Islamic And Middle Eastern Travellers And Geographers: Critical Concepts In Islamic Thought

Book Summary

This collection examines Islamic and Arab geographers who studied the regions and routes of the Islamic empires as well as the great Islamic Arab travellers of the day. The writings of two travellers in particular, Ibn Jubayr (1145-1217) and Ibn Battuta (1304-c.1368), have played a huge part in illuminating the medieval world of Islam. The study and listing of pilgrim routes to Mecca, and trade routes to and from and across the dar-al-Islam (Home of Islam) had an academic, religious and political appeal throughout the Islamic Umayyad, 'Abbasid and Ottoman worlds. Among the intellectuals of the time were geographers who sought to understand, describe and map the great civilisations of which they were custodians and heirs according them great religious and intellectual power. The area of Middle Eastern geography and travel has attracted large numbers of scholars over the last fifty years. This new collection from Routledge features key articles from the field to create a major and continuing resource for scholars and students alike. The first volume concentrates on the Islamic geographers who mapped and made navigable the routes followed by later travellers. While travel, and in particular the rihla (or a travel to Meccaa (TM)) did not depend for its impetus on formal geography, both were highlighted in the travellersa (TM) diaries and travelogues which helped to make known and illuminate the boundaries of an expanding empire. Links between geography and the pilgrim routes to Mecca and Medina are particularly significant. Because of their huge significance in illuminating the medieval world of Islam, a very large number if articles deal with the travels of Ibn Jubayr (1145a "1217) (Volume II) and Ibn Battuta (1304a "368/9 or 1377) (Volume III), while Volume IV covers the post-medieval and early modern period.

Book Details