A History of Agriculture in India v2.c53.s7.12

v2.c53.s7.12

In navigation, the Arabs, with their improved astrolabe and mariner’s compass, were leaders. The astrolabe was invented by al-Fazari, about A.D. 775, at Baghdad. The magnetic compass was an invention of the Chinese, and the Arabs possibly borrowed it from them and improved upon it. In the ninth century, their ships reached Java and Sumatra. About the middle of the tenth century, Arab ships reached the Chinese town of Khanfu, now Canton. It may be mentioned that the word ‘admiral’ is of Arabic origin, and so are cable, average, shallop (sloop), barque, and monsoon.