Abu'l-Fida's Survey of the Countries, with Reinaud's introduction
A Syrian prince's gazetteer of 1321, with notes on Sarai and the Golden Horde, in Reinaud's French edition of 1848.
Full title Survey of the Countries: Arabic text edited from Paris and Leiden manuscripts (Paris 1840) and French translation with Reinaud’s general introduction on Arabic geography (Paris 1848)
Abu'l-Fida (1273 to 1331), prince of Hama in Syria, fought against the Ilkhanid Mongols as a Mamluk commander and in 1321 finished a gazetteer of the world arranged as tables with coordinates. For the north he copied earlier writers, above all Ibn Sa'id, but added news from travellers and merchants, including a man from Sarai. The corpus holds the Arabic text (Paris 1840) and J. T. Reinaud's French translation with a long introduction on Arabic geography (Paris 1848); the French is quoted here.
How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
Tartares (Arabic al-Tatar) means the Mongols and their armies: the Ilkhanid 'Tartars of Persia' whom Abu'l-Fida fought in Syria, and the Golden Horde khans of 'the country of Berke' at Sarai. Reinaud uses Tartarie in the European sense for all of inner Asia.
Why read it
An eyewitness Muslim soldier's account of fighting the Tartars, a clear description of Sarai as a new Mongol-founded trading city, and Reinaud's plain explanations of the names Tatar and Horde.
Watch out
Most of the northern entries are compiled, not seen. Reinaud's introduction and footnotes (1848) are his own and are labelled as such.
Sarai: a new city of merchants and the Turkish slave trade
Editorial contextAbu'l-Fida's entry on Seray (Sarai), capital of 'the states of Berke', says the present ruler is Uzbek, that the city lies in a plain on the Volga north-west of the Caspian, and that merchants crowd there and do a great trade in Turkish slaves. He calls it a modern city, founded by a descendant of Chinggis Khan named Sain Batu, and adds day-length information from a man of the city.
The prince now reigning is called Uzbek. Sarai lies in a plain, north-west of the Caspian Sea … It is a place much visited by merchants, and there is a great trade there in Turkish slaves. The town is of recent origin; its founding is attributed to a descendant of Chinggis Khan called Sain Batu.
Working translation
Original wording
Le prince qui règne en ce moment s'appelle Uzbek. La situation de Seray est en plaine, au nord-ouest de la mer Caspienne … C'est un lieu très-fréquenté des marchands, et il s'y fait un grand commerce d'esclaves turks. La ville est d'origine moderne. On en attribue la fondation à un descendant de Djenguiz-Khan, appelé Saïn-Batou.
Abu'l-Fida (French translation by J. T. Reinaud, 1848)
Editorial contextOn Abu'l-Fida's remark that the horde of the Tartar prince of Berke's country comes as far as Ukek, Reinaud explains that horde (Turkish ordu) means tent: the Chinggisid khans moved with the seasons and wherever they pitched their tents was called the horde. He suggests the Russians called the dynasty the Golden Horde because the khan's tent stood on wooden posts plated with gold, citing Ibn Battuta.
The word horde, in Arabic ordu, belongs to the Turkish language and means tent. The Tartar princes of the race of Chinggis Khan who ruled the Qipchaq steppe used to change their residence with the seasons, and the place where they pitched their tents was called the horde … probably because the tent the khan occupied rested on wooden posts covered with plates of gold
Working translation
Original wording
Le mot horde, en arabe ordou, appartient à la langue turke et signifie tente. Les princes tartares de la race de Gengiskhan, qui régnèrent sur le Capichac, étaient dans l'usage de changer de demeure, suivant la saison, et le lieu où ils dressaient leurs tentes portait le nom de horde … probablement parce que la tente qu'occupait le khan était appuyée sur des pieux de bois recouverts de lames d'or
Editorial contextReinaud quotes Abu'l-Fida's own chronicle of a skirmish before the battle of Marj al-Suffar in 1303, in which Abu'l-Fida fought. A group of Tartars who had dismounted were surrounded and offered their lives; they answered with arrows, made a barricade of their horses' saddles, and fought until every one was killed. It is an eyewitness picture of Mongol soldiers from the other side.
Some of the Tartars had dismounted; we surrounded them and offered them their lives, but they answered our offer with arrows, and, making a rampart of their horses' saddles, fought a fresh battle. They were all killed to the last man.
Working translation
Original wording
Une partie des Tartares ayant mis pied à terre, nous les entourâmes et nous leur offrîmes la vie; mais ils reçurent nos propositions à coups de flèches, et, se faisant un rempart des selles de leurs chevaux, ils soutinrent un nouveau combat. Ils furent tous massacrés jusqu'au dernier.
Abu'l-Fida's Chronicle, quoted in Reinaud's introduction (1848)
Editorial contextIn his introduction Reinaud explains that the same northern peoples went by different names in different eras: Scythians for ancient writers, Turks for early Arabic writers, and Tartars, or rather Tatars as Arabs, Persians and Turks pronounce it, for later writers. It is a short, clear account of how 'Tartar' became a catch-all label.
For ancient writers, the peoples of northern Asia and Europe were Scythians; for the early Arabic writers they are Turks; for later writers they are Tartars, or rather, as the Arabs, Persians and Turks pronounce it, Tatars.
Working translation
Original wording
Chez les écrivains de l'antiquité, les peuples du nord de l'Asie et de l'Europe étaient des Scythes; chez les anciens écrivains arabes, ce sont des Turks; chez les écrivains postérieurs, ce sont des Tartares ou plutôt, comme prononcent les Arabes, les Persans et les Turks, des Tatars.
A nineteenth-century scholar's summary, not a medieval statement.
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
compilation of earlier geographers (Ibn Sa'id, Idrisi, Ibn Hawqal) with coordinates; fourteenth-century Syrian view, not firsthand for the steppe
Research notes
Coordinates copied from earlier tables; Reinaud's transliterations reflect nineteenth-century French practice.
Why it matters
Fourteenth-century Islamic gazetteer with coordinates for Golden Horde and Central Asian towns; Reinaud's 1848 introduction is the foundational European survey of Arabic geographical knowledge of Tartary.