A dhow (Arabic,ﻭﺍﺩ) is a traditional Arab sailing vessel with one or more

lateen sails. They are primarily used along the coasts of the Arabian

Peninsula, Pakistan, India, and East Africa. Larger dhows have crews of

approximately thirty, while smaller dhows typically have crews of around

twelve.

Even to the present day Dhows make commercial journeys between the

Persian Gulf and East Africa using sails as their only means of propulsion.

Their cargo is mostly dates and fish to East Africa and mangrove timber to

the lands in the Persian Gulf. Often they sail south with the monsoon in

winter or early spring and back again to Arabia in late spring or early

summer.

The term "dhow" is also applied to small, traditionally-constructed vessels

used for trade in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf area and the Indian

Ocean from Madagascar to the Gulf of Bengal. Such vessels typically

weigh 300 to 500 tons, and have a long, thin hull design.

Also, it is a family of early Arab ships that used the lateen sail on which

the Portuguese likely based their designs for the caravel known to Arabs

as sambuk, booms, baggalas, ghanjas, and zaruqs.