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Muhammad al-Idrisi

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Muhammad al-Idrisi
Statue of al-Idrisi inCeuta
Born1100(1100)
Ceuta,Almoravid dynasty(present-day Spain)
Died1165 (aged 64–65)
Ceuta,Almohad Caliphate(present-day Spain)
Known forTabula Rogeriana
Scientific career
FieldsGeographer,cartographer

Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti,or simplyal-Idrisi/ælɪˈdriːsiː/(Arabic:أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي القرطبي الحسني السبتي;Latin:Dreses;1100–1165), was a Muslim geographer andcartographerwho served in the court of KingRoger IIatPalermo,Sicily.Muhammad al-Idrisi was born inCeuta,then belonging to theAlmoravid dynasty.He created theTabula Rogeriana,one of the most advancedmedieval world maps.

Reproduction of al-Idrisi's planisphere (as a globe) by the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization (UAE).

Early life

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Al-Idrisi hailed from theHammudid dynastyofNorth AfricaandAl-Andalus,which was descended fromMuhammadthrough the powerfulIdrisid dynasty.[1][2]Al-Idrisi was believed to be born the city ofCeutain 1100, at the time controlled by theAlmoravids,where his great-grandfather had been forced to settle after the fall ofHammudidMálagato theZiridsofGranada.[3]He spent much of his early life travelling through North Africa and Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain and Portugal of the times) and seems to have acquired detailed information on both regions. He visitedAnatoliawhen he was barely 16. He studied in the university inCórdoba.[1] His travels took him to many parts of Europe includingPortugal,thePyrenees,the French Atlantic coast,Hungary,andJórvík(now known asYork).[citation needed]

HistorianYossef Rapoportdoubts the accounts of al-Idrisi's travels, saying "If al-Idrisi ever left Sicily, it was probably only for trips to Muslim North Africa and Spain".[4]

Tabula Rogeriana

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Main article:Tabula Rogeriana
TheTabula Rogeriana,drawn by al-Idrisi forRoger II of Sicilyin 1154, one of the most advancedmedieval world maps.[5]Modern consolidation, created from al-Idrisi's 70 double-page spreads, shown upside-down as the original had South at the top.
Al-Idrisi's world map from 'Alî ibn Hasan al-Hûfî al-Qâsimî's 1456 copy. According to the French National Library, "Ten copies of the Kitab Rujar orTabula Rogerianaexist worldwide today. Of these ten, six contain at the start of the work a circular map of the world which is not mentioned in the text of al-Idris ". The original text dates to 1154. South is at the top of the map.

Because of conflict and instability inAl-Andalusal-Idrisi joined contemporaries such asAbu al-Saltin Sicily, where theNormanshad overthrown Arabs formerly loyal to theFatimids.

Al-Idrisi incorporated the knowledge of Africa, theIndian Oceanand theFar Eastgathered byIslamic merchantsand explorers and recorded on Islamic maps with the information brought by the Norman voyagers to create the most accurate map of the world in pre-modern times,[6]which served as a concrete illustration of hisKitab nuzhat al-mushtaq,(Latin:Opus Geographicum), which may be translatedA Diversion for the Man Longing to Travel to Far-Off Places.[7]

TheTabula Rogerianawas drawn by al-Idrisi in 1154 for theNormanKingRoger II of Sicily,after a stay of eighteen years at his court, where he worked on the commentaries and illustrations of the map. The map, with legends written in Arabic, while showing theEurasiancontinent in its entirety, only shows thenorthern partof the African continent and lacks details of theHorn of Africaand Southeast Asia.[8]

For Roger it was inscribed on a massive disc of solid silver, two metres in diameter.

On the geographical work of al-Idrisi,S.P. Scottwrote in 1904:

The compilation of al-Idrisi marks an era in thehistory of science.Not only is its historical information most interesting and valuable, but its descriptions of many parts of the earth are still authoritative. For three centuries geographers copied his maps without alteration. The relative position of the lakes which form the Nile, as delineated in his work, does not differ greatly from that established byBakerandStanleymore than seven hundred years afterwards, and their number is the same. The mechanical genius of the author was not inferior to his erudition. The celestial and terrestrialplanisphereof silver which he constructed for his royal patron was nearly six feet in diameter, and weighed four hundred and fifty pounds; upon the one side the zodiac and the constellations, upon the other-divided for convenience into segments-the bodies of land and water, with the respective situations of the various countries, were engraved.[6]

Al-Idrisi's work influenced a number of Islamic scholars includingIbn Sa'id al-Maghribi,Hafiz-i Abru,andIbn Khaldunbut his work was unknown in Western Europe and had little influence on the development ofRenaissance cartography.[9]

Description of islands in the North Sea

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Al-Idrisi in his famousTabula RogerianamentionedIrlandah-al-Kabirah(Great Ireland).[10]According to him, "from the extremity ofIcelandto that of Great Ireland, "the sailing time was" one day. "Although historians note that both al-Idrisi and theNorsetend to understate distances, the only location this reference is thought to have possibly pointed to, must likely have been inGreenland.[11]

Description of Chinese trade

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Al-Idrisi mentioned that Chinesejunkscarried leather, swords, iron and silk. He mentions the glassware of the city ofHangzhouand labelsQuanzhou's silk as the best. In his records of Chinese trade, al-Idrisi also wrote about theSilla Dynasty(one of Korea's historical Dynasties, and a major trade partner to China at the time), and was one of the first Arabs to do so. Al-Idrisi's References to Silla led other Arab merchants to seek Silla and its trade, and contribute to many Arab's perception of Silla as the ideal East-Asian country.

Nuzhat al-Mushtaq

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As well as the maps, al-Idrisi produced a compendium of geographical information with the titleKitab nuzhat al-mushtaq fi'khtiraq al-'afaq.The title has been translated asThe book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands[12]orThe pleasure of him who longs to cross the horizons.[13]It has been preserved in nine manuscripts, seven of which contain maps.[14]

The translated title of this work (in the "pleasure of him..." form) attracted favourable comment from the team selecting lists of names for features expected to be discovered by the New Horizons probe reconnoitring thePlutosystem. TheAl-Idrisi Montesis a geographical feature in that system named after him.[15]

In the introduction, al-Idrisi mentions two sources forgeographical coordinates:Claudius Ptolemyand "an astronomer" that must beIshaq ibn al-Hasan al-Zayyat;and states that he has cross-checked oral reports from different informers to see if geographical coordinates were consistent.[14]

Publication and translation

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An abridged version of the Arabic text was published in Rome in 1592 with title:De geographia universali or Kitāb Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī dhikr al-amṣār wa-al-aqṭār wa-al-buldān wa-al-juzur wa-al-madā' in wa-al-āfāqwhich in English would beRecreation of the desirer in the account of cities, regions, countries, islands, towns, and distant lands.[16][17]This was one of the first Arabic books ever printed.[13]The first translation from the original Arabic was into Latin. TheMaronitesGabriel Sionita and Joannes Hesronita translated an abridged version of the text which was published in Paris in 1619 with the title ofGeographia nubiensis.[18]Not until the middle of the 19th century was a complete translation of the Arabic text published. This was a translation into French byPierre Amédée Jaubert.[19]More recently sections of the text have been translated for particular regions. Beginning in 1970 a critical edition of the complete Arabic text was published.[20]

Andalusian-American contact

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Al-Idrisi's geographical text,Nuzhat al-Mushtaq,is often cited by proponents ofpre-Columbian Andalusian-Americas contact theories.In this text, al-Idrisi wrote the following on the Atlantic Ocean:

The Commander of the Muslims Ali ibn Yusuf ibn Tashfin sent his admiral Ahmad ibn Umar, better known under the name of Raqsh al-Auzz to attack a certain island in the Atlantic, but he died before doing that. [...] Beyond this ocean of fogs it is not known what exists there. Nobody has the sure knowledge of it, because it is very difficult to traverse it. Its atmosphere is foggy, its waves are very strong, its dangers are perilous, its beasts are terrible, and its winds are full of tempests. There are many islands, some of which are inhabited, others are submerged. No navigator traverses them but bypasses them remaining near their coast. [...] And it was from the town of Lisbon that the adventurers set out known under the name of Mughamarin [Adventurers], penetrated the ocean of fogs and wanted to know what it contained and where it ended. [...] After sailing for twelve more days they perceived an island that seemed to be inhabited, and there were cultivated fields. They sailed that way to see what it contained. But soonbarquesencircled them and made them prisoners, and transported them to a miserable hamlet situated on the coast. There they landed. The navigators saw there people with red skin; there was not much hair on their body, the hair of their head was straight, and they were of high stature. Their women were of an extraordinary beauty.[21]

This translation by ProfessorMuhammad Hamidullahis however questionable, since it reports, after having reached an area of "sticky and stinking waters", theMugharrarin(also translated as "the adventurers" ) moved back and first reached an uninhabited island where they found "a huge quantity of sheep the meat of which was bitter and uneatable" and, then, "continued southward" and reached the above reported island where they were soon surrounded by barques and brought to "a village whose inhabitants were often fair-haired with long and flaxen hair and the women of a rare beauty". Among the villagers, one spoke Arabic and asked them where they came from. Then the king of the village ordered them to bring them back to the continent where they were surprised to be welcomed by Berbers.[22][verification needed]

Apart from the marvellous and fanciful reports of this history, the most probable interpretation[citation needed]is that theMugharrarinreached theSargasso Sea,a part of the ocean covered byseaweed,which is very close toBermudayet one thousand miles away from the American mainland. Then while coming back, they may have landed either on theAzores,or onMadeiraor even on the westernmostCanary Island,El Hierro(because of the sheep). Last, the story with the inhabited island might have occurred either onTenerifeor onGran Canaria,where theMugharrarinpresumably met members of theGuanchetribe. This would explain why some of them could speak Arabic (some sporadic contacts had been maintained between the Canary Islands and Morocco) and why they were quickly deported to Morocco where they were welcomed by Berbers. Yet, the story reported by Idrisi is an indisputable account of a certain knowledge of the Atlantic Ocean by Andalusians and Moroccans.

Furthermore, al-Idrisi writes an account of eightMugharrarinall from the same family who set sail fromLisbon(Lashbuna) in the first half of that century and navigated in the seaweed rich seas beyond the Azores.[23]

Idrisi describes an island of cormorants with which has been tentatively identified asCorvo, Azoresbut on weak grounds.[24]

Medical dictionary

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Among the lesser known works of al-Idrisi is a medical dictionary that he compiled in which he brings down a list ofsimpledrugsand plants and their curative effects, used byphysicians,apothecariesand merchants in his day.[25]The list is unique, as it includes the names of drugs in as many as 12 languages (among which areSpanish,Berber,Latin,GreekandSanskrit), including some sixtyHebrewterms transliterated into Arabic and which are thought to have been passed down to him byAndalusianJewish informants. At the end of the section on medicinal herbs which are described under each letter of the Alpha bet, he gives an index of their entries.[26]One of the books of herbal medicine frequently cited by al-Idrisi isMarwan ibn Ganah'sKitāb al-Talḫīṣ,[27]who in turn had been influenced by the Andalusian physicianIbn Juljul.[28]

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  • Al-Idrisi was the main character inTariq Ali's book entitledA Sultan in Palrmo.
  • Al-Idrisi is a major character inKarol Szymanowski's 1926 operaKing Roger.
  • Al-Idrisi is a supporting character inZeyn Joukhadar's novelThe Map of Salt and Stars[29]
  • In 2019, Factum Foundation created an interpretation of Al-Idrisi's world map, a silver disk 2m in diameter based on the maps contained in theBodleian Library's copy of theNuzhat al-Mushtaq.[1]
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See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^abcJerry Brotton,Daniel Crouch Rare Books and Adam Lowe."RE-CREATING THE LOST SILVER MAP OF AL-IDRISI – Entertainment for he who longs to travel the world"(PDF).factumfoundation.org.Retrieved29 January2024.
  2. ^Pierre Herman Leonard Eggermont (1 January 1975).Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan and the Siege of the Brahmin Town of Harmatelia.Peeters Publishers. pp. 7–.ISBN978-90-6186-037-2.
  3. ^Helaine Selin (16 April 2008).Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures.Springer. pp. 128–.ISBN978-1-4020-4559-2.
  4. ^Rapoport, Yossef (25 February 2020).Islamische Karten. Der andere Blick auf die Welt[Islamic maps: Another view of the world] (in German). Darmstadt:Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.pp. 96f.ISBN978-3-534-27205-1.OCLC1139491043.Falls al-Idrisi Sizilien jemals verlassen hat, dann wahrscheinlich nur für Reisen ins muslimische Nordafrika und Spanien[If al-Idrisi ever left Sicily, it was probably only for trips to Muslim North Africa and Spain]
  5. ^Joseph J. Kerski (2016).Interpreting Our World 100 Discoveries That Revolutionized Geography.Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 15.ISBN978-1-61069-920-4.
  6. ^abScott, S.P. (1904).History of the Moorish Empire in Europe (Vol. 3).Philadelphia: Lippincott. pp. 461–462.
  7. ^Title as given by John Dickie,Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and their Food(New York, 2008) p. 17.
  8. ^"The medieval mapmaker remembered for the wrong map".24 August 2023.
  9. ^Ahmad, 1992, pp. 170-173
  10. ^Dunn, 2009, p. 452.
  11. ^Ashe, 1971, p. 48.
  12. ^Ahmad 1992
  13. ^abLevtzion & Hopkins 2000,p. 104
  14. ^abDucène, Jean-Charles (2011). "Les coordonnées géographiques de la carte manuscrite d'al-Idrisi".Der Islam.86:271–285.
  15. ^Horizons, New."Team".Pluto Name Bank Proposal 2015-07-07.NASA.Retrieved5 August2015.
  16. ^Ahmad 1960,p. 158.
  17. ^Al-Idrisi 1592.
  18. ^Sionita & Hesronita 1619.
  19. ^Jaubert 1836–1840.
  20. ^Al-Idrisi 1970–1984.
  21. ^Mohammed Hamidullah (Winter 1968). "Muslim Discovery of America before Columbus",Journal of the Muslim Students' Association of the United States and Canada4(2): 7–9[1]Archived20 October 2013 at theWayback Machine
  22. ^Idrisi, Nuzhatul Mushtaq – "La première géographie de l'Occident", comments by Henri Bresc and Annliese Nef, Paris, 1999
  23. ^The journal: account of the first voyage and discovery of the Indies,p. 197, atGoogle Books
  24. ^Land to the West: St. Brendan's Voyage to America,p. 135, atGoogle Books
  25. ^Al-Idrîsî (1995);Fuat Sezgin& Eckhard Neubauer (eds.),Al-Idrisi, Compendium of the properties of diverse plants and various kinds of simple drugs: kitab al-Jami' li-sifat ashtat al-nabat wa-durub anwa' al-mufradat,Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University: Frankfurt am Main 1995
  26. ^Hamarneh (1973), p. 92
  27. ^Amar & Serri (2005), p. 193
  28. ^Bos & Käs (2016), p. 213 (note 146)
  29. ^Joinson, Suzanne (June 2018)."In a Novel, Mystical Maps and Intertwined Journeys in Syria".The New York Times.

Bibliography

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  • Ahmad, S. Maqbul, ed. (1960).India and the neighbouring territories in the "Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq fi'khtiraq al-'afaq" of al-Sharif al-Idrisi.Translated by Ahmad. Leiden: Brill.
  • Ahmad, S. Maqbul (1992)."Cartography of al-Sharīf al-Idrīsī"(PDF).InHarley, J.B.;Woodward, D.(eds.).The History of Cartography Vol. 2 Book 1: Cartography in the traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 156–174.ISBN978-0-226-31635-2.
  • Al-Idrisi (1592).De Geographia Universali: Kitāb Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī dhikr al-amṣār wa-al-aqṭār wa-al-buldān wa-al-juzur wa-al-madā' in wa-al-āfāq.Rome: Medici.
  • Al-Idrisi (1970–1984). Bombaci, A.; et al. (eds.).Opus geographicum: sive "Liber ad eorum delectationem qui terras peragrare studeant." (9 Fascicles)(in Arabic). Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale.A critical edition of the Arabic text.
  • Al-Idrîsî (1995),Kitâb al-Jâmi' li- sifât ashtât al-nabât wa-durûb anwâ' al-mufradât / Compendium of the Properties of Diverse Plants and Various Kinds of Simple Drugs,vols. I-III,Fuat Sezgin(ed).ISBN3-8298-0287-0(OCLC1096433042)
  • Amar, Z.;Serri, Yaron (2005). "Traces of Hebrew Language Traditions in al-Idrīsī's Medical Dictionary"שקיעים של מסורת לשון עברית במילון התרופות של אלאדריסי.Lĕšonénu: A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Language and Cognate Subjects(in Hebrew).67(2).Academy of the Hebrew Language:179–194.JSTOR24331467.
  • Bos, Gerrit[in German];Käs, Fabian (2016). "Arabic Pharmacognostic Literature and Its Jewish Antecedents: Marwān ibn Ǧanāḥ (Rabbi Jonah), Kitāb al-Talḫīṣ".Aleph.16(1). Indiana University Press: 145–229.doi:10.2979/aleph.16.1.145.JSTOR10.2979/aleph.16.1.145.S2CID171046217.
  • Ferrer-Gallardo, X. and Kramsch, O. T. (2016), Revisiting Al-Idrissi: The EU and the (Euro)Mediterranean Archipelago Frontier.Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie,107: 162–176. doi:10.1111/tesg.12177http://onlinelibrary.wiley /doi/10.1111/tesg.12177/abstract
  • Hamarneh, Sami Khalaf (1973).Origins of Pharmacy and Therapy in the Near East.Tokyo: The Naito Foundation.OCLC1104696.
  • Jaubert, P. Amédée(1836–1840).Géographie d'Édrisi traduite de l'arabe en français d'après deux manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du roi et accompagnée de notes (2 Vols).Paris: L'imprimerie Royale.Volume 1:Gallica/Internet Archive;Volume 2:Gallica/Internet Archive.Complete translation ofNuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāqinto French.
  • Levtzion, Nehemia;Hopkins, John F.P., eds. (2000).Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West Africa.New York, NY: Marcus Weiner Press. pp. 104–131.ISBN978-1-55876-241-1.First published in 1981. Section on the Maghrib and Sudan fromNuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq.
  • Sionita, Gabriel; Hesronita, Joannes (1619).Geographia nubiensis: id est accuratissima totius orbis in septem climata divisi descriptio, continens praesertim exactam vniuersae Asiae, & Africae, rerumq[ue] in ijs hactenus incognitarum explicationem.Paris: Hieronymi Blageart.
  • El Daly, Okasha (2016).Egyptology: The Missing Millennium Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings.Taylor & Francis.177

Further reading

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