Ahmad ibn Mājid

Aḥmad ibn Mājid, also known as the Lion of the Sea, was an Arab navigator and cartographer born c. 1432 in Julfar, part of Oman under the Nabhani dynasty rule at the time,. He was raised in a family famous for seafaring; at the age of 17 he was able to navigate ships. The exact date is not known, but ibn Majid probably died in 1500. Although long identified in the West as the navigator who helped Vasco da Gama find his way from Africa to India, contemporary research has shown Ibn Majid is unlikely even to have met da Gama. Ibn Majid was the author of nearly forty works of poetry and prose.