Islamic geography

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Islamic geography includes the advancement of geography, cartography and earth sciences under various Islamic civilizations. During the medieval ages, Islamic geography was driven by a number of factors: the Islamic golden age, parallel development of Islamic astronomy, translation of ancient texts (particularly Hellenistic ones) into Arabic, and increased travel due to commerce and Hajj (the Islamic pilgrimage).

After its beginning in the 8th century, Islamic geography was patronized by the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad. Various Islamic scholars contributed to its development, and the most notable include, al-Biruni, Abū Zayd al-Balkhī (founder of the 'Balkhī school'), Al-Khwārizmī and Avicenna. Muslim geography reached its apex with Muhammad al-Idrisi in the 12th century. Later developments took place under Turks (particularly under the Ottoman empire) and notable scholars include Mahmud al-Kashgari and Piri Reis.

Contents 1 Impetus 1.1 Islamic golden age 1.2 Islamic astronomy 1.3 Previous learning 1.4 Travels 2 History 3 Topics 3.1 Earth sciences 3.2 Bio-geography 3.3 Regional cartography 3.4 Human environment 4 Applications 4.1 Pollution and waste management 4.2 Exploration 5 Notable works 5.1 Book on the appearance of the Earth 5.2 Book of curiosities 5.3 Compendium of the languages of the Turks 5.4 Tabula Rogeriana 5.5 Kitab-ı Bahriye 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Impetus

[edit] Islamic golden age

See also: Islamic golden age

When the capital of the Muslim world moved to Baghdad in 750, the city became the center study and translation of scintific writings, attracting scholars of all sorts. Learned men enjoyed caliphal patronage, especially of Harun al-Rashid and Al-Mamun. This learning was undertaken by both Muslims and non-Muslims and by those who spoke Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Persian and Hebrew; although Arabic remained the lingua franca and Islam the dominant faith.^[1]

[edit] Islamic astronomy

See also: Islamic astronomy

Muslim Arabs, for various reasons, were interested in astronomy: Bedouin land caravans and sea merchants used them for navigation during the night, and the encouragement given by certain verses of the Qur'an. Interest in astronomy directly led to the belief that earth was a globe.^[2] Technologies used for the furtherance of astronomy had immediate applications in geography as well (e.g. the astrolabe used in astronomy was also used for land surveying).^[3]

[edit] Previous learning

See also: Hellenistic geography

Both the Greeks and Romans were known to have made maps, albeit very primitive. In the case of the Romans this was a natural outcome of the expansion of their empire. Many of these writings and works were studied and translated by Muslims.^[4]

[edit] Travels

See also: Hajj

Long distance travel created a need for mapping, and travelers often provided the information to achieve the task. While such travel during the medieval period was hazardous, Muslims nonetheless undertook long journeys. One motive for these was the Hajj or the Muslim pilgrimage. Annually, Muslims came to Mecca in Arabia from Africa, Islamic Spain, Persia and India. Another motive for travels was commerce. Muslims were involved in trade with Europeans, Indians and the Chinese, and Muslim merchants travelled long distances to conduct commercial activities.^[5]

[edit] History

Muslims translated many of the Hellenistic documents. The way in which earlier knowledge reached Muslim scholars is crucial. For example, since Muslims inherited Greek writings directly without the influence of the Latin west, T-O maps play no role in Islamic cartography though popular in the European counterpart. ^[6]

Some of important Greek writings include: the Almagest and the Geographia.

An important influence in the development of cartography was the patronage of the caliph al-Ma'mun, who reigned from 813 to 833. He commissioned several geographers to re-measure the distance on earth that corresponds to one degree of celestial meridian. Thus his patronage resulted in the refinement of the definition of the mile used by Arabs (mīl in Arabic) in comparison to the stadion used by Greeks. These efforts also enabled Muslims to calculate the circumference of the earth. Al-Mamun also commanded the production of a large map of the world, which has not survived.^[6]

In the early tenth century, Abū Zayd al-Balkhī, originally from Balkh, founded the "Balkhī school" of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad. The geographers of this school also wrote extensively of the peoples, products, and customs of areas in the Muslim world, with little interest in the non-Muslim realms.^[6]

Suhrāb, a late tenth century Muslim geographer, accompanied a book of geographical coordinates with instructions for making a rectangular world map, with equirectangular projection or cylindrical cylindrical equidistant projection.^[6]

In the 14th century, Ibn Baṭṭūṭah, a Moroccan, began his travels. He started as a pilgrim to Mecca, but continued his journeys for the next 30 years. Before returning home, he had visited most of the Muslim world, from southern Africa to eastern Asia. The universal use of Arabic and his status as judge trained in law gave him access to royal courts at most locations he visited.^[5]

[edit] Topics

[edit] Earth sciences

Muslim scientists made a number of contributions to geography and the Earth sciences in general. Alkindus was the first to introduce experimentation into the Earth sciences.^[7] Biruni is regarded as the father of geodesy for his important contributions to the field,^[8][9] along with his significant contributions to geography and geology.

Among his writings on geology, Biruni wrote the following on the geology of India:

"But if you see the soil of India with your own eyes and meditate on its nature, if you consider the rounded stones found in earth however deeply you dig, stones that are huge near the mountains and where the rivers have a violent current: stones that are of smaller size at a greater distance from the mountains and where the streams flow more slowly: stones that appear pulverised in the shape of sand where the streams begin to stagnate near their mouths and near the sea - if you consider all this you can scarcely help thinking that India was once a sea, which by degrees has been filled up by the alluvium of the streams."^[10]

John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson write in the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive:

"Important contributions to geodesy and geography were also made by al-Biruni. He introduced techniques to measure the earth and distances on it using triangulation. He found the radius of the earth to be 6339.6 km, a value not obtained in the West until the 16th century. His Masudic canon contains a table giving the coordinates of six hundred places, almost all of which he had direct knowledge."^[11]

Fielding H. Garrison wrote in the History of Medicine:

"The Saracens themselves were the originators not only of algebra, chemistry, and geology, but of many of the so-called improvements or refinements of civilization..."

George Sarton, the father of the history of science, wrote in the Introduction to the History of Science:

"We find in his (Jabir, Geber) writings remarkably sound views on methods of chemical research, a theory on the geologic formation of metals (the six metals differ essentially because of different proportions of sulphur and mercury in them)..."^[12]

In geology, Avicenna hypothesized on two causes of mountains in The Book of Healing.

[edit] Bio-geography

Many medieval Arabs had interests in the distribution and classification of plants and animals and evolution of life.

Islamic scholars attempted plant analysis. This was of particular interest to physicians who attempted to use herbs for treatment of illness. They classified plants by whether or not they possessed an erect stem, and then further by whether they produced fruits or flowers, root fibers, the types of leaves and bark. Geographers also distinguished plants by the nature of earth (sand, alkaline soil, shore of a body of salt water, in freshwater lakes, hard rock etc.) they grew in and determined their distribution on this basis. Islamic geographers also collected data on the seasonal distribution of plants (based on temperature and precipitation) and used this to classify ecological regions (such as tundra, forests, grasslands, deserts).^[13]

[edit] Regional cartography

Islamic regional cartography is usually categorized into three groups: that produced by the "Balkhī school", the type devised by al-Idrīsī, and the type that are uniquely foundin the Book of curiosities.^[14]

The maps by the Balkhī schools were defined by political, not longitudinal boundaries and covered only the Muslim world. In these maps the distances between various "stops" (cities or rivers) were equalized. The only shapes used in designs were verticals, horizontals, 90-degree angles, and arcs of circles; unnecessary geographical details was eliminated. This approach is similar to that used in subway maps, most notable used in the "London Underground Tube Map" in 1931 by Harry Beck.^[14]

Al-Idrīsī defined his maps differently. He considered the extent of the known world to be 160° in longitude, and divided the region into ten parts, each 16° wide. In terms of latitude, he portioned the known world into seven 'climes', determined by the length of the longest day. In his maps, many dominant geographical features can be found.^[14]

[edit] Human environment

An important topic of Islamic geography was the study of mankind. In general Arab scholars had divided different peoples in the climactic regions they inhabited. these regions were defined by topography, availability of water, natural vegetation, surface altitude and proximity to mountains and seas. Using this geographers estimated the habitable regions of earth.^[15]

Geographers also studied the impact of urban environment on human life, as opposed to living in the wilderness. It was thought that such environments block fresh air, and the removal of dust by wind (which then accumulated). It was also concluded that urban settlements were more prone to the spread of epidemics.^[15]

While most scholars simply described people inhabiting different regions, Al-Mas'ūdi correlates human characteristics with their environment. For example he argues that because the air in Egypt is stagnant the residents tend to have dark complexion. Similarly Ibn Rusta claimed that people of intermediate type of physique existed near the tropic of cancer where the climate is neither too cold nor too hot.^[15]

[edit] Applications

[edit] Pollution and waste management

The earliest known treatises dealing with environmentalism and environmental science, especially pollution, were Arabic treatises written by al-Kindi, al-Razi, Ibn Al-Jazzar, al-Tamimi, al-Masihi, Avicenna, Ali ibn Ridwan, Abd-el-latif, and Ibn al-Nafis. Their works covered a number of subjects related to pollution such as air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, municipal solid waste mishandling, and environmental impact assessments of certain localities.^[16] Cordoba, al-Andalus also had the first waste containers and waste disposal facilities for litter collection.^[17]

[edit] Exploration

The navigation skills learned by Muslim geographers were passed on to Arab and Persian navigators. This in turn led to long distance travel which brought back geographical knowledge of far off lands and islands. By the ninth century, navigation in the Indian Ocean had reached India, Sri Lanka, Malaya and Java in the east, and the east coast of Africa up to Madagascar in the west. Muslim navigators of the sam period also explored China, Japan, Korea, and according to some reports the Bering strait.^[18]

During the medieval times Muslims made many journeys to China via the sea. Two geographers, Sulaiman and Abu Zaid, led many journeys and brought back valuable information about China and the path they took to it. They wrote literature on climate of the coast of China warning navigators of storms. They also prepared a list of potential agricultural imports from China, including exotic herbs hitherto unknown to Muslims.^[19]

On land Muslims explored Central Asia and southeastern Europe. They tried to determine, unsuccessfully, the origins of the river Nile. In doing so, however, Arabs explored Sudan, the Sahara, reaching sub-Saharan regions such as Senegal and Nigeria.^[18]

[edit] Notable works

[edit] Book on the appearance of the Earth

Al-Khwārizmī's Kitāb ṣūrat al-Arḍ ("Book on the appearance of the Earth") was completed in 833. It is a revised and completed version of Ptolemy's Geography, consisting of a list of 2402 coordinates of cities and other geographical features following a general introduction.^[20]

[edit] Book of curiosities

Compiled between 1020 and 1050, the anonymous work contains a series of maps. It includes both regional and world maps, many of which are without parallel. The work deals with Islamic geography alongside cosmography and map-making. The book contained rectangular map with a carefully executed graphic scale.^[6] The work contains a highly accurate map of the Mediterranean, including the earliest known map of the island Cyprus.^[14]

[edit] Compendium of the languages of the Turks

Qarakhanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari compiled a "Compendium of the languages of the Turks" in the 11th century. The manuscript is illustrated with a "Turkocentric" world map, oriented with east (or rather, perhaps, the direction of midsummer sunrise) on top, centered on the ancient city of Balasagun in what is now Kyrgyzstan, showing the Caspian Sea to the north, and Iraq, Azerbaijan, Yemen and Egypt to the west, China and Japan to the east, Hindustan, Kashmir, Gog and Magog to the south. Conventional symbols are used throughout- blue lines for rivers, red lines for mountain ranges etc. The world is shown as encircled by the ocean.^[21] The map is now kept at the Pera Museum in Istanbul.

[edit] Tabula Rogeriana

Main article: Tabula Rogeriana

The Arab geographer Al-Idrisi Mappa Mundi 's incorporated the knowledge of Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Far East gathered by Arab merchants and explorers with the information inherited from the classical geographers to create one of the most accurate maps of the world to date.

The Tabula Rogeriana was drawn by Al-Idrisi in 1154 for the Norman King Roger 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, written in Arabic, shows the eurasian continent in its entirety, but only shows the northern part of the African continent.

[edit] Kitab-ı Bahriye

See also: Piri Reis Map

The Muslim Ottoman cartographer Piri Re'is navigational maps in his Kitab-ı Bahriye. The work includes an atlas of charts for small segments of the mediterranean, accompanied by sailing instructions covering the sea. In the second version of the work, he included a map of the Americas.^[22] The Piri Reis map drawn by the Ottoman cartographer Piri Reis in 1513, is the oldest surviving map to show the Americas,^[23][24][25] and perhaps the first to include Antarctica. His map of the world was considered the most accurate in the 16th century.

[edit] See also

• History of geography
• History of cartography
• Islamic science
• Islamic Golden Age
• Timeline of science and technology in the Islamic world
• List of Arab scientists and scholars
• List of Muslim geographers
• Chinese geography

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Edson, E; Savage-Smith E. Medieval Views of the Cosmos. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
• Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums X–XII: Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland. Historische Darstellung. Teil 1–3 (in German). 
• Alavi, S. M. Ziauddin (1965). Arab geography in the ninth and tenth centuries. Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University Press.

[edit] External links

• A review of Muslim Geography
• Islamic Geography in the Middle Ages