A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4
Word count
480K words
Chapters
49

Tags

English Originals Historical Geography DiscoveryGeography ScienceTravel GuideDocumentary NarrativeExpedition AccountEast African CoastIndo-Pacific RoutesExotic CultureCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of theAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: G: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation, Release Date: Dec 9, 2011

Editor's review

This is a firsthand nautical and geographical record of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the early sixteenth century, based on Portuguese on-site observation and belonging to early European primary accounts of the Indian Ocean world. Its value lies not in literary style but in specificity: port locations, winds, products, trade practices, local powers, and coastal route information are all recorded one by one, making it source material for studying the Indian Ocean trade system and early colonial contact. For general readers, it is more like a historical archive to browse slowly—plain in language, dense in information, and lacking a narrative throughline, so it needs to be read with questions in mind. It is suitable as supplementary reading for courses in world history, maritime history, and geography, and for readers interested in the local history of the East African and South Asian coasts to consult as reference. When reading, it is advisable to use maps and annotated editions and compare place names with today's coastline to appreciate the weight of this record.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First read through the table of contents and section headings to build a spatial framework of coastal locations, then return to read specific port entries in detail.
  2. Read alongside a modern map of East Africa and the southwest coast of India, marking ancient place names as you go to help understand routes and orientations.
  3. Excerpt records of products, trade, and local powers by category to form your own reference cards for later verification.
  4. Skip unfamiliar terms at first and look them up after finishing a chapter, so details do not interrupt your reading rhythm.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49

FAQ

Is this book a literary work or a historical record? It is a geographical and nautical record, not a novel or travel literature. Its content focuses on coastal locations, routes, products, and trade conditions; the language is direct and the information dense, and its reading value lies in the historical material itself rather than narrative interest.
Can readers without a history background understand it? Yes, but with assistance. The many ancient place names and trade terms are unfriendly to general readers; reading with maps, historical timelines, and annotations is recommended—first grasp the overall framework, then go into specific entries.
What is the most practical way to read this book? Treat it as a reference book rather than reading it straight through. Read in blocks by coastal region, take notes on place names and products as you go, and return to the relevant chapters when needed—this is more effective than forcing yourself through from beginning to end.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

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