Introductory summary overview map from al-Idrisi's 1154 world atlas. Note that south is at the top of the map.

Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani (Arabic ??? ??? ???? ???? ????????; Latin: Dreses) (born 1100 - died 1165 or 1166) was an Arab geographer, cartographer and traveller who lived in Sicily, at the court of King Roger II. Muhammed al-Idrisi was born in the North African city of Ceuta then belonging to the Almoravid Empire (nowadays Ceuta, Spain) and died in Sicily, or maybe in Sabtah. The airport of the Moroccan city Al Hoceima is named after Al Idrisi. Al Idrisi was a descendent of the Idrisid rulers of Morocco, who in turn were descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[1]

Tabula Rogeriana

Al-Idrisi 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 the most accurate map of the world at the time.

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.

On the work of al-Idrisi, S. P. Scott commented:

Legacy

Al-Idrisi travelled widely to France, Spain, Portugal, and even England. In Palermo, at the court of Roger II, the Norman king of Sicily, he enjoyed exalted status mainly because of the accuracy of 70 maps which he produced charting previously undocumented territories. He plotted the entire continents of Europe and Asia and Africa north of the Equator two centuries before Marco Polo. He was so remarkable that he was nicknamed the strobe of the Arabs. He described continents joined at Suez and identified mountain ranges including the Mountains of the Moon, believed to be the source of the Nile.

See also

• Tabula Rogeriana
• Islamic geography
• List of Arab scientists
• Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories
• History of cartography

References

• Beeston, A. F. L. ?Idrisi?s Account of the British Isles? Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XIII (1950), Part 2: 265-280.
• Bredow, G.G. ?Edrisis Weltcharte? Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden (Weimar), 13 (1804): 418-437; 14, (1804): 243-244. [Reprinted in: Islamic Geography, Vol. 5, Studies on al-Idrisi reprinted, first part. Ed. Fuat Sezgin, Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, Frankfurt am Main, 1992: 32-53]
• Ahmad, S. Maqbul, India and the Neighbouring Territories in the "Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq fi'khtiraq al-'afaq" of al-Sharif al-Idrisi. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960.
• Ahmad, S. Maqbul, ?Cartography of al-Shar?f al-Idr?s?? In The History of Cartography, Vol.2, Book 1, Cartography in the traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies. Ed. J.B. Harley and David Woodward, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London, ISBN 978-0226316352 , 1992: 156-174.

External links

• BNF (Bibliotheque Nationale de France) http://mandragore.bnf.fr/jsp/rechercheExperte.jsp type "Arabe 2221" in the box "Cote", then hit "chercher", then "Images" for images of the manuscript of al-Idrisi
• Profile at IslamOnline
• Britannica
• Online exhibition, Bibliothèque nationale de France (french)
• Idrisi's world map, Library of Congress. Konrad Miller's 1927 consolidation and transliteration, with high-resolution zoom browser.

ar:???????? be-x-old:???-?????? bs:Al-Idrisi br:Al-Idrisi ca:Al-Idrisi da:Al-Idrisi de:Al-Idrisi et:Mu?ammad al-Idr?s? es:Al-Idrisi fa:???? ?????? fr:Al Idrissi hi:??-?????? hr:Al-Idrisi id:Muhammad al-Idrisi it:Idrisi he:????? ??-?????? hu:Idríszí ms:Abu Abdallah Muhammad Al-Idrisi nl:Al-Idrisi ja:??????? no:Al-Idrisi nn:Al-Idrisi pl:Al-Idrisi pt:Muhammad Al-Idrisi ru:???-?????? scn:Al-Idrisi sl:Al-Idrizi fi:Abu Abdillah Muhammad al-Idrisi sv:Muhammad al-Idrisi tt:Âl-?drisi tk:Abu Abdyllah Muhammet ibn Muhammet uk:?????? ur:????????