An Arab pilot guided da Gama’s fleet to Calicut.

Evidence

After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and calling at various Arab-Swahili ports along the east coast of Africa, da Gama reached Malmdi, where he received the help of Ahmad-Ibn-Madjid, the most famous Arab pilot of his age, and one who knew the Indian Ocean better than any other man living. Thanks to his guidance, the Portuguese were enabled to reach Calicut, the major emporium of the pepper trade… . Not unnaturally, Ibn Madjid’s memory is still execrated by the majority of his fellow countrymen and co-religionists; and he himself bitterly bewailed in his old age what he had done. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1821

Categorization

• CANDY: The fact that the ‘great Portuguese discoverer’ reached India only with Arab navigational help, and that the pilot was reviled for it, is a delightful dinner-party fact.