Sulaiman al Mahri

Sulaiman Al Mahri ibn Ahmad ibn Sulayman (Arabic: سليمان المهري ابن أحمد ابن سليمان‎‎) (1480–1550) was a 16th-century Arab navigator. He was called "Al-Mahri" because he was a descendant of the Arabic tribe of Mahara. He was a student of the philosopher and scientist Ibn Majid and lived during the reign of Ottoman Turks.

Sulaiman Al Mahri ibn Ahmad ibn Sulayman was born in Shihr in 1480. He was a 16th-century Arab navigator. He was called "Al-Mahri" because he was a descendant of the Arabic tribe of Mahara. He was a student of the philosopher and scientist Ibn Majid and lived during the reign of Ottoman Turks.He died in 1550.

He sailed across the Indian Ocean and wrote a book on the geography of the Indian Ocean and the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia. He is best known for reducing Ibn Majids's list of stars for navigation from 70 to 15. Combinations of these lists of stars were used by Arab navigators and mariners up to the early 16th century.

The 15th-century Arabic book Kitab al-Fawa'id fi wal al-ilmi al bahri wa'l qawa'id (Book of Useful Information on the Principles and Rules of Navigation) was compiled by Ibn Majid and his student Sulaiman Al Mahri. In his journals, Al Mahri noted the islands off the west coast of Siam (Malaya). The most important destination covered by these navigational texts is Malacca, which had become the region's principal trading center for Arab navigators during the 15th century.Singapore, parts of Samarra, Java, China, the coasts of Burma and Andaman and Nicobar Islands were the fiscal points of his texts.

He grouped the shores of Malaya with Siam, and the mainland to the east with China as a single kingdom. This passage from Al-Mahri's book illustrates the limits of Arab navigators:

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