|
Geography
 The
rapid expansion of territory under Muslim rule fell in line
with Qur’anic recommendations to encourage travel in search
of knowledge and other benefits.
For
example, one passage reads: “Have they not traveled in the
land, and have they hearts wherewith to feel and ears
wherewith to hear?” (Qur’an 22:46). Another passage states:
“And of His signs is this: He sends herald winds to make you
taste His mercy, and that the ships may sail at His command,
and that you may seek His favor, and that you may be
thankful” (Qur’an 30:46).
By the
8th century CE, Muslim lands stretched from the Atlantic
Ocean to the borders of China, and from the Mediterranean to
the Indian Ocean. These lands included a variety of peoples,
landscapes, climates, and customs. Among the earliest forms
of scholarship were the accounts of travelers and diplomats
describing the places where they traveled. A great
collection of ideas and knowledge was the result. Among
these travelers -- which included scientists in mathematics,
astronomy, and other fields -- were those who compiled
geographic works full of information about other places,
people, and technologies.
Muslim
geographers began their work on the basis of Greek and Roman
traditions of geographic writing, especially Ptolemy’s
Geographia. They
soon overtook the limited knowledge of their predecessors,
however, both because of the huge Muslim territory and
expanding trade networks, and because of technical advances
in mathematics and astronomy that allowed more accurate
surveying on land and at sea. The earliest geographic works
by Muslims are from the 9th and 10th centuries, and the work
continued on into Ottoman times in the 16th century and
beyond.
 Among
the earliest Muslim geographers were al-Khwarizmi, the
mathematician, who participated in a project to draw a map
of the known earth in the early 9th century CE. Al-Kindi,
the philosopher, wrote an account of the inhabited parts of
earth as known then. Some of the greatest
traveler-geographers were Ibn Hawqal, who traveled for over
30 years and wrote about the places and people he saw, and
the famous al-Mas’udi. He traveled, quoted geographic works
that have disappeared, and wrote his own encyclopedia of
geography and history called
Meadows of Gold and Mines
of Precious Stones in 956 CE. The Palestinian al-Maqdisi
described the different climate zones, languages, towns,
traded commodities, soils, and topography during the mid-10
century.
Many of
these writers noted that the earth was round. Caliph al-Ma’mun
sent a team headed by al-Faraghani to measure a degree of
longitude in order to check the Greeks’ calculations and
measure the circumference of the earth. Al-Biruni (972-1050
CE) wrote
The Book of
India, in which he described the sciences of
Indian civilization, the topography of the sub-continent,
and even made many geological observations, such as noticing
that an ancient sea must have covered the Indus Valley at
one time. He studied the seas, and believed there was a
passageway through the southern oceans, and related the
tides to the phases of the moon. Al-Biruni was a
mathematical geographer who accurately plotted the Indian
coastline by calculating the longitude and latitude
coordinates of cities and ports.
The
works of these geographers were available in important
libraries of Muslim lands, including Spain. Though many have
been lost, some of these works have been translated into
European languages, and edited in printed Arabic editions
for modern scholars. As proof that this geographic knowledge
was available in Al-Andalus, the library at Seville still
houses an atlas with Christopher Columbus’ handwritten notes
in the margins, called
Imago Mundi.
 Among
his notations was one that cited al-Faraghani’s calculation
of a degree of longitude (56 miles @ 1 Arabic mile = 4000
“black” cubits). Measured by today’s understanding of a
mile, the correct distance is 69 miles, but al-Faraghani was
using a different standard for the cubit. His measurement
was only off 2 miles, but Columbus understood it as the
standard used in his time and place. Modern historians have
sorted this misunderstanding out, but Columbus’ error at the
time was one of the most famous mistakes in history.
Andalusian geographers studied the works
brought to Córdoba and other Andalusian libraries from
Baghdad. Working in the same tradition close to home, Ahmad
ibn Muhammad al-Razi (d. 955 CE) produced a geography and
history of Al-Andalus, and Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Warraq
(904-973 CE) wrote a description of the topography of North
Africa.
Another
notable Andalusian geographer was Abu 'Ubayd al-Bakri
(1014-1094 CE) of Seville, who wrote the
Book of Highways and of
Kingdoms, and is well known for his early
descriptions of West Africa. He wrote a geography of the
Arabian Peninsula, listing villages, towns and places of
interest to Muslim travelers. He created an encyclopedia of
the world, including its known countries, their people,
customs, history, and climate and listing their cities and
landmarks, and relied on several earlier sources, including
al-Tariqi (d. 973 CE) and al-Warraq.
The
Andalusi Jewish merchant Ibrahim bin Ya’qub traveled to
Germany and the Slavic countries during the time of Otto the
Great and wrote about those places. The Granadan Abu Bakr
al-Zuhri wrote the
Book
of Geography (jughrafiyah
in Arabic) in which he relied on work done earlier at
Baghdad. Another Granadan, al-Mazini (1080-1169 CE),
traveled extensively in the eastern Muslim lands and wrote
several important works, one of which is in the library at
Madrid’s Historical Academy.
 Travelers making the
Hajj pilgrimage wrote some famous geographic
works, including Ibn Jubayr (1145-1217 CE), who visited the
Holy Land during the Crusades, and also wrote about Sicily
after the Norman invasions, and visited Damascus, Cairo, and
Baghdad. His work was used by many other Muslim writers, and
exists in English today. Ibn Battuta (born 1304 CE) was a
Moroccan, but he dictated the story of his decades-long,
world-spanning travels to a writer while staying at the
court of Granada. Ibn Battuta traveled for 28 years and
related information about people, places, sea and caravan
routes, cities, roads, and caravanserais. Ibn Sa’id
al-Maghribi wrote a geographic work whose information ranged
from West Africa to Mongolia, and included latitude and
longitude coordinates that allow scholars to create maps
from his work.
The
most famous geographer of Al-Andalus was al-Idrisi, who
studied at Córdoba. He traveled far and wide, and collected
information for Roger II, Norman king of Sicily, who
supported publication of a set of maps and information
called the
Book of Roger.
The information contained in the
Book of Roger
was also engraved on a silver planisphere, a disc-shaped map
that was one of the wonders of the age. Although al-Idrisi
is famous for the round map of the world shown at right, he
made over 70 maps that charted territories never before put
onto a map. The lands around the Mediterranean are so
accurately shaped that parts of them can be compared with
satellite images. The al-Idrisi rectangular map at the
beginning of this article is an example.
Further Reading:
Paul
Lunde. “Al-Faraghani and the Short Degree.”
The Middle East and the Age
of Discovery Aramco World Magazine Exhibition Issue,
43:3. pp. 15-17.
Susan
L. Douglass. “The Travels of Ibn Jubayr.”
Beyond A Thousand and One
Nights: A Sampler of Literature from Muslim Civilization.
Council on Islamic Education, 2000. pp. 170-176.
Nafis
Ahmad.
Muslim
Contribution to Geography. Adam Publishers,
1945/1982.
Salah
Zaimeche. “A Review of Muslim Geography.” Foundation for
Science Technology and Civilization. Retrieved at
www.muslimheritage.com.
Images:
Al-Idrisi's world map, rectangular, 1192 CE (oriented with
South at the top) from the
Oxford Pococke Manuscript, Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS.
Pococke 375, fols. 3c-4r) retrieved at
http://www.encyclopedia.mu/Nature/Geography/Maps/Arabic.htm
and with text at
http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/EMwebpages/219mono.html
where the round al-Idrisi world map is also found. Note that
the rectangular map has been inverted from its actual
orientation to show North at the top.
Image
from an Arabic illustrated edition of al-Biruni’s geographic
writings, which includes an expert lesson on how to analyze
a travel account, Center for History and New Media at George
Mason University, retrieved at
http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/travelq1.html
Back | Next
Back to
Top |
