Buzurg ibn Shahriyar al-Ramhormuzi (full name Persian: بزرگ بن شهریار الرام هرمزي), was allegedly a Muslim traveler, sailor, cartographer and geographer who was born in Khuzistan in Persia. In the year 953, he supposedly completed a collection of narratives from Muslim sailors based in Siraf, Oman, Basra and elsewhere.^[1] In this work, there are mentions of how Muslim seafarers traveled to India, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and East Africa. Various links are mentioned between the Abbasid Caliphate and Tang dynasty, China.

There is believs that Buzurg is a fictional person. Apart from the attribution to him in this book, his existence is otherwise unattested. The attribution dates from the thirteenth century, long after he allegedly lived. Recent research has shown that the book was more probably written in Cairo during the second half of the tenth century by a scholar called Abū ‘Imrān Mūsā ibn Rabāḥ al-Awsī al-Sīrāfī.^[2]

Narrative[edit]

Andaman Islands[edit]

The Persian navigator Al-Ramhormuzi, in his 10th century book Ajaib al-Hind (The wonders of India) described the islands as being inhabited by fierce cannibalistic tribes. The book also mentions an island he called Andaman al-Kabir (Great Andaman).^[3][4]

References[edit]