Sinbad the Sailor

Sinbad the Sailor (/ˈsɪnbæd/; Arabic: سندباد البحري, romanized: Sindibādu l-Bahriyy or Sindbad) is a legendary mariner and the protagonist of a series of adventurous tales. He is said to have originated from Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate (8th and 9th centuries A.D.). Over the course of seven voyages across the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, Sinbad embarks on extraordinary adventures in magical realms, where he encounters mythical creatures and witnesses supernatural phenomena.

The Sinbad stories were a relatively late addition to the One Thousand and One Nights collection. They do not appear in the earliest 14th-century manuscripts and only emerge as a separate cycle in 18th- and 19th-century editions. These tales reflect the growing trend of Arab and Muslim sailors during the Abbasid era exploring new territories. The stories also capture the folk themes of the time, set against a backdrop of economic and social flourishing under the Abbasid Caliphate. During this period, Arab and Muslim traders sought new trade routes and partners, a theme mirrored in Sinbad’s exploits. Some later versions, like The Wonders of the Created World, reflect the experiences of 13th-century Arab sailors who navigated the Indian Ocean.

The Sinbad tales are set during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809). They were included in the first European translation of One Thousand and One Nights, by Antoine Galland, which was published as Les mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français. The English translation appeared in 1711 under the title The New Arabian Winter Nights Entertainments, and it went through many editions throughout the 18th century.

The earliest separate English publication of the Sinbad tales, found in the British Library, was an adaptation titled The Adventures of Houran Banow, etc. (circa 1770), which included the third and fourth voyages of Sinbad. An early American edition, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor and The Story of Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp, was published in Philadelphia in 1794. The stories were widely popular in the 19th century, with notable editions including a chapbook version by Thomas Tegg. Perhaps the most famous full translation appeared as tale 120 in Sir Richard Burton’s 1885 version of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, which remains a classic rendition of the Sinbad saga.