earth science

Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad

Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad rather than just read about it. In short: Khashkhash ibn Saeed ibn Aswad (Arabic: خَشْخَاش ٱبْن سَعِيد ٱبْن أَسْوَد, Khaškhāš ibn Saʿīd ibn ʾAswad; born in Pechina, Andalusia) was an Andalusian navigator. According to Abbasid historian Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Mas'udi (871-957), Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad sailed over the Atlantic Ocean and discovered a previously unknown land (Arḍ Majhūlah, أرض مجهولة).

Key takeaways

Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Khashkhash ibn Saeed ibn Aswad (Arabic: خَشْخَاش ٱبْن سَعِيد ٱبْن أَسْوَد, Khaškhāš ibn Saʿīd ibn ʾAswad; born in Pechina, Andalusia) was an Andalusian navigator. According to Abbasid historian Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Mas'udi (871-957), Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad sailed over the Atlantic Ocean and discovered a previously unknown land (Arḍ Majhūlah, أرض مجهولة). In his book The Meadows of Gold, al-Mas'udi writes that Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad, from Delba (Palos de la Frontera) sailed into the Atlantic Ocean in 889 and returned with a shipload of valuable treasures.

Ali al-Masudi, in his historical account The Meadows of Gold (947 CE), wrote:

In the ocean of fogs (the Atlantic) there are many curiosities which we have mentioned in detail in our Akhbar az-Zaman (News of our Era), on the basis of what we saw there, adventurers who penetrated it on the risk of their life, some returning safely, others perishing in the attempt. Thus a certain inhabitant of Cordoba, Khashkhash by name, assembled a group of young men, his co-citizens, and went on a voyage on this ocean. After a long time he returned with booty. Every Spaniard knows this story. The same passage, in Aloys Sprenger's 1841 English translation, is interpreted by some authors to imply that Ali al-Masudi regarded the story of Khoshkhash to be a fanciful tale:

Some people consider this sea as the origin of all others. There are some wonderful stories related respecting it, for which we refer the reader to our book the Akhbár ez-zemán; there he will find an account of those crews who have risked their lives in navigating this sea, and who of them have escaped, and who have been shipwrecked, also what they have encountered and seen. Such an adventurer was a Moor of Spain, of the name of Khoshkhash. He was a young man of Cordoba: having assembled some young men they went on board a vessel which they had ready on the ocean, and nobody knew for a long time what had become of them. At length they came back loaded with rich booty. Their history is well known among the people of al-Andalus.

See also Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

References

Bibliography Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masu'di (Masoudi) (ca. 895?-957 CE), The Book of Golden Meadows, c. 940 CE

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad

In research: Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 10th-century explorers, 10th-century geographers, 10th-century writers from al-Andalus, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad in simple terms?

Why does Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad.