At the Sea's Edge: Revisiting the Origins of Native Seamanship in Southern Arabia
Research into the pre-Islamic Arabs has posited an autochthonous, maritime tradition in Southern Arabia which provided the foundation for effective use of sea power within the early Islamic state. Using historical and archaeological evidence, the existence of such a tradition is reexamined within the broader cultural and historical context of the area, with focus divided into three periods; that immediately prior to the birth of Muhammad, that before the rise of Ptolemaic Egypt and that of the Mesopotamian City-States, when southern Arabia was peripheral to the earliest organized civilizations. It is concluded that although maritime resources were always utilized to some extent, there was insufficient social, political or economic support to have allowed an independent maritime tradition to have been developed in Southern Arabia.
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