36 years of documentation .. The ruler of Sharjah reveals secrets "Portuguese in the Sea of Oman"
Muscat, April 24 / WAM / His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, in a television interview broadcast on Sharjah channel, reviewed the details of his huge intellectual project “Portuguese in the Sea of Oman”, which extends to 21 volumes through which he documents events between 1497 AD to 1757 AD based on historical documents collected and translated over 36 years.
His Highness, during the dialogue conducted by Mohamed Hassan Khalaf, Director General of the Sharjah Radio and Television Authority, narrated the beginnings of the project since he obtained a doctorate in 1985 and his visit to the India Library in Britain, then his transfer to Mumbai after the advice of an old Indian researcher, where he found rare copies of British documents; He also talked about his cooperation with the British and Portuguese libraries, and his auxiliary to the researcher “Fiona Wilki”, who played a pivotal role in collecting Portuguese documents, before her sudden death after handing over the last files.
His Highness explained that the project included work teams that include translators, researchers and experts in the old Portuguese documents, and resulted in more than 1138 documents reserved digitally in both Arabic and English, which will be distributed free of charge to researchers at the Muscat International Book Fair, stressing that the project is not limited to the Sea of Oman, but can extend to more than 200 volumes documenting the history of India and East Africa.
His Highness also dealt with the political and economic backgrounds that prompted the Portuguese to the region, including the conflict with the British, the fall of Constantinople, and the need for Europe to trade with the East; He explained how the Silk Road and the Sind River played a role in drawing a map of navigation and commercial exchange, and how European forces sought to control these roads.
His Highness concluded his speech by referring to his direct supervision in directing his books and publications, revealing that he reads the version 5 times, during which he re -formulation, modification and addition, and focusing on the number of paragraphs, lines and words, taking into account the reading tools, punctuation and the sequence of ideas to ensure their consolidation in the reader’s mind and smoothness to receive information, and stressed in this regard on the scientific honesty in conveying the truth as it is to serve the researchers. And history.
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