Map · Arabic
Kitab surat al-ard (al-Masalik wa-l-mamalik) with 20 Balkhi-school maps: BnF Arabe 2214, copied 1445-1446
كتاب صورة الأرض / المسالك والممالك
Ibn Hawqal (fl. 943-988)
How we know
mixed Part firsthand observation, part drawn from other sources.
mixed: Ibn Hawqal revised Istakhri's text and maps after his own travels (943-973), including the Caspian, Khazar and Transoxiana chapters
Research notes
- BnF record titles the work Kitab ajib al-shan fi ahwal al-buldan and Kitab hayat ashkal al-ard; the manuscript is a 1445 copy. Existing W039 (Ouseley translation) actually renders a Persian Istakhri, a known misattribution; this record does not resolve that but is the Ibn Hawqal witness.
- Better Ibn Hawqal map copies (Topkapi A.3346, 1086; Istanbul) are not open online. Digitized from microfilm R 3061.
Why it matters
Ibn Hawqal's tenth-century regional maps are the Muslim base picture of the Khazar Sea, Khwarazm and the Turkic frontier that later Islamic and, through Idrisi, some European maps inherit; W039 in the existing inventory (Ouseley 1800 English) is a translation of a Persian abridgement, so this is the Arabic original with maps.
Places named
Islamic world; Khazar Sea; Khwarazm; Transoxiana; Turkic frontier
Who copied whom
Earlier in the chain
- Suwar al-buldan M093, c. 950this one was drawn from it (stated)al-Istakhri's map set is parent of Ibn Hawqal's maps
Later in the chain
- The Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal W039, 10th centuryaccompanying text or map (stated)Ibn Hawqal's maps and Ouseley's translation of the text