Muhammad Al-idrisi

Al-Idrisi (b. Cartographer , Geographer and traveller who lived in Sicily , at the court of King Roger II . Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in Sabtah , then belonging to the Almoravid Empire (nowadays Ceuta , Spain ) and died in Sicily , or maybe in Sabtah .Al Idrisi was a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad .

In 1154 al-Idrisi made a large, south-oriented '' Mappa Mundi '' known as the ''Tabula Rogeriana'' and an accompanying book, named ''Geography''. Taken together, they were named ''Nuzhat al-Mushtak'' by Roger, but '' Kitab Rudjar '' ("Roger's Book") by al-Idrisi.

Al-Idrisi constructed a world globe map of 400 Kg pure silver and precisely recorded on it the seven continents with trade routes, lakes and rivers, major cities, and plains and mountains.

His world map were used in Europa for centuries to come. It is worth mentioning that Christopher Columbus used the world maps , which was originally taken from Al-Idrisi's work.

A second, expanded edition was produced in 1161 with the remarkable title ''The Gardens of Humanity and the Amusement of the Soul'', but all copies of it have been lost. An abridged version of this edition, named ''Garden of Joys'' -- but usually referred to as the ''Little Idrisi'' -- was published in 1192 .

The book is not a perfect historical source, as al-Idrisi (as was common then and for many more centuries) relied on other sources for it. For example, when writing about Poland he has conflated it with the land that is the modern-day Czech Republic , because he wrote about "a country surrounded by mountains".

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Muhammad Al-idrisi