Medieval Islamic Maps: An ExplorationHundreds of exceptional cartographic images are scattered throughout medieval and early modern Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscript collections. The plethora of copies created around the Islamic world over the course of eight centuries testifies to the enduring importance of these medieval visions for the Muslim cartographic imagination. With Medieval Islamic Maps, historian Karen C. Pinto brings us the first in-depth exploration of medieval Islamic cartography from the mid-tenth to the nineteenth century. Pinto focuses on the distinct tradition of maps known collectively as the Book of Roads and Kingdoms (Kitab al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik, or KMMS), examining them from three distinct angles—iconography, context, and patronage. She untangles the history of the KMMS maps, traces their inception and evolution, and analyzes them to reveal the identities of their creators, painters, and patrons, as well as the vivid realities of the social and physical world they depicted. In doing so, Pinto develops innovative techniques for approaching the visual record of Islamic history, explores how medieval Muslims perceived themselves and their world, and brings Middle Eastern maps into the forefront of the study of the history of cartography. |
Contents
1 | |
9 | |
3 A Sketch of the Islamic Mapping Tradition | 23 |
4 KMMS World Maps Primer | 59 |
5 Iconography of the Encircling Ocean | 79 |
6 Classical and Medieval Encircling Oceans | 113 |
7 The Muslim Baḥr alMuḥīṭ | 147 |
8 The Beja in Time and Space | 187 |
10 Meḥmed II and Map Patronage | 219 |
11 The KMMS Ottoman Cluster | 233 |
12 Source of the Ottoman Cluster | 251 |
Mundus est immundus | 279 |
Acknowledgments | 283 |
Notes | 291 |
355 | |
393 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abbasid Abū Africa Ahmet ancient Aqqoyunlu Arabian Peninsula Arabic Aya Sofya 2971a Baghdad Baḥr Beja Bīrūnī blackink on paper Book of Curiosities Būja caliph century chapter Circa colophon copy cosmographic cosmos Courtesy Dajjāl depiction discussion earliest extant early earth Egypt Encircling Ocean examples gold Gouache Greek ḥadīth History of Cartography Ibn al-Wardī Ibn Ḥawqal Idrīsī images Indian ink on paper Iran Iranian Islamic cartography Islamic geographical Islamic mapping tradition Islamic world islands Iṣṭakhrī Istanbul Karen Pinto KMMS manuscript KMMS maps KMMS world map land landmass late Library Mamluk Masʿūdī medieval European medieval Islamic maps Mediterranean Meḥmed Meḥmed’s Miquel Muḥammad Muqaddasī Muslim Nubia Ottoman cluster Ottoman Miniature painting patronage Persian Photo Prophet Qibla Qurʾān reference Routes and Realms Sassanian scholars Sezgin sultan symbol T-O map Ṭabarī texts Tibbetts Timurid tion Topkapı Saray Museum Touati translation TSMK Umayyad visual