Arab navigators and ancient geography
Regional, History, 9/15/1998

Arabs were navigators by nature. They wandered far and wide both on land and on sea, on the trade routes and so collected a lot of geographic information not known before their time.

As far as their literary work is concerned, the translated Indian and Persian authors, showed great interest by the Islamic rulers' attention to geography. The map of al-Idrisi, prepared for King Roger, is astonishing for its great precision. From the maps of earth, it is evident that the Arabs knew that the earth is round. They prepared a silver globe with a map of the world engraved on it. It is also even claimed that they had discovered America before Columbus.

In one of his letters, Columbus named Averros who helped him guess the existence of the new world. Columbus found on the coast of Cuba dogs that do not bark. This is a west African race of dogs. Traffic thus seems to have been established earlier between the old and the new world through Arab seamen.

Ibn Majid, who served as pilot to Vasco de Gama, speaks of the compass as an already familiar theme. It was said that, on his voyage, he was guided by a map belonging to Malem Cana-Moor of the Gujerat. Arab mariners like Ibn al-Majid and others are remarkable in their skill and daring travels during their voyages from Basra to China.

Al-Masaudi traveled in the middle of the tenth century. Besides visiting the Arab Muslim empire, from one end to the other, he also visited Ceylon, Madagascar and Zanzibar. He gives a detailed description of the countries he visited and their people in his famous work "Golden Pasture."

Like al-Beiruni and al-Idrisi, Ibn Bhatuta is another traveler, scholar and author of invaluable geographical works. For three hundred years scholars did nothing but copy al-Idrisi's treatise on geography, with negligible variations.

Prominent Arab figures who excelled in philosophy, arts and sciences played a substantial role in enriching civilization and Ibn al-Haitham is one of those outstanding characters who thought he can control the geography of Egypt by controling the Nile river floods. He worked as a clerk for some caliphs. Working in a governmental job did not suit his bent, so he devoted his time and efforts to his own scientific studies. He was renowned for his knowledge of the sciences and philosophy, even when he was still young. His famous declaration, "Had I been in Egypt, I would find ways to control the Nile's flood" reached the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakem Ben Amrullah. The latter summoned him in order to fulfill his declaration of controlling the flood and availing the people of its water.

He went to Egypt and studied the course of the river till Aswan city. He discovered that the ancient Egyptians had already performed what he was thinking of. So he found himself bound to apologize to the caliph for his mistake in calculation. This incident does not mean that Ibn al-Haitham was wrong nor his theories were out of place. It means that the Egyptians outran their age.

Al-Haitham went to Baghdad after this disappointment and frustration but he returned to Egypt and died there in 1039 AD. In his lifetime, Ibn al-Haitham wrote many studies, treatises and books on various subjects. He handled arithmetic and geometry. He composed a book on teaching mathematics in addition to his various books about geography, pharmacy, medicine, philosophy and astronomy. He derived his experience from ancient scientists, combined with his own studies and observations. He summarized many ancient books explaining some of the vague theories of those scientists.

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