page_title: Dhow
section_title: Types
hierarchical_section_title: Dhow / Types
caption_attribution_description: English: A Jalibut in the Persian Gulf
context_page_description: Dhow is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Historians are divided as to whether the dhow was invented by Arabs or Indians. Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels primarily used to carry heavy items, such as fruit, fresh water, or other heavy merchandise, along the coasts of Eastern Arabia, East Africa, Yemen and coastal South Asia. Larger dhows have crews of approximately thirty, smaller ones typically around twelve.
context_section_description: Baghlah (بغلة‎) – from the Arabic language word for "mule". A heavy ship, the traditional deep-sea dhow.
  Baqarah or baggarah (بقارة‎) – from the Arabic word for "cow". Old type of small dhow similar to the Battil.
  Barijah – small dhow.
  Battil (بتيل‎) – featured long stems topped by large, club-shaped stem heads.
  Badan – a smaller vessel requiring a shallow draft.
  Boum (بوم‎) or dhangi – a large-sized dhow with a stern that is tapering in shape and a more symmetrical overall structure. The Arab boum has a very high prow, which is trimmed in the Indian version.
  Ghanjah (غنجة‎) or kotiya – a large vessel, similar to the Baghlah, with a curved stem and a sloping, ornately carved transom.
  Jahazi or jihazi (جهازي‎).  A fishing or trading dhow with a broad hull similar to the Jalibut, common in Lamu Island and the coast of Oman. It is also used in Bahrain for the pearl industry. The word comes from jahāz (جهاز‎), a Persian word for "ship".
  Jalibut or jelbut (جالبوت‎).  A small to medium-sized dhow. It is the modern version of the shu'ai with a shorter prow stem piece. Most jalibuts are fitted with engines.
  Pattamar, a type of Indian dhow.
  Sambuk or sambuq (صنبوق‎) – the largest type of dhow seen in the Persian Gulf today. It has a characteristic keel design, with a sharp curve right below the top of the prow. It has been one of the most successful dhows in history. The word is cognate with the Greek σαμβύκη sambúkē, ultimately from Middle Persian sambūk. 
  Shu'ai (شوعي‎).  Medium-sized dhow. Formerly the most common dhow in the Persian Gulf used for fishing as well as for coastal trade.
  Zaruq – small dhow, slightly larger than a barijah
  The term "dhow" is sometimes also applied to certain smaller lateen-sail rigged boats traditionally used in the Red Sea, the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf area, as well as in the Indian Ocean from Madagascar to the Bay of Bengal.  These include the feluccas used in Egypt, Sudan and Iraq, and the Dhoni used in the Maldives, as well as the tranki, ghrab and ghalafah. All these vessels have common elements with the dhow. On the Swahili Coast, in countries such as Kenya, the Swahili word used for dhow is "jahazi".
caption: A Jalibut in the Persian Gulf
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