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Iranians, the Pioneers of Navigation in the Persian Gulf
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By: Hossein Nourbakhsh
Abstract: According to the writings of the ancient Greek, including Herodotus, and to the allusions made in the Aristotle's book on politics, ancient Iranians were the first great navigators of the world. They not only discovered and marked the sea routes from estuary of Sind river up to the Persian Gulf, but, as is testified by the Greeks' writings, the first person who embarked on an exploratory voyage round Africa, was an Iranian navigator by the name of Sataspes. In this article, reference is made to the existing documents and evidence regarding pioneering role of Iranians in navigation and to the rejection of Westerners' role according to which this enterprise is attributed to Alexander.
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