I am curious about the history of the Bab-el-Mandeb. The Wikipedia mentions an Arab legend about an earthquake and, from the Italian version of the Wikipedia page, I’ve been able to determine that the legend is written in Yaqut al-Hamawi’s Dictionary of Countries.
Unfortunately, there is no English translation, so I was hoping that someone would be willing to find and translate the entry? The Dictionary of Countries link, above, has links to the full text.
Sorry, but on page 24 of the subject index in vol. 6 of that edition of Yaqut referenced in your linked wiki article, where I would expect to find the alphabetical listing for ﺑﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺪﺏ (Bab al-Mandab), I do not see it. The index appears to proceed directly from Bab al-Maratib to Bab al-N-something (can’t identify it in transliteration), and in the Arabic alphabetical hija`i order that it uses, Bab al-Mandab ought to be between them.
Hm…thanks, I’ll try to ascertain if it used to go by a different term.
Some alternate terms it might come in under:
باب إسكندر
مضيق إسكندر
جزيرة ميون
جزيرة بريم
From here:
Indeed, the index goes directly to Bab An-natifidhiine.
The other terms, they are the Straight of Alexander (moudaiq Iskander) and the synonym, the Gate of Alexander (bab iskander). The other two are the names of the island (meoun or berime) called Perim in the English.
I do not notice an entry for a bab iskander in your target.
Nor the other three?
I did not look, but now I did.
No
Although that document is a bit of a pain in the neck to read online.
There is no good reason why it would be listed under the names of the island - I do not know if those are in fact names that would be attached to that era in any case.