Where does the phrase "behind the wind" come from?

Upvote:5

I can't answer when the term was first used but I can take a guess on why it was called that.

Arab sailors sailing the spice routes would have been dependent on the winds. Crossing the Indian Ocean, they would have experienced the prevailing winds, known as trade winds, blowing from the North East. So from the point of view of these Arab sailors, "the world east of the Bay of Bengal" would have been "behind the wind".

Steve Bird 18832

📝 How was beer production affected by the war during WW2?
📝 In medieval times, were captured nobles always ransomed?
📝 Why did the Germans build battle cruisers with a different profile than the British?
📝 Were death camps originally intended as death camps and if not, what changed?
📝 What was the death toll of Plague of Justinian?
📝 How young were children left alive in Auschwitz?
📝 What are the occurences of total war in the Native Americans?
📝 What was the first major technological advancement that occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire?
📝 What are the origins of the Shinto religion?
📝 Did USS Buck (DD-761) send the message “Temper, Temper”?
📝 Early instances of bacteriological warfare
📝 Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
📝 What did the Japanese believe about the USA capability of making/using additional atomic bombs?
📝 Was Senegal involved in the 1918 Russian Revolution?
📝 Why did navies abandon armour?
📝 What did "opening day" mean in the 18th century?
📝 What was the process of early medieval urban development?
📝 What was the mortality rate of gladiators?
📝 How was early Indian history re-constructed?
📝 What prompted Cuba to fight against South African Imperialism?
📝 Historiography of the black death
📝 How do functionalists explain the fact that Holocaust continued until the very end of the war?
📝 How were native laborers on California ranchos treated?
📝 How would a Spartan have held his shield?
📝 Why are there no dogs pictured in paleolithic cave paintings?
📝 Did emperor Nero later regret his treatment of early Christians?
📝 Was the American Civil War the “bloodiest civil war in history”?
📝 Is Attila The Hun's Throne actually located in The Veneto?
📝 Did the Germans have a team equivalent to the one from Bletchey Park in the UK during WWII?
📝 What publication claimed that Michael Jackson died in a nuclear holocaust?

Source: stackoverflow.com

Travel Tips

Where does the phrase "behind the wind" come from?

More post

Search Posts

Related post