Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq

Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq (The Delight of Him Who Desires to Traverse the Earth, often referred to as The Book of Roger) is a monumental medieval geographical and cartographic treatise compiled by the Andalusian-Maghrebi scholar al-Idrisi (493–560 AH / 1100–1165 CE) in the mid-sixth Islamic century (twelfth century CE) Mujam al-Shuara al-Arab+1. Composed under the patronage of the Norman king Roger II of Sicily, the work integrates astronomical geography, descriptive topography, human geography, and an atlas of seventy regional maps Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1.

Background and Composition

After traveling across North Africa, Andalusia, and parts of Asia Minor, al-Idrisi was invited to Palermo by Roger II (r. 1130–1154 CE) in 533 AH (1138 CE), where the king received him with great honor and arranged for him royal stipends Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1. Roger II sought a comprehensive, verified account of his expanding territories and of the broader inhabited world, dissatisfied with the deficiencies found in earlier books Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1.

To achieve this, al-Idrisi and the royal court spent roughly fifteen years compiling and cross-examining data Majallat al-Risala+1. First, a large planisphere/sphere was cast in pure silver weighing 400 Roman pounds (or described in another report as weighing 400,000 dirhams), engraved with the layout of the seven climates, rivers, seas, coastlines, and travel routes Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1. Nuzhat al-Mushtaq was then authored as a textual companion to describe in detail the features engraved on the silver map Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1. The book was completed in early January 1154 CE (corresponding to Shawwal 548 AH), shortly before Roger II's death; another report places its completion in 545 AH (1150 CE) Majallat al-Muqtabas+1.

Structure and Scope

The work is organized systematically around the Ptolemaic division of the inhabited northern hemisphere into seven latitudinal climate zones (aqalim), stretching from the equator northward Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1:

• Introduction: Begins with a concise overview of cosmology and physical geography, affirming the sphericity of the earth, the role of the equator, the grading of climatic zones, and the nature of the world's seas and oceans Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…. It includes a general circular world map Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al….
• Seven Climates and Seventy Sections: Each of the seven climate zones is divided longitudinally from west (beginning at the Prime Meridian near the Canary Islands / al-Jaza'ir al-Khalidat) to east into ten equal sections (ajza'), creating seventy regional sections Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1.
• Regional Maps: Each of the seventy sections is accompanied by a regional map; when placed together side by side, they form a unified map of the known inhabited world Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1.

Within each section, al-Idrisi provides precise geographic and descriptive data: distances between cities and waypoints (measured in miles and farsakhs), topographical features (mountains, rivers, bays, and ports), agricultural crops, local industries, trade commodities, and cultural attributes of the inhabitants, including their religions, dress, customs, and languages Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1.

Sources and Methodology

Al-Idrisi synthesized classical Hellenistic and earlier Arab-Islamic geographic literature Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1. In the introduction, he explicitly names twelve primary written authorities whose works he consulted:

• Ptolemy (Kitab Batlamyus al-Uqludi)
• al-Mas'udi (Kitab al-Aja'ib)
• Ibn Khurradadhbih
• Abu Nasr Sa'id al-Jayhani
• Ibn Hawqal (al-Hawqali)
• al-Ya'qubi
• Ahmad ibn Umar al-Udhri
• Janakh ibn Khaqan al-Kimaki
• Musa ibn Qasim al-Qurdi
• Ishaq ibn al-Hasan (or al-Husayn) al-Munajjim
• Qudama al-Basri
• Orosius of Antioch (Ursiyus al-Antaki) Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikht…+1

To verify and supplement these texts, Roger II and al-Idrisi convened travelers and merchants arriving in Sicily from various regions, interrogating them individually and collectively through interpreters; reports that were corroborated were recorded, while contradictory claims were rejected Majallat al-Risala+1. Draftsmen and observers were also dispatched to different quarters to sketch and report direct observations al-Mustashriqun li Najib …+1.

Reception, Editions, and Translations

Nuzhat al-Mushtaq is considered one of the most comprehensive and detailed geographical works of the medieval period, particularly for its descriptions of the Mediterranean basin, Italy, and Europe Mujam al-Shuara al-Arab+1. Later Muslim historians and geographers, including Ibn Khaldun and Abu al-Fida, relied on its data Akam al-Marjan fi Dhikr a…+1.

Manuscript copies are preserved in major collections, including the Hagia Sophia and Köprülü libraries in Istanbul, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and libraries in Cairo and Mosul Khizanat al-Turath - Fihr….

An abridged Arabic version was printed in Rome by the Medici Press in 1592 CE under the title Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Dhikr al-Amsar wal-Aqtar wal-Buldan wal-Juzur wal-Mada'in wal-Afaq, accompanied by seventy-one maps Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…+1. Portions were translated into Latin by Gabriel Sionita and Joannes Hesronita (published in Paris in 1619) al-Mustashriqun li Najib …. Sections covering North Africa, Sudan, Egypt, and al-Andalus were later edited and translated into French by Reinhart Dozy and Michael Jan de Goeje (Leiden, 1866) Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…. In 1928, Konrad Miller published a reconstructed full-color edition of al-Idrisi's maps Majallat al-Risala.