; Jacq-Hergoualc’h,
The Malay Peninsula,
107–16; 161–66; 339–40, 350, 399–402.

53.
   Yet it is the west coast: Ibid., 337, 347.

54.
   Kedu plain: Hall, “Economic History of Early Southeast Asia,” 202–4.

55.
   moved eastward: Hall,
Maritime Trade,
110–13, 120–27.

56.
   presence of foreigners: Wade, “Early Age of Commerce,” 251.

57.
   East Java: Hall, “Economic History of Early Southeast Asia,” 208–15.

58.
   “Of all the wealthy foreign lands”: Chou K’u-fei [Zhou Qufei],
Ling-wai-tai-ta
(1178), in Zhao Rugua,
On the Chinese and Arab Trade,
23. See Hall,
Maritime Trade,
195.

59.
   “nutmegs must be able”: In Hall, “Economic History of Early Southeast Asia,” 209. See Boomgaard,
Southeast Asia,
182. “
Clove” comes from the Latin
clavis,
meaning nail, from the shape of the dried bud.

60.
   “the like of which”: Sulayman,
Account of India and China,
28 (p. 44).

61.
   “dispatched many ships”: In Spencer,
Politics of Expansion,
138–39. The ports are identified in Christie, “Medieval Tamil-Language Inscriptions,” 254n56. On motives, see Kulke, “Naval Expeditions of the Cholas,” 1–2.

62.
   “oblations to the sea”: In Chandra,
Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India,
214–21.

63.
   trade missions from Srivijaya: Wade, “Early Age of Commerce,” 227.

64.
   attacks did loosen: Kulke, “Naval Expeditions of the Cholas,” 10; Lieberman,
Strange Parallels,
2:776; and Zhao Rugua,
On the Chinese and Arab Trade,
23.

65.
   Buddhist monks from Pagan: Hall,
Maritime Trade
, 199; Aung-Thwin,
Mists of Ramañña
, 257–58, 300–306.

66.
   Our assumptions: McGrail,
Boats of the World
, 272: “The Indian sewn-plank boat can be traced back only to the early sixteenth century. Since sewn boats were used in
east Africa, Arabia, and south-east Asia in the late first millennium bc/early first millennium ad, it is reasonable to suggest that there may have been similar early use in India: the evidence, however, is lacking.” See also Tomalin et al., “Thaikkal-Kadakkarappally Boat,” 257.

67.
   “stairways for loading”: Li Zhao,
Tang Guo Shi Bu
(Supplemental History of the Tang State), in Gunawardana, “Changing Patterns of Navigation,” 65.

68.
   The Belitung ship: Flecker, “A Ninth-Century ad Arab or Indian Shipwreck in
Indonesia.” On sewn planks, see above, chap. 6. On the woods used, see Flecker, “A Ninth-Century ad Arab or Indian Shipwreck in Indonesia: Addendum.”

69.
   “There are people, at Oman”: Abu Zayd,
Concerning the Voyage,
89.

70.
   “This oil”: Ibid., 95, reading “preserving” for the translator’s “caulking.”

71.
   
nura
: Margariti,
Aden,
56–57, 161.

72.
   “iron should not”: In Chaudhuri, “Ship-Building in the
Yuktikalpataru
,” 140.

73.
   “no iron [should be] used”: Mookerji,
Indian Shipping
, 21. See Tomalin et al., “Thaikkal-Kadakkarappally Boat,” 257–58.

74.
   “special vessels”: In Chaudhuri, “Ship-Building in the
Yuktikalpataru
,” 140–41.

75.
   the importance of iron: McPherson,
Indian Ocean
, 115–18.

76.
   Thaikkal-Kadakkarappally boat: Tomalin et al., “Thaikkal-Kadakkarappally Boat,” 259–62.

77.
   “If a rock”: Al-Muqaddasi,
Best Divisions,
11. See Agius,
Classic Ships of Islam,
204–5, and, on the
busi,
282–83; and Mott,
Development of the Rudder,
121.

78.
   hero stones:
Tripati, “Ships on Hero Stones from the West Coast of India”; Mott,
Development of the Rudder,
106–19. The hero stone inscriptions are illegible and nothing is known of the actions depicted.

79.
   “the largest and most elaborate”: Miksic,
Borobudur,
18, 40.

80.
   five ships: Together with archaeological and modern ethnographic evidence, the carvings of the outrigger ships were a source for the design and construction of a vessel that sailed from Java to
Ghana via the Seychelles, northern
Madagascar, and
Cape Town, between August 2003 and February 2004, with a total of 151 days at sea.

81.
   obstacles against enemy boarders: Burningham, “Borobudur Ship,” and personal communication.

82.
   “They say that once”: Nasir-i Khusraw,
Book of Travels,
121.

83.
   “In this sea”: Al-Istakhri,
al-Aqalim
, in Naji, “Trade Relations,” 432.
Jannaba was a port on the coast of
Fars north of Bandar Rig (29°28N, 50°37E). According to the twelfth-century Persian geographer Ibn al-Balkhi’s
Description of the Province of Fars
, “in Persian they call it Ganfah, which signifies ‘Stinking Water.’ Now, a city that has ‘Stinking Water’ for its name must be described as of an evil stinking character, and therefore there is no occasion to speak of its condition.”

84.
   “At dawn”: Nasir-i Khusraw,
Book of Travels,
122–23.

85.
   “Upon the whole coast”: Abu Zayd,
Concerning the Voyage,
93.

86.
   “after studying”: In Chandra,
Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India,
217, 221.

87.
   “shipmasters, cargo masters”: Al-Muqaddasi,
Best Divisions
, 9.

88.
   Ahmad ibn Majid: Tibbetts,
Arab Navigation
, 7–9. For a concise overview of Arabic navigation and navigation guides in this period, see Agius,
Classic Ships of Islam,
187–202.

89.
   “the risings and settings”: Ahmad ibn Majid, in Tibbetts,
Arab Navigation
, 77.

1.
   Tang cargo: Flecker, “A Ninth-Century ad Arab or Indian Shipwreck in Indonesia”; Zheng,
China on the Sea
, 1, 6, 33; and Worrall, “China Made.”

2.
   five canals: Xiong,
Sui Tang Chang’an
, 205–7.

3.
   Tang Gaozong, attacked Goguryeo: Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung and the Empress Wu,” 282–85; Lee,
Korea and East Asia
, 17, 66–68; and Graff,
Medieval Chinese Warfare,
198–200.

4.
   “King Pungjang”:
Nihongi,
“Tenchi,” 27.7–8 (663 ce) vol. 2:280. See Mitsusada and Brown, “Century of Reform,” 207.

5.
   state of Balhae: Twitchett, “Hsüan-tsung,” 430; Lee,
New History of Korea,
71–73.

6.
   droughts and famines: Twitchett and Wechsler, “Kao-tsung and the Empress Wu,” 277–79.

7.
   renewal of the canal system: Twitchett,
Financial Administration Under the T’ang,
87–89; Pulleyblank,
Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan
, 34–35, 183–87.

8.
   China was also resurgent: Grousset,
Empire of the Steppes
, 114–20; Twitchett, “Hsüan-tsung,” 444.

9.
   occupied the strategic region: Taylor,
Birth of Vietnam,
195.

10.
   attack on the Khitan: Pulleyblank,
Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan
, 97–99.

11.
   Hebei and Henan: Dalby, “Court Politics in Late T’ang Times,” 562; Twitchett, “Hsüan-tsung,” 457.

12.
   “destroy the warehouses”: Clark, “Frontier Discourse and China’s Maritime Frontier,” 27.

13.
   number of ships: Wang,
Nanhai Trade,
76.

14.
   permanently weakened: Peterson, “Court and Province,” 484–86.

15.
   illegal ordinations: Wechsler, “T’ai-tsung the Consolidator,” 218.

16.
   The Koreans in China: Reischauer,
Ennin’s Travels,
281–87. Although traders from Silla dominated the trade, the port of Tengzhou on the north coast of the Shandong Peninsula had separate inns to serve travelers arriving by sea from Balhae and Silla, and Ennin noted the arrival of a ship from Balhae on the Shandong Peninsula in 839 (p. 141). See Lee,
New History of Korea,
94–95.

17.
   Jang Bogo:
The details of his life story are not very clear, and there is disagreement over how and when he was killed, the date for which falls between 841 and 846. For Ennin’s letter of thanks for the offer of passage to Yangzhou,
Ennin’s Diary
840-2-17 (pp. 166–67 and p. 100n438); Reischauer,
Ennin’s Travels,
287; Lee,
New History of Korea,
95–97; and Henthorn,
History of Korea,
79–81.

18.
   Wang Geon: Lee,
New History of Korea,
91, 95–96, 100–103, where the names are given as Chakchegon and Wang Kon.

19.
   “There are several hundred Chinese”: In Shiba and Elvin,
Commerce and Society in Sung China,
187.

20.
   via Chinese ports: Henthorn,
History of Korea
, 100.

21.
   pirates in gangs: Peterson, “Court and Province,” 555; Somers, “End of the T’ang,” 684–85, 689–91.

22.
   “that the markets”: Ouyang Xiu,
Biography of Huang Chao,
3a (p. 18).

23.
   120,000 Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Persian merchants: Abu Zayd, 41–42. See Clark, “Muslims and Hindus in Quanzhou,” 55.

24.
   “Communication with the southeast”: Wei Zhuang, “Lament of the Lady of Qin,” ll. 127–31.

25.
   “tyrannizing those of the merchants”: Abu Zayd,
Concerning the Voyage,
in Levy,
Biography of Huang Ch’ao,
117, 119–20. See Wang,
Nanhai Trade,
78–79.

26.
   Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: Mote,
Imperial China,
8–14.

27.
   importance of urbanization: Ibid., 164–65.

28.
   The Song purchased peace: Ibid., 116, 369.

29.
   forcibly relocated from Chang’an: Benn,
China’s Golden Age,
46.

30.
   “Giao [Jiaozhou] is a large frontier region”: In Taylor,
Birth of Vietnam,
183.

31.
   “tried to cheat them”: [
Xin
]
Tang Shu,
4.1b, in Wang,
Nanhai Trade,
73.

32.
   “ferocious, pitiless”: In Hall,
Maritime Trade,
179. This raid of 774 was followed
by another in 787. Phan Rang is 150 miles northeast of the Mekong delta and Nha Trang 50 miles beyond Phan Rang.

33.
   “The merchants of distant kingdoms”: Sima Guang,
Zi Zhi Tong Jian
[Mirror of History], 234, vol. 12:596, in Taylor,
Birth of Vietnam,
208.

34.
   the armies of Nanzhao: Taylor,
Birth of Vietnam,
245.

35.
   “You must give up hope”: In Li, “View from the Sea,” 84n2.

36.
   “Banish distress”: Le Tac,
Annam Chi Luoc
104, in Taylor,
Birth of Vietnam,
252.

37.
   “How can a great man”: In Taylor,
Birth of Vietnam,
280.

38.
   “merchant boats”: In ibid., 287.

39.
   not bothered to name: Whitmore, “Rise of the Coast,” 105.

40.
   Van Don became: Ibid., 109–10.

41.
   “fish and vegetables mostly uncooked”: Yijing,
Record of the Buddhist Religion
. On Tang cookery generally, see Schafer,
Golden Peaches of Samarkand,
139–54.

42.
   “His Majesty”: In Kuwabara, “On P’u Shou-keng,” 6.

43.
   China’s bulkiest imports: Schafer,
Golden Peaches of Samarkand; birds:
100–102;
cuisine:
140;
elephants:
81–84;
incense
, 157–62;
musicians:
56; and
sandalwood and rosewood:
134–38.

44.
   easing of official attitudes: Shiba and Elvin,
Commerce and Society in Sung China,
127–29.

45.
   “memorial-presenting courts”: Lien-sheng,
Money and Credit in China,
51–56.

46.
   office of maritime affairs—
shibosi
: So,
Prosperity, Region and Institutions,
36.
Shibosi
(
shih-po-ssu
) is also translated as “bureau of the maritime trade superintendent” (Chin, “Ports, Merchants, Chieftains and Eunuchs,” 236), “superintendent of the trading ships” (Kuwabara, “On P’u Shou-keng”), “superintendent of the shipping trade” (Wang,
Nanhai Trade,
94), “trade superintendency” (Clark,
Community, Trade and Networks,
169), and “maritime trade bureau” (Zheng,
China on the Sea,
32).

47.
   “argosies of the Brahmans”: In Schafer,
Golden Peaches of Samarkand,
15. Posthumously known as “The Great Teacher Who Crossed the Sea,”
Jianzhen was on his fifth of sixth attempts to reach Japan, where he died in 763.

48.
   variety of responsibilities: So,
Prosperity, Region and Institutions,
42–49.

49.
   Kyushu Headquarters (
Dazaifu
): Verschuer,
Across the Perilous Sea,
34–35.

50.
   lack of trade missions: Bielenstein,
Diplomacy and Trade,
106, 124, 138, 144; Verschuer,
Across the Perilous Sea,
34.

51.
   “Typhoons for winds”: Han Yu, in Schafer,
Vermilion Bird,
128.

52.
   “Whenever the barbarian”:
Wuguo Gushi,
2.10a, in So,
Prosperity, Region and Institutions,
25.

53.
   “the port was clogged”: In Clark, “Muslims and Hindus in Quanzhou,” 60.

54.
   10 percent: Clark, “Muslims and Hindus in Quanzhou,” 58.

55.
   fourth
shibosi
: Kuwabara, “On P’u Shou-keng,” 2–3, 19–20; So,
Prosperity, Region and Institutions,
48–49.

56.
   trade with the south: Wang,
Nanhai Trade,
79–81.

57.
   as far as Java: Clark,
Community, Trade and Networks,
124.

58.
   Hokkiens: Chang, “Formation of a Maritime Convention,” 148–50; Gladney,
Muslim Chinese,
262.

59.
   “Great ships in thousands”: Cui Rong, in Shiba and Elvin,
Commerce and Society in Sung China,
4.

60.
   ten shipyards: Benn,
China’s Golden Age,
185.

61.
   “There is a saying”: Li Chao [Li Zhao], quoted in
Tangguo Shibu
(Supplementary
Information on the Tang Dynasty), in Shiba and Elvin,
Commerce and Society in Sung China,
5.

62.
   “floating boat people”: Clark, “Frontier Discourse and China’s Maritime Frontier,” 17–18.

63.
   “in some shape or form”: Worcester,
The Junkman Smiles,
10.

64.
   “Two water buffalo”:
Ennin’s Diary,
838–7–21 (pp. 19–20).

65.
   haulers with local knowledge: Shiba and Elvin,
Commerce and Society in Sung China,
5.

66.
   introduction of iron fastenings: Manguin, “Southeast Asian Ship,” 272.

67.
   “sand ships” (
shachuan
): McGrail,
Boats of the World,
348.

68.
   Ships typically had no cabins: Wang,
Nanhai Trade,
100.

69.
   “With the fibrous bark”: In Manguin, “Trading Ships,” 275.

70.
   lashings and dowels: Manguin, “Trading Ships,” 268–69.

71.
   Sewn-plank fastening: McGrail,
Boats of the World,
354.

72.
   “fore-and-aft sails”: Ibid., 159, 309, 357.

73.
   built a fleet: Taylor,
Birth of Vietnam,
226, 231.

74.
   “The Japanese warships”:
Nihongi,
“Tenchi,” 27.7–8 (683 ce), vol. 2:280. See also Mitsusada and Brown, “Century of Reform,” 207.

75.
   fifty Jurchen ships: Verschuer,
Across the Perilous Sea,
41. See Lee,
New History of Korea,
517.