Articles From Our Experts

Reading, transmitting, and making books: The personal touch of Muḥammad Ibn Abī al-Fatḥ al-Ṣūfī, astronomer of Cairo

Fifteenth-century Cairo was the place to be for astronomers and mathematicians. One scholar left his particular mark in a surprising variety of ways on the manuscript records of the period.

Reading, transmitting, and making books: The personal touch of Muḥammad Ibn Abī al-Fatḥ al-Ṣūfī, astronomer of Cairo

Finding Aid: IOR/L/MAR Marine Department Records (1600-c. 1879)

A guide to the East India Company ships’ journals and related records (IOR/L/MAR/A and B series files) and miscellaneous East India Company and India Office marine records (IOR/L/MAR/C files) on the Qatar Digital Library.

Finding Aid: IOR/L/MAR Marine Department Records (1600-c. 1879)

Power and Prognostication in the Cairo Sultanate

Today’s leaders look to their medical, economic, military, and other expert advisers, but historically rulers have also consulted astrologers, dream-interpreters, and specialists in other forms of divination and occult sciences.

Power and Prognostication in the Cairo Sultanate

A Brief History of the English East India Company 1600–1858

From its origins as a small London enterprise, the East India Company (EIC) emerged as a powerful commercial and political organisation, whose presence in the Gulf helped shape the region’s modern history.

A Brief History of the English East India Company 1600–1858

Part 2 – Nautical Terminology in the IOR files: European Ships in the Age of Sail

Wherever European navies sailed, they introduced their own designs of ships and adapted those they saw being used locally. This is the second article in a series of three by the author, providing context and explanation for nautical terminology in the India Office Records.

Part 2 – Nautical Terminology in the IOR files: European Ships in the Age of Sail

Part 3 – Nautical Terminology in the IOR files: Non-European Ships in the Age of Sail

There are many different types of vessels used from the Red Sea to India. All of them have developed over the years to suit the local conditions. This is the third article in a series of three by the author, providing context and explanation for nautical terminology in the India Office Records.

Part 3 – Nautical Terminology in the IOR files: Non-European Ships in the Age of Sail

The Third Voyage of the English East India Company (1607-1610)

How and why were the early voyages of the East India Company made? What were the challenges and first encounters?

The Third Voyage of the English East India Company (1607-1610)

The “Bania” of the Gulf

Who were the Bania, and how are they depicted in the India Office Records?

The “Bania” of the Gulf

Finding Aid: IOR/G/29/2-14 Gombroon (Bandar ‘Abbas) Diaries and Consultations (1708-1763)

What do the Gombroon Diaries convey about eighteenth-century Persia [Iran] and the Gulf (1708-1763)?

Finding Aid: IOR/G/29/2-14 Gombroon (Bandar ‘Abbas) Diaries and Consultations (1708-1763)

Part 1 – Nautical Terminology in the IOR files: An introduction

Ships have always been important in the history of the Gulf, and therefore are prominent in the India Office Records and other documents on the QDL. This is the first article in a series of three by the author, providing context and explanation for nautical terminology in the records.

Part 1 – Nautical Terminology in the IOR files: An introduction