The Astronomical Observatories of Jai Singh c6.s1.t1.81

c6.s1.t1.81

The longitude differences point to some place about 35 degrees west of Greenwich as the point of origin. The zero meridian therefore passed through the Azores. In this matter the Muhammadans copied the Greeks, who fixed upon the ‘Fortunate Isles,’ possibly, as the western end of the world. These ‘Fortunate Isles’ were originally imaginary islands where the souls of the good were made happy, but later the name became attached to the Canary Islands. In the *Āīn-i-Akbarī*⁵ we read: “The Greeks commence their reckoning from Khālidāt, which are six islands in the western ocean, which in ancient times were inhabited, but now are inundated, etc.”