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Map of Arabia from the Kitab al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik by al-Istakhri (copy dated to c. 1306 CE)

The Book of Roads and Kingdoms (Arabic: كتاب المسالك والممالك, Kitāb al-Masālik waʿl-Mamālik[1]) is a group of Islamic manuscripts composed from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.[2] They emerged from the administrative tradition of listing pilgrim and post stages.[3][4] Their text covers the cities, roads, topography, and peoples of the Muslim world, interspersed with personal anecdotes.[5] A theoretical explanation of the "Inhabited Quarter" of the world, comparable to the ecumene, frames the world with classical concepts like the seven climes.[6][3]

The books include illustrations so geometric that they are barely recognizable as maps.[7] These schematic maps do not attempt a mimetic depiction of physical boundaries.[8][9] With little change in design, the treatises typically offer twenty regional maps and a disc-shaped map of the world surrounded by the Encircling Ocean.[6] The maps have a flat quality, but the textual component implies a spherical Earth. Andalusi scholar Abi Bakr Zuhri explained, "Their objective is the depiction of the earth, even if it does not correspond to reality. Because the earth is spherical but the [map] is simple".[10]

The first, incomplete Kitāb al-Masālik wa'l-Mamālik by Ja‘far ibn Ahmad al-Marwazi is now lost.[11] The earliest surviving version was written by Ibn Khordadbeh circa 870 CE,[11] during the reigns of Abbasid caliphs al-Wathiq and al-Mu'tamid.[11] The earliest known version of the idiosyncratic cartography was composed by al-Istakhri circa 950 CE,[12] although only copies by later artists survive.[13] As he was a follower of Abu Zayd al-Balkhi,[6] this style of map-making is often referred to as the "Balkhī school",[14] or the "Classical School". Leiden University Libraries holds مختصر كتاب المسالك والممالك لابي اسحاق ابراهيم بن محمد الاصطخري / World map in a summary of Kitab al-masalik wa’l mamalik, MS Or. 3101, 1193. [15] The maps are sometimes called the "Atlas of Islam",[6] or abbreviated as KMMS maps.[9] This tradition of mapping appears in related works including Ibn Hawqal's Ṣūrat al-’Arḍ (صورة الارض; "The face of the Earth").[16]

Drafting

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move notes into prose for relevant section:

Ibn Khordadbeh compiles the manuscript in 870.[17]

Thousands of travelogues were written by merchants, diplomats, and other writers during the Golden Age of Islam.[18]

Sallam set out to locate the wall and gate separating civilization from the monster-inhabited lands of Gog and Magog.[19]

Upon his return, Sallam dictated an account of his travels to Ibn Khordadbeh who included it in the Book of Roads and Kingdoms.[19]

Copies of the book spread, and it furthered belief in an actual metal wall built somewhere far into the North during the time of Alexander the Great.[19]

The maps are oriented with South at the top of the page.[20]


Ibn Hawqal began work on a revised copy of the Book of Roads and Kingdoms, but shifted to creating his own geographical treatise that cover everything he knew of geography.[21]

The treatise belongs to what Antrim calls the "discourse of place" a literary tradition that includes geographical works, travelogues, poetry, topographical works, and anthologies. Works from each genre pulled from the other genres focused on the importance of the land during the Islamic Golden Age.[22] The works both described the significance of the land and imbued the land with literary and spiritual meaning.[23]

Most surviving manuscripts are later copies; few texts from the ninth century survive and even fewer original texts.[24]

Ibn Khordadbeh's text was the first to arrange the world according to the qibla. In Islam, the qibla is the direction to orient prayers in order to face towards the Kaaba in Mecca. This results in a circular world map with Mecca in the center and other locations arranged with radii extending outward.[25]

The Book of Routes and Realms also describes the city of Baghdad as a central hub through which longer travels are routed.[26]

Tradition includes: Ibn Khurradādhbih, al-Ya ʿ qūbī, al-Bakrī al-I s t akhrī Ibn H awqal al-Muqaddasī[27]←resume here



[28]

History

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Maps

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Descriptions

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Works

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Also translated "Highways and Kingdoms", "Routes and Kingdoms", "Routes and Countries", "Routes and Realms", etc.
  2. ^ Pinto 2004, pp. 128–130.
  3. ^ a b Pinto 2016, p. 55.
  4. ^ Jafri 2019.
  5. ^ Pinto 2004, p. 130.
  6. ^ a b c d Meri & Bacharach 2005, p. 286.
  7. ^ Pinto 2016, p. 1.
  8. ^ Casale 2019, p. 866.
  9. ^ a b Pinto 2016, p. 33.
  10. ^ Pinto 2016, ch. 3.
  11. ^ a b c Meri & Bacharach 2005, p. 360.
  12. ^ Meri & Bacharach 2005, pp. 139, 285.
  13. ^ Pinto 2004, p. 131.
  14. ^ Edson & Savage-Smith 2004, pp. 61–63.
  15. ^ "Digital version of An abridgement of Kitāb al-masālik wa-al-mamālik by Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad al-Iṣṭaḵrī - Or. 3101". Leiden University Libraries. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  16. ^ Şeşen 1999.
  17. ^ Fiddler 2022, "Timeline".
  18. ^ Fiddler 2022, "Introduction".
  19. ^ a b c Fiddler 2022, Book Three, "Sallam the Interpreter".
  20. ^ Fiddler 2022, Book Two, "The Travels of Ibn Hawqal the Mapmaker".
  21. ^ Antrim 2012, p. 1.
  22. ^ Antrim 2012, p. 2.
  23. ^ Antrim 2012, p. 3.
  24. ^ Antrim 2012, p. 4.
  25. ^ Antrim 2012, p. 99.
  26. ^ Antrim 2012, p. 102.
  27. ^ Antrim 2012, p. 108.
  28. ^ Antrim 2012.

References

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