Tarek Kahlaoui, Rutgers University, "Andalusi Mariners and Their Image of the Land and Sea"

Tarek Kahlaoui, Rutgers University, "Andalusi Mariners and Their Image of the Land and Sea"

Andalusian mariners seem to be, according to textual sources, the most experienced among Muslim medieval sailors when it comes to navigating the Mediterranean. The available cartographic sources provides evidence that they were the source not only of navigational knowledge but also of mapmaking. Their unique contribution to Islamic geography and cartography of the Mediterranean was part of a Maghribi tradition that was increasingly visible from the 11th century. Either in the western Mediterranean or in the Levant Andalusians were perceived by other Muslims as the experts of cartography notably made for maritime communication.

Image: A protolan's rhumb lines from Al-Umari's Masalik Al-Absar

Co-sponsored by the Departments of History of Art, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Spanish and Portuguese at Penn, and the Middle East Center