> Strange in the current context that it's not in the Middle East but not strange when you look at the map and see that it's a straight shot for a trading ship

> Strange in the current context that it's not in the Middle East but not strange when you look at the map and see that it's a straight shot for a trading ship from the Middle East a thousand years ago. Funny enough, it wasn't a trading ship from the Middle East, but the then-Chinese empire: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2006222/chinese-admiral-who-spread-islam-across-southeast-asia https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2006222/chinese-admir... (no paywall link: https://archive.ph/f8622 https://archive.ph/f8622)