Surat al-Ard

Surat al-Ard (The Picture of the Earth), also known as al-Masalik wa-al-mamalik (Routes and Realms), is a major 4th-century AH / 10th-century CE geographical treatise and atlas by the traveler and geographer Ibn Hawqal (d. after 367 AH / 977 CE) Surat al-Ard+1. The book provides a detailed description and cartographic representation of the Islamic world, its provinces, cities, trade routes, waterways, and inhabitants Surat al-Ard+1.

Composition and Context

Ibn Hawqal began extensive travels across Islamic lands in 331 AH / 943 CE, journeying for roughly thirty years across regions stretching from the Indus River to the Atlantic Ocean, including North Africa, al-Andalus, and southern Italy Surat al-Ard+1. He was an avid student of earlier geographical literature, constantly consulting the works of Ibn Khurdadhbih, Qudama ibn Ja'far, and al-Jayhani Mujaz Dairat al-Maarif al…+1.

In 340 AH / 951–952 CE, Ibn Hawqal met the geographer al-Istakhri in Baghdad Hudud al-Alam min al-Mash…+1. Al-Istakhri showed him his own geographical treatise and accompanying maps; Ibn Hawqal praised some of al-Istakhri's maps, such as those of Fars, Azerbaijan, and Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazira), but criticized errors in his maps of Sind, Egypt, and the Maghrib Hudud al-Alam min al-Mash…. When al-Istakhri asked him to revise and correct his work, Ibn Hawqal amended parts of it and subsequently resolved to compose his own independent, expanded geographical treatise integrating his personal observations, travels, and maps Hudud al-Alam min al-Mash…+1.

A first draft of the work was presented to the Hamdanid emir Sayf al-Dawla al-Hamdani (d. 356 AH), and a second, revised draft was completed around 366 or 367 AH (c. 977 CE) Hudud al-Alam min al-Mash…+1.

Structure and Contents

Surat al-Ard systematically divides the Islamic world into twenty regional provinces (aqalim), beginning with the Arabian Peninsula (Diyar al-'Arab) because it contains Mecca and the Kaaba as the central anchor of the Islamic realm Surat al-Ard+1. Each regional section is accompanied by a dedicated map depicting provincial borders, mountains, waterways, and settlements al-Hadara al-Islamiyya Us…+1.

The chapters of the work proceed through the following regions and seas:

• The Arabian Peninsula (Diyar al-'Arab) and the Persian Sea (Bahr Faris) Surat al-Ard+1
• The Maghrib (North Africa), al-Andalus, and Sicily (Siqilliyya) Surat al-Ard
• Egypt (Misr), Syria (al-Sham), and the Mediterranean Sea (Bahr al-Rum) Surat al-Ard
• Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazira) and Iraq Surat al-Ard
• The eastern provinces: Khuzestan, Fars, Kirman, Sind and India, Azerbaijan and Armenia, al-Jibal, Daylam, the Caspian Sea (Bahr al-Khazar), the desert between Fars and Khurasan, Sijistan, Khurasan, and Transoxiana (Ma Wara' al-Nahr) al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik …+1

The book is particularly noted for its thorough firsthand documentation of western Islamic lands, especially the Maghrib, al-Andalus, and Sicily, detailing their governance, socio-economic conditions, and urban geography al-Arab fi Siqilliya+1.

Manuscripts and Editions

Surviving manuscripts of the work reflect varying recensions and drafts:

• Topkapı Sarayı MS 3346 in Istanbul, copied in 479 AH / 1086 CE, containing the fullest version of the text Surat al-Ard+1.
• Leiden University Library MS and Bodleian Library MS at Oxford, containing an earlier recension Surat al-Ard+1.
• Bibliothèque Nationale MS 2214 in Paris, an abridged epitome (Epitome Parisiensis) based on the Istanbul recension Surat al-Ard+1.

The Arabic text was first edited by Michael Jan de Goeje as volume 2 of the Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum (Leiden, 1873), and later reedited with revisions incorporating the Istanbul manuscript by J. H. Kramers (1938–1939) Surat al-Ard+1. A complete French translation of the work was published in 1964 Mawsuat Safir lil-Tarikh ….