Muslim Contributions in Geography
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Transcript of Muslim Contributions in Geography
MUSLIMS CONTRIBUTION IN THE FIELD OF GEOGRAPHY
Muslims' great concern for geography
originated with their religion.
Islam requires each Muslim to have at least enough
knowledge of geography to know the direction of the Qiblah
Pilgrimage as well as commerce in the vast Muslim
empire needed communication
From the beginning of the seventh century, the knowledge
of geography was equally growing with the spread of Islam
Thousands of Muslim coins, discovered in the
excavations of Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, Kazan, etc
He was born in Baghdad,
Iraq.
His major work is Kitāb
ṣūrat al-Arḍ (Arabic: كتاب" األرض صورة Book on the
appearance of the Earth" or
"The image of the Earth"
Al-Khwārizmī's (780-850)
Al-Khwārizmī corrected Ptolemy's gross overestimate
for the length of the Mediterranean Sea
(from the Canary Islands to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean)
Al-Khwārizmī depicted the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as
open bodies of water, not land-locked seas as of Ptolemy
He was the seventh caliph,
or ruler of the Islamic Empire,
of the Abbasid dynasty
He ordered geodetic
measurements, to
determine the size of the earth,
and the drawing of a large map
of the world
Abdullah al-Mamun
(786-833)
He was an Abbasid-era Arab
historian based in Baghdad
He traveled the world
journeying from Persia,
Central Asia, India, the Near
East, Madagascar and the
China Sea
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Masudi(896-956)
Al-Masudi’s book:
Muruj adh-Dhahab (Meadows of gold)
is a compilation of his
travel observations and
studies
His book gives a systematic account of all the places and
regions he had visited
He was author of :
"Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim" (The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions)
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi(946-1000, Jerusalem)
Al-Muqaddasi was the first
geographer to produce
maps in natural colors
The Arab-Muslim maps
point upwards to the South,
the North downwards
The maritime voyages
necessitated the tables of
Latitude and Longitude as
well as the use of the
astrolabe and other nautical
instruments
He is famous for
a) Cartography
b) Geodesy
c) Mineralogy
Abu Rayhan al-Biruni(973-1048, Kath [Uzbekistan] )
CartographyBy the age of 22, Biruni had
written several short works,
including a study of map
projections, Cartography, which
included a method for projecting
a hemisphere on a plane
Al-Biruni is regarded as the
father of geodesy
He was the first known writer
to identify certain geological
facts, such as
The formation of sedimentary
rocks
The great geological changes
that happened in the past
Geodesy and geography
Al-Biruni introduced the
scientific method into
mineralogy in his
Kitab al-Jawahir
(Book of Precious Stones)
Mineralogy
He was a Spanish-
Arab geographer
He wrote about Europe,
North Africa, and the
Arabian peninsula
His primary work was:
a) Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-Mamālik
("Book of Highways and of Kingdoms")
b) Mu'jam
Abū 'Ubayd 'Abd Allāh al-Bakrī(1014-1094)
Al-Bakri work was
based on literature and
the reports of merchants
and travelers
Al-Bakri arranged place
names alphabetically,
and lists the names of
villages, towns, wadis,
and monuments which
he culled from the
Hadith and from
histories
His book:
‘Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq,’
(The Delight of Him Who Desires to Journey
Through the Climates)
is a geographical encyclopedia
Al Idrisi’s(1099-1166, Ceuta –Spain)
In 1166 Al-Idrisi, built a
large global map
He meticulously recorded on
it the seven continents
with trade routes, lakes
and rivers, major cities,
and plains and mountains.
Al-Idrisi’s books were translated into
Latin and became the standard
books on geography for three
centuries, both in the east and west
He was the only medieval
traveler who is known to
have visited the lands of
every Muslim ruler of his
time.
Ibn Battuta(1304-1368, Tangier- Morocco)
Ibn Battuta lived by the
motto - 'never, if
possible, cover any road
a second time‘.
• "Rihla - My Travels". Is the
story of Ibn Battuta’s
travels. It is a valuable
record of places.
He invented the compass in
the field of geography
Ibn Majid (1430-1500, Julfar [UAE] )
Ibn Majid wrote several
books on marine
science and the
movements of ships,
which helped people of
the Persian Gulf to
reach the coasts of
India, East Africa and
other destinations
Ibn Majid’s most important
work was:
Kitab al-Fawa’id fi Usul
‘llmal-Bahr wa’l Qawa’id
(Book of Useful Information on the
Principles and Rules of Navigation)
written in 1490
It is a navigation encyclopedia
Ibn Majid’s Hawiyat, a poem of
some 1,082 verses, is a genuine
treasury of navigational theory
Another important book named
al-Urdjuza covering the same
subject
Ibn Majid’s rich contribution to the affairs of the sea benefited the sciences of geography and oceanography, especially in the Indian Ocean
In 1498, Vasco Da Gama, while sailing up the east coast of Africa met Ibn Majid. His guidance to Vasco Da Gama, led to the downfall of Arab sea power in the Indian Ocean
E. Renan, in his book
Averroes and Averrosism,
mentions a letter written
by Columbus in October
1498 in which he admits
that one of the sources
which led him to assume
the existence of the 'New
World' was the work of Ibn
Rushd (Averroes) of the
12th century
Discovery of the America is thought to have been
aided by Muslims’ contribution to Geography