- Ibn Hawqal
Mohammed Abul-Kassem ibn Hawqal ( _ar. محمد أبو القاسم بن حوقل, born in
Nisibis ; [Soucek, Svat, "A History of Inner Asia" (Cambridge University Press :2000), page 73.] travelled 943-969 CE) was a 10th centuryArab writer, geographer, and chronicler. His famous work, written in 977, is called "Surat al-Ardh" (صورة الارض; "The face of the Earth").What little is known of his life is extrapolated from his book, which was a revision and extension of the "Masalik ul-Mamalik" of
Istakhri (951). That itself was a revised edition of the "Suwar al-aqalim" ofAhmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi , who wrote about 921. Ibn Hawqal was clearly more than an editor; he was a traveller who spent much of his time writing about the areas and things he had seen. He spent the last 30 years of his life travelling to remote parts ofAsia andAfrica . One of his travels brought him 20º south of the equator along the East African coast. One of the things he noticed was that there were large numbers of people living in areas that the Greeks, working from logic rather than experience, said must be uninhabitable.His descriptions were accurate and very helpful to travellers. "Surat al-Ardh" included a detailed description of
Muslim -heldSpain ,Italy and particularlySicily , and the "Lands of the Romans," the term used by the Muslim world to describe theByzantine Empire . In it, among other things, he describes his first-hand observation that 360 languages are spoken in theCaucasus , with Azeri and Persian languages being used as Lingua Franca across the Caucasus, he also gives a description ofKiev , and is said to have mentioned the route of theVolga Bulgars and theKhazar s, perhaps bySviatoslav I of Kiev [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/A/R/Arabs.htm Encyclopedia of Ukraine] .lbn Hauqal's work was published by M. J. de Goeie (Leiden, 1873). An anonymous epitome of the book was written in 1233.
References
*James, Preston Everett. "All Possible Worlds: A History of Geography". New York: Wiley, 1981.
ee also
*
List of Arab scientists and scholars
*Muslim scholars
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