抄録
In the course of the tenth century, with the gradual dissolution of the 'Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad and the rise of the Fatimid caliphs of Egypt, the main trade route in the Indian Ocean shifted from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.
It is therefore probable that 'Aydhab, Jidda and 'Adan had by then supplanted Suhar, Basra and Siraf as the important ports for sailing to India and China.
From the end of the eleventh through the twelve centuries, Kish (Qais) became the trade centre of the Persian Gulf after the decline of Siraf. Thus it is not surprising that in A. D. 1135, the son of al-'Amid, the ruler of Kish tried to attack and conquer 'Adan the great terminus at which ships from Egypt, East Africa and India discharged their loads.
When the expedition of the king of Kish remained in the port of 'Adan watching the incoming ships, two merchant ships belonging to one Ramasht the great shipowner (na-khuda), entered the port and he immediately manned Yemenite troops for the sake of repulsing the enemy.
It seems to have been of decisive importance in the history of the mediaeval Indian trade that the na-khuda called Ramasht had side with 'Adan against Kish.
The author traces in some of the following sources Ramasht's wide commercial activities and his high social position in the first-quarter of the twelfth century. They are:
1) “Epitome Parisiensis” (Arabe MS. 2214, Paris) of Ibn Hawgal, 2) Two Geniza records (University Library, Cambridge, MS. 20. 137 and Taylor Schechter Collection MS. 18J5, fol. 5), 3) Ibn Jubayr, Rihla, 4) al-Fasi al-Makki, Shafa' al-gharam bi-akhbar al-balad al-haram, 5) al-Nahrawali, Kitab al-i'lam bi-a'lam bayt Allah al-haram.
