Rules for Maldivian Trading Ships Travelling Abroad (1925) and a Sojourn in Southern Ceylon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.13.2016.40.06Keywords:
Indian Ocean, trade, Maldives, Sunni Islam, Intercultural dialogueAbstract
‘Rules for Maldivian Trading Ships,’ the translated document that forms the first part of the paper is a twelve‑page manual published by the Royal House on the rules that were to be followed by Maldivian oceangoing ships while on their yearly trading trip to “the continent” (kara). Kara referred primarily to the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the foreign place that Maldivian traders found most convenient to reach. This trade originated in most major islands of the archipelago in the past, including Minicoy (Maliku), but was vital for the communities living in the atolls located at the southern end of the chain. The second part of the paper includes the translation of a personal account by an old Maldivian trader about his experiences in and around Gali (Galle, Sri Lanka), the description of conditions in the harbour and an inland town in Ceylon, as well as the friendships he established there with local people.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Bābage D., Divehi Ādakāda (Maldivian customs), Divehi Bahāi Tārikhah Khidmaiykurā Qaumī Markazu, Male’ 1993.
Google Scholar
Bell H.C.P., The Máldive Islands. Monograph on the History, Archaeology and Epigraphy, s. l. 1940.
Google Scholar
Divehi Tārikhah Au Alikameh (New light on Maldivian history), Divehi Bahāi Tārikhah Khidmaiykurā Qaumī Markazu, repr. 1958, edn. Male’ 1990.
Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick S., Callaghan R., ‘Seafaring Simulations and the Origin of Prehistoric Settlers to Madagascar’ in G. Clark, F. Leach, S. O’Conor (eds.), Islands of Inquiry. Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeological of Maritime Landscapes, Canberra 2009 (Terra Australis, 29).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22459/TA29.06.2008.03
Google Scholar
Gardet L., Les hommes de l’Islam. Approche des mentalités, Paris 1977 (Le Temps & Les Hommes).
Google Scholar
Green J., ‘The Archaeological Contribute to the Knowledge of the Extra‑European Shipbuilding at the Time of the Medieval and Modern Iberian‑Atlantic Tradition’ in F.J.S. Alves (ed.), Proceedings, International Symposium on Archaeology of Medieval and Modern Ships of Iberian‑Atlantic Tradition. Hull Remains, Manuscripts and Ethnographic Sources. A Comparative Approach, Lisboa 2001 (Trabalhos de Arqueologia, 18).
Google Scholar
Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa, trans. by H.A.R. Gibb, London 1929.
Google Scholar
Koechlin B., ‘Notes sur l’histoire et le navire long‑courrier, odi, aujourd’hui disparu, des Maldives,’ Archipel, Vol. 18, No. 1 (1979).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/arch.1979.1516
Google Scholar
‘Letters to England 1727‑1737’ in J. Tyrell, Return to Maldivia: Happy Ending or Anti‑Climax?, 12 April 2013, at <http://johntyrrell.blogspot.com/2013/04/return‑to‑maldivia‑happy‑ending‑or‑anti.html>.
Google Scholar
Maloney C., People of the Maldive Islands, New Delhi 1980, ed. 2013.
Google Scholar
Munch‑Petersen N.F., ‘The Maldives. History, Daily Life and Art‑handicraft,’ Bulletin du CEMOCI, Vol. 1, No. 1/2 (1982).
Google Scholar
Romero‑Frias X., Folk Tales of the Maldives, Copenhagen 2012.
Google Scholar
Romero‑Frias X., The Maldive Islanders. A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom, Barcelona 1999.
Google Scholar
Shafīgu A., Oḍidōnifaharu Banuṅ (Construction of Maldivian boats), Divehi Bahāi Tārikhah Khidmaiykurā Qaumī Markazu, Male’ 1991.
Google Scholar
Smyth H.W., Mast and Sail in Europe and Asia, London 1906.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.