Circular world map of the Turkic lands in the Diwan lughat al-Turk (Compendium of the Turkic Dialects), as printed in colour in the Kilisli Rifat edition, Istanbul 1333-1335 AH (1915-1917)
ديوان لغات الترك
Mahmud al-Kashgari
How we know
firsthand The author saw the places or people described.
firsthand knowledge of the Karakhanid Turkic world by a native informant-author who travelled among the tribes, combined with the Balkhi-school circular frame; the surviving map is a 1266 scribal copy of the author's 1072-1077 original
Research notes
- The map survives only in the 1266 copy; its colour scheme and some labels are the copyist's. IA catalogue date 1914 vs printed 1333-1335 AH (1915-1917): record both. Wikimedia Commons hosts a photograph of the manuscript map (File:Mahmud al-Kashgari map.jpg) but the Commons API returned HTTP 429 from this environment so that copy is unverified.
- Labels read on the western half (leaf 32): بلغار, روس, صقالبة, خوارزم, بلاد الغزية, مسكن قفجاق, مسكن يمك, طراز, اسبيجاب, ارض اذربادكان, الشام, حدود مصر, الاسكندرية, اراضي المغاربة وهي اندلس, and the marginal note الصفر الرمال (yellow = sands). Eastern half is on leaf 31 (not inspected at full size).
Why it matters
The only medieval map drawn from inside the Turkic world (1072-77): it centres on Balasaghun and names the Kipchak, Yemek, Ghuzz, Bulghar, Rus and Saqaliba lands north of Khwarazm, the earliest native cartographic witness to the steppe peoples later grouped under Tartary. The word Tatar appears in the text (and, per editors, on the map) as one tribe among many.
Places named
Balasaghun-centred Turkic world: Kashgar, Talas, Ispijab, Khwarazm, Bulghar, Rus, Saqaliba, Kipchak and Yemek steppe, China, Japan (Jabarqa)
Who copied whom
- Compendium of the Turkic Dialects W219, 1072–1077accompanying text or map (stated)Kashgari's map within his Divan