Islamic maps

With the fall of the Roman Empire and the devastation caused by Viking raids important manuscripts from Classical writers on cartography and geography were lost throughout Europe. Works such as Ptolemy's Geography, Eratosthenes's Measurement of the Earth and the writings of Aristotle, Strabo and others disappeared and with them the knowledge contained within. Dark ages indeed. A beacon of light amongst this darkness shone out from the Middle East as Islamic scholars saved and used the information gathered by Greek and Roman geographers to create beautiful maps and atlases of the World based on scientific concepts and rules.

Without the knowledge available to Islamic scholars European cartographers created World views designed to illuminate theological or historical works, which were not based on any firm cartographic principles. These maps were created following a practise of splitting the World up into the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa via the Mediterranean, the Nile and (usually) the Don, creating a pattern of a T. This, and the surrounding ocean, gives these maps the catch-all name of T-O maps. This example shows this practise off perfectly, and comes from a work by the Roman historian and politician Sallust in a twelfth-century manuscript held in the Bodleian about a war between Rome and the Numidians (from the Jugurtha. MS. Rawl. G. 43).

In contrast to this European tradition Islamic cartographers, able to draw on the writings of Classical scholars, created maps which used techniques that we still use today. Projection, grids, latitude and longitude and attempts at accuracy in placing locations in relation to each other. These maps had two main roles, they were either atlases in the sense we know now or were travel instructions, a type of literature going back to the Phoenician and Greek Peripli, a work that gives a list of places visited on a route with information on tides, ports, people and so on. This is an example in map form from a famous work called the Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes, originally written circa 1050, and full of some of the earliest maps of important places such as Sicily. This is one of the earliest maps to show the Mediterranean.

This wonderfully abstract map allows for journeys to be made by showing each port in order as a voyage is made along the coast. It is oriented to the north, with the Straits of Gibraltar on the far left, moving clockwise through a limited number of western European harbours (though with very little description of Iberia and Europe), before reaching Constantinople at top left, then moving with increasing detail and confidence through Byzantine territory across the Aegean, Cyprus (the rectangular island bottom right), the coasts of Syria and Palestine (far right), into the Fatimid coastline of Egypt, Libya (bottom) and Morocco (far left). This is a purely practical map, no attempt has been made to be geographically accurate as the most important information is what comes next and 'I can get to there via here, here and here'. The labels for harbours are packed with seafaring information on the capacity for anchoring number of ships, defensive installations, and prevailing winds (for more on the Book of Curiosities see the video at the end of this page).

An example of the type of map we would expect to find in an atlas comes from the late tenth century (Bodley's copy, shown here, is from a manuscript dated 1297). This is a World map from Abū Isḥāq al-IṣṭakhrῙ's Book of Routes and Kingdoms, which includes both regional maps and text

Like Christian T-O maps al-IṣṭakhrῙ's map has a circling ocean around the edge of the World, but differs in having south at the top (see further on for more on orientation). This is a map of sharp lines and angles, and would have been used mainly for administration, note how Islamic districts are clearly marked in the Muslim World. Africa is at the top, with a long straight channel for the River Nile. Europe is the small triangle at the bottom right with Cyprus, Crete and Sicily in the Mediterranean, key islands in both trade, culture and navigation. The regional maps accompanying the World map in the work were also drawn in this abstract way, with straight lines and circles.

It is the Islamic atlas that would most incorporate the writings of the Classical World. Maps such as Al-SharῙf al-IdrῙsῙ's World map from his celebrated Nuzhat al-Mushtaq (Entertainment for he who longs to travel the World), which draws on information from the Greek cartographer Claudius Ptolemy, working in Alexandria circa 150 AD. Ptolemy's work, the Geography, survived in manuscript form in the Middle East. The book gave instruction on how to draw maps, measure, use projections and, crucially for the creation of maps as it is not known that Ptolemy's original work actually included any, a list of locations with a grid reference, enabling cartographers and scholars in the future to create maps based on Ptolemy's observations. In al-IdrῙsῙ''s map seven red lines, called climes, can clearly be seen. These are the basis for the 69 regional maps that followed the World view, each clime was split into 10 zones, and the atlas has a map per zone, with one zone of just the sea missing. Each regional map is accompanied by text. Here's al-IdrῙsῙ'sWorld map from the atlas

and then here's the map next to the Ptolemy World map from one of the earliest printed atlases, c1468. To help compare the two al-Idrisi's map has been flipped over so north is at the top in both maps

Similarities between the two maps are apparent, not least the fact that there are clearly identifiable places. Africa and Asia and the areas around the Mediterranean are most accurate, appropriate considering both cartographers were from the region, and both use zones and grids to help map and locate places. More importantly both works are based on scientific observation and practise, unlike their European counterparts.

al-IdrῙsῙ''s atlas was commissioned by King Roger II, Norman ruler of Sicily, at the time a Kingdom in which Arabic, Christian and Jewish scholars worked together for the improvement of science and knowledge. Only a small number of manuscript editions of the atlas survive, and of the two in the Bodleian the Pococke featured here is considered the best of those in existence. Here's the sheet covering Sicily, one of the more recognizable and detailed locations in the atlas.

Both Abū Isḥāq al-IṣṭakhrῙ and Al-Idrisi's maps have south at the top. Islamic scholars were usually based north of Mecca so would look south to pray, and so as Christians looked to the East Islamic scholars and cartographers likewise looked South. Maps were made to help believers find the right direction to pray towards Mecca, a practise called qibla, a case of the practical and the religious coming together to create objects of beauty. This example of a Qibla compass map comes from a nautical atlas dated 1571 by the Tunisian scholar ‘Ali ibn Ahmad Sharafi al-Sifaqsi. In the circle surrounding the Kaaba are 32 separate directions with text relating to the cities on that axis from the Kaaba. Again, south is at the top. The atlas contained nautical charts for navigation as well as astronomical, chronological and theological tables and maps to enable the faithful to conduct their everyday rituals. 

You can trace a clear development with T-O maps from the earliest examples, such as this map from a twelfth-century book on the writings of the Roman author Sallust (1) to the later highly illustrated examples like the Polychronicon, by Honorius Augustodunensis (fourteenth-century) (2). T-O maps always had East at the top, this being the direction of the Holy Land. The word orientation, and its variants, comes from the Latin word for the East, Oriens. These later maps included more images from the Bible and the Classical World, marking a change in purpose from a book illustration for scholars to an object to be observed by everyone, an object of worship. The Polychronicon breaks with the common practise of putting Jerusalem in the middle by having the Greek Island of Delos at centre instead (3). Birthplace of Apollo, Delos was one of the most important religious sites in Ancient Greece. Ranulf Higden's Mappa Mundi (4) has Jerusalem back in the traditional place (5).

In contrast Islamic maps, with the benefits of the writings of Classical scholars, have from the start been created with a firm geographical foundation. The World map by Muhammad al-IṣṭakhrῙ (6) pre-dates the Al-SharῙf al-IdrῙsῙ (7) but is only different due to design and purpose, not by any advances in cartographic skill. Mecca in the middle of al-IdrῙsῙ (8).

We are able to show some of the most important surviving examples of Islamic maps because the Bodleian has a rich collection of Islamic cartography, thanks to a number of significant collections made to the library since i's founding in 1602. The map of Mecca designed to aid the faithful in prayer comes from a collection left to the Library by Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, in 1714, while al-Idrisi's atlas came to the library as part of the purchased collection of Edward Pococke in 1692. Pococke held the position of Laudian Chair of Arabic at Oxford and had spent time in the Middle East before this role.

For more information of Islamic mapping, and mapping in general, contact the Map Department at the Bodleian, maps@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Emilie Savage-Smith, Emeritus Professor of the History of Islamic Science, talks about the Book of Curiosities here