Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Why didn't Arabs discover America?

Arabs were excellent sailors, making regular voyages around the Indian Ocean. They ruled in western north Africa, a closer starting point than Columbus. Was it purely lack of necessity? Europe needed an unobstructed route to the orient; the Arabs already controlled the land route.

4 Answers

Relevance
  • Mr. G
    Lv 7
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Because they didn't need to. The Arabs were located around major trade networks. The reason why Columbus sailed around the Atlantic was due to the Ottoman asking European ships for a tariff. European ships had to go through Ottoman waters to have access to the spice and silk coming from the Orient. The Europeans wanted to avoid the taxes, so they sailed around.

    Arabs, on the other hand, could easily have access to the Spice road and were near enough the Orient to go there directly. Why go through the trouble of sailing on the Atlantic for 6 months to reach India when you can reach India in less then a month?

  • Athena
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    Actually, no they were not. They stayed close to the shores and did not do much deep water sailing. Also, by they time Islam took over all "advancements" were demoted to conquest and conversion. Stellar navigation, using Greek Charts still served them well, but as you sail south you loos all the bright stars you use for navigation.

    The "Arab" solution was not to sail south.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    8 years ago

    Not having the Progressive renaissance advantages of Nautical Fleets or the certainty that the Earth is a sphere, the shared European renaissance knowledge/s, communications, or technological advances of engineering and mathematics, astronomy, means and motivation lacked.

    the Arabian world dominated by Religious Sects, of the Farthest East.

  • 8 years ago

    Because the Native Americans discovered it, actually.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.