The first part of this story introduced a question made by some Portuguese sailors: what was the reason behind the name of the Red Sea? At the end, it was mentioned that Afonso de Albuquerque had provided King Manuel with an explanation, after passing through the strait of Aden. “The riddle was solved” – or so it seemed.
In 1541, it was João de Castro who joined another expedition, this time going all the way to the Gulf of Suez. Castro wrote a comment about the name of the Red Sea, refuting all the ideas that were mentioned previously: the water was not red; the storms did not seem to carry any red dust; and the sand was brownish, rather dark. This was not to say that the color red was entirely missing in this region. João de Castro continues to explain that it was only north of Sawakin (where Albuquerque’s expedition had not reached) that coral reefs started to appear: some were red, some were green and some were white. “Now, we should have in mind that the water of this sea, especially north of Sawakin, is the clearest that has ever been seen.” Whenever the coral or the algae around it were red, the red colour showed through the crystal-clear waters. Given that most reefs seemed to be red, Castro believes that it should be the reason why the sea gained the name red, instead of green or white.
Like Albuquerque, João de Castro also enquired Muslim pilots about the name of this sea. They were surprised by the question – Castro writes – for they themselves used the name Sea of Mecca, and none had ever seen or heard of red dust being brought by the wind. “Despite all this, I do not disapprove of the opinion of the Portuguese, but I do state that – having gone through this sea longer than they have gone, and knowing all of its length when they only knew a fragment – I have not seen in the whole of it what they claim to have seen in a little part.” [Inês Bénard]
No comments:
Post a Comment