_ 127 _ are rich in archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic remains, but poor in written texts. The manuscripts of Southern Asia have been destroyed by the humidity of the tropical climate. They are known only through unreliable copies and in any case are more concerned with territorial conquests and court intrigues than with maritime activities. In the Middle East, particularly in Egypt and Arabia, the archives are better preserved there legal and fiscal documents, rutters, and genealogical lists of navigators have survived. Without the aid of any syntheses, one can only attempt to bind together these scattered pieces of Information with the aid of traveller’s accounts. Among these are Ibn Battuta of Tangier, who gives general view of the lands round the Indian Ocean in the 14th century, the Chinese scribes on the junks from Zheng-He who sailed the southern seas seven times in a period of thirty years (1403-1433) to levy tribute; Abdur-Razzaq, the Persian Ambassador to Vijayanagar (the Portuguese ‘Bisnaga’). The Russian traveller Afanasij Nikitin; and Italian traders and adventurers who succeeded in infiltrating the caravans, often at the cost of conversion to Islam Nicolo de’ Conti, Girolamo da Santo Stefano (who left India at the same time as Vasco da Gama landed there) and Ludovico di
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