Two centuries on, experts unlock secrets of Red Sea and Gulf of Aden sailing chart

Experts have unlocked secrets hidden for two hundred years in a beautiful navigational chart made for 18th century seafarers negotiating the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The paper scroll is evidence seafaring communities in the region used their own effective system of navigation that enabled trade and exchange between India, Arabia and the Horn of Africa in the age of sail, before the uptake of a more abstract, instrument-based navigation.