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Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land

Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Page of 449 Ch. 2: The Traditional Ophir Land Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
39
notable map of the Arabian Edrisi, in 1154 a.d., shows how slight and vague was the advance in the knowledge of the Dark Continent from the days of the Alexandrian geographers. Still this old chart gives some substantial proof of the communica­tion of Arabian traders with the natives on the East African coast. But on this map the African coast appears to curve
east continuously from the mouth of the Red Sea, and Edrisi was plainly ignorant of the abrupt trend to the south from Cape Guar-da-fui. Yet he shows rudely the islands lying off the east coast of Africa, and, south of Sokotra, traces the African main­land in three divisions, Zendj (Zanzibar), Sofala, and Vakvak.
With all its imperfections this Arabian map was in advance of any European portrayal of South Africa. It was the prevail­ing belief in the Middle Ages, "bequeathed from antiquity," as
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