Geography report on the theme of the Arabs. Medieval Arabic cartography. Language and culture
In the era of the Middle Ages (5th-15th centuries), geography successfully developed in all directions in the Arab East, in India, and China. An important role in the development of geography was played not only by scientists and travelers, but also by merchants who became discoverers of new lands.
Arabic East
As a result aggressive campaigns Arabs in the 7th century a huge state arose - the Arab Caliphate. In addition, it included the territories of Iran, Palestine, the Iberian Peninsula and some others. As a result of the cultural interaction of the Arabs and the peoples they conquered, a special Arab culture developed. In the 8th-9th centuries, many works of scientists of the Ancient World, including ancient Greek, Persian, and Indian, were translated into Arabic. This contributed to the development of mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, medicine and geography.
The Arabs were excellent navigators, they were excellent in the stars and were quite accurate. The country details contained not only descriptions, but also the exact location of cities and other important objects.
Arab travel
Actively engaged in trade, the Arabs laid ancient caravan routes through and discovered its southern edge, calling it the Sahel (“desert coast”). Experienced sailors, they reached the island of Madagascar along the eastern coast of Africa in the 9th century, along the southern coast of Asia - India and China. Only the Atlantic Ocean became an obstacle for Arab travelers, except for voyages to.
The most famous of the Arab travelers is Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta. In the 14th century, he traveled and explored almost all the countries of Asia and North Africa, crossed the Sahara. The result of his travels was a great work, which describes cities and countries in detail, provides information about.
Exploration of Asia
In Asia, the geographical knowledge of new territories proceeded by sea and land. Buddhist monks, merchants and travelers moved by land from India and China. Their path lay through the deserts of Central Asia, Tibet and. Traveling to different parts of Asia, they collected geographical information about the nature and peoples of the countries they saw. An important role in the development of the vast expanses of Asia was played by nomadic pastoralists.
The development of Asia by sea led to the settlement of Big and Small. Starting from the 10th century, Chinese ships (junks) approached Kalimantan, Java, Sumatra. China has established extensive trade relations with and.
In the 14-15 centuries, for trade with the countries of the East, the Russians used the route along, then along, and then overland to Persia and India. It was this way that the Tver merchant Afanasy set off for India in 1468. He was the first European to describe this country in detail in his travel notes "Journey Beyond the Three Seas".
Europe
At the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe, there was a decline in scientific knowledge, which was reflected in the development of geography. However, by the middle of the Middle Ages, the geographical horizons expanded. There was a re-acquaintance of Europeans with distant ones, the development of the northern regions of Europe and the northern, western coast of Africa.
State of Geography
The geographical knowledge accumulated by the civilizations of the Ancient World was forgotten in medieval Europe. Travels were most often random in nature, and pilgrims to holy places became the main travelers. Geographical representations expanded during the Crusades (11-13 centuries). These were military campaigns of Europeans in order to liberate the Holy Land (Palestine) and the Holy Sepulcher from Muslims. The crusaders sailed to Palestine along the shores of southern and southeastern Europe, specifying on the maps the outlines of the islands and bays of the Mediterranean Sea.
Viking campaigns
Since the end of the 8th century, the Vikings, the inhabitants of the Scandinavian Peninsula, have played an important role in the discovery and development of new lands. In Russian chronicles, the Vikings are called Varangians, and in European sources they are called Normans ("northern people"). The main occupations of the Vikings were fishing, trade, and often sea robbery. On their reliable ships - drakars, they made sea voyages both under sail and on oars.
The Varangians sailed along, which in Rus' was called Varangian. Their path to Byzantium passed through the Gulf of Finland, then along the rivers and portages to the Black and Mediterranean Seas. This path in Russian chronicles is called the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks." The Vikings were in England and went to through the Strait of Gibraltar. In the 9th century they settled on the island, in the 10th century they reached the shores and islands off the east coast of North America.
Travels of Marco Polo
In the 12th-13th centuries, trade relations between and Asian states expanded. Traveling to distant countries for merchants became regular, although they were not safe. This contributed to the accumulation of geographical knowledge. The Venetian merchant Marco Polo was the first European to visit China, as well as other Asian countries. Returning to his homeland, he published The Book of the Diversity of the World.
The book of Marco Polo contains descriptions of the nature and life of the population of countries unknown at that time to Europeans. It provides detailed information about China, Persia, India, Japan, the islands of Java and Sumatra and other richest territories. Europeans first learned about paper money, the sago palm, combustible "black stones" (coal) and, most importantly, about the areas where spices were grown, worth their weight in gold. For several centuries, Marco Polo's book was a huge success, including among such great navigators as Magellan.
Portuguese sailors
In the 15th century, it became a powerful maritime power. To travel to distant countries, the Portuguese brought to the sea a new type of sailboats - three-masted caravels. They could easily move not only with a side wind, but also with a head wind. The inspirer and organizer of sea voyages was Prince Enrique of Portugal. He was nicknamed the Navigator, although he himself rarely went to sea. Enrique conceived a grandiose geographical - to reach India by sea. In 1434-1460, in search of such a path, numerous expeditions organized by him set off to the islands of the central part. The development of the Portuguese in Africa continued. An observatory was created in the country, a nautical school was opened. Portugal, and then for a long time were the main centers of navigation and nautical science in Europe.
It is difficult to say anything definite about the Arab medieval maps, because, despite the research, it was possible to find the originals, ridiculously few. The maps made by al-Khuwarizmi (a planisphere depicted to the order of Caliph al-Mamun), al-Balkhi, al-Istakhri, Ibn Havkal, al-Maqdisi and an unknown author (“Limits of the Universe”) were lost. Even the famous al-Idris map is nothing more than a copy dating from the 15th century.
The history of Arabic cartography, like that of all other cartographers, is closely connected with the development of geography and its many ramifications. Also in ancient times the Arabs also needed precise landmarks to coordinate their lives and work with. The establishment of the Islamic religion only revived the search in this direction. In order to withstand the time of prayers, fasting and ritual pilgrimages, one had to be able to navigate the cosmic change in time and be able to determine the location of Mecca.
HEIRS AND SUCCESSORS OF OLD TRADITIONS
But only since the works of ancient authors, in particular, say, the works of Claudius Ptolemy, were translated into Arabic, did Arabic cartography come to the fore among the natural sciences. Arab caliphs generously paid for such translations: they were aware of the weight of ancient knowledge. In order for this knowledge to become an organic component of Muslim culture, the caliphs encouraged translations into Arabic of the scientific treasures of antiquity. So, Caliph al-Mamun paid for translation work in gold ...
The Arabs cherished this heritage like the apple of their eye and throughout the Middle Ages continued to enrich the heritage of antiquity with their own observations and achievements of science. Therefore, between the 7th and 12th centuries, the pole of geographical knowledge shifted. From Europe he moved on to the great scientific centers in Baghdad, Kordi and Damascus. And we can say with certainty that although there was no direct exchange between Arabic and European cartography, the revival of mathematics and astronomy during the thirteenth century in Rome, Oxford and Paris is only a continuation of what the Arabs acquired in the field of cartography. It was the Arabs who preserved the heritage of Antiquity and made that great flowering of science and arts, which the West experienced in the Renaissance.
The Arabs were not mistaken in thinking that it was in the works of Ptolemy that the scientific knowledge of the Greeks and Romans reached its highest rise. Although it cannot be said that they blindly followed the teachings of the great Greek astrologer, mathematician and geographer. Arab travelers denied many of his provisions. For their part, the Arab astronomers continued to calculate longitude in degrees and achieved very accurate results. Consequently, they not only preserved the scientific provisions of Ptolemy, but also developed them. Demanding to deepen known knowledge, they, of course, started from the frontier that their predecessors had reached.
The search for Arab astronomers culminated in the 10th century with the work of al-Battani and al-Masudi. Al-Battani refuted many hypotheses put forward by Ptolemy. Unlike the latter, who believed that Africa was joining Asia at the Malaysian peninsula, al-Battani was convinced that Indian Ocean- open sea. Al-Biruni's treatises on the East and al-Idris on the West enriched the knowledge of the Arabs about the world.
A number of factors contributed to the significant development of geographical and cartographic sciences among the Arabs. Islam, having become the religion of the Arabs, encouraged the growth of knowledge throughout the world. Huge territories were conquered: it was very necessary to evaluate their resources in order to introduce an expedient tax system. In addition, three of these lands (Mesopotamia, and Egypt) were the cradle of civilization. It was impossible to rule them without knowing them.
TRAVELERS AND CARTOGRAPHERS
The vast expanses of the Arab empire required the creation of a postal service and a road network. Posts and roads, in turn, facilitated commercial exchange, facilitated by a common language and religion. More and more books described "ways and kingdoms". In the end, and pilgrimages greatly contributed to the fact that the Arabs were increasingly attracted to travel and geography. The pilgrim spoke the same language as other Muslims who lived in other areas and belonged to different social circles. Long pilgrimages often turned into invaluable educational, research and trade journeys. Returning, pilgrim travelers, merchants told about what they saw in the reports, which had valuable geographical information. Among them were many cartographers, such as Ibn Khavkal, al-Masudi and al-Idris.
Many Arab geographers professed the teachings of Ptolemy. It was Starting point astronomical geography and cartography.
Mohammed Ibn Musa al-Khuwarizmi laid the foundations of Arabic geographical science. In his book “On the Configuration of the Earth” (Kitab Surat al-Ard), written in the first half of the 9th century, the teachings of Ptolemy are translated and corrected. It is believed that this work of his is connected with the famous planisphere, which he outlined together with other scientists on the order of Caliph al-Mamun. Unfortunately, most of al-Khuwarizmi's maps have been lost. Only four have come down to us. These are the oldest Arabic maps known to us. In the 10th century, Abul Hasan Ali al-Masudi was an outstanding Arab cartographer. He was born in Baghdad and spent his youth traveling, visiting India, Ceylon, the sea, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Zanzibar, Madagascar and Oman. In his declining years, he went to Egypt, where he died in al-Fustat. Al-Masudi probably re-read most of the then known books on geography. He recalls many works that have not come down to us. His main work "Golden Steppes" (Muruju adhdhahab) concludes his experience.
Peru Masudi also owns many other works. His planisphere of the world is known - one of the most accurate maps of that time. He believed in the sphericity of the earth. To the world known at that time he added two more continents, one in the southern sea, and the second, to balance it, on the other side of the known world.
A new type of map, more similar to cartography, appears with Ibn Havkala's map of the world. He presents an economic table saturated with information from the life of peoples. Ibn Havkal takes the "atlas" of al-Istakhri as a basis, supplementing it. He depicts the coast in the form of rounded and straight lines; islands and inland seas, such as the Caspian and Aral, in circles. This is a simplified image.
GOLD EPOCH
In the 10th century (4th century AH), Arab cartography, having just begun to develop a hundred years ago, is experiencing a truly golden era with a series of maps (“Atlas of the Muslim World”), closely related to numerous works on “paths and kingdoms”. The methodology of describing the Muslim world, introduced by a native of Balkh (al-Balkhi), was picked up and developed by a Persian scholar from Iran (al-Istakhri), whose work was in turn relied on by the geographer and great traveler born in Baghdad (Ibn Khavkal). He reviewed them, corrected and developed them considerably.
These maps have nothing to do with Ptolemy's models. The Islamic atlas contains 21 maps in a stable order once and for all, the first of which is a spherical map of the world. Then there are six maps depicting Arabia, the Persian Sea, the Maghreb, Egypt, Syria and the Rumean Sea (Mediterranean Sea). The last fourteen maps are dedicated to the central and eastern parts of the Muslim world. Depicting an exclusively Muslim world flattered the ambitions of al-Istakhri, as well as Ibn Khawkal, who wrote: "... And I painted the Islamic countries in detail, province by province, region by region, district by district ..."
All their cartographic activity concerned mainly the east of the Arab world, but its western part was not forgotten either. The last period in Arabic cartography coincides with the work of al-Idrisv (XII century), tied just to the Muslim West.
After training in Cordoba, al-Idris settled in Sicily, where the Norman king Roger II ordered him a giant planisphere with a detailed interpretation. Al-Idris described the globe as a whole: according to the geographer, "the territories of the Earth with their countries and cities, rivers, lands and seas, roads, distances and everything that can be seen" were represented there. The map itself has been lost, but al-Idris' interpretation has come down to us in a work called "An Entertaining Book for Those Who Wish to Travel the World" (Kitab Nuzhat al muskhtak fi htirak alafak), better known as "The Book of Roger" (Kitab Rujar) .
This work allowed Western geographers to spread the circle of knowledge, it also helped Portuguese navigators explore unknown lands in the 15th century. Al-Idris imagined the earth "round like a ball", he believed that "water comes naturally and is held on it" and "Earth and water hung in space like the yolk in an egg." To these comments, al-Idris added an atlas of the world known to him, and some maps that were already in color.
The work of al-Idris, the apogee of Arabic cartography, was also a harbinger of its decline. The concept of latitude and longitude is absent in it. True, we find in the atlas of al-Idris the “climatic zones” traditional for Ptolemy, but they are depicted as stripes of the same width, contrary to astronomical data. The details are worse than on al-Khuwarizmi's maps. There are also certain errors in the calculation of distances and arcs. But let's be indulgent to the cartographer: the death of King Roger and the unrest after it prevented him from making the necessary changes to his atlas. Al-Idris was at the crossroads of two worlds, Christian and Muslim. It is not surprising that he was called the "Arab Strabo". His atlas, which is considered the most significant example of Arabic cartography, was also a huge success in the West throughout the Middle Ages.
However, despite all the above works, the contribution of the Arabs to the development of cartography remains very modest, to the surprise of all who study this discipline. What is the reason for this? The Arabs knew all of Europe (with the exception of the far north), the central part of Asia, North Africa - up to 10 degrees north latitude - and the eastern African coasts. Their geographical knowledge was not limited to the Islamic countries themselves. They far exceeded the knowledge of the Greeks, who only roughly knew the lands beyond the Caspian and certainly knew nothing about the eastern coast of Asia north of Indochina. And the Arabs knew the overland route to the sources of the Yangtze as well as the east coast of Asia to Korea. Of course, their acquaintance with Japan is questionable, the Japanese archipelago appears already on the maps of the 11th century, but it is doubtful that the Arabs reached it by sea. Their idea of Japan may be based on information collected in Central Asia, which is well known to them. As for Africa, it was the Arabs who first described it in detail; it was this information that everyone referred to until the 19th century, when Europeans began to explore it.
These unusual journeys, impossible for their European contemporaries, were to become a source of invaluable information for cartographers. But they didn't. Arab cartography, which was able to compile such an accurate "Islamic Atlas", could not create something similar, even in the form of separate maps, for other regions of the world, although they knew them very well. She did not use the latest achievements of geographical science; instead of introducing something new, the newest maps only repeated the previous maps. True, in those days, European cartography was not particularly original and also not particularly “friendly” with the geography of that time.
P.S. Ancient chronicles tell: In general, the history of cartography is so extensive that perhaps it would even be possible to create a special department of cartography within the framework of historical or geographical faculties. Perhaps, various advanced universities, such as the Tyumen State University, could borrow this idea.
For the primitive communal system and the slave-owning states, the tasks of geography were reduced to the expansion of the spatial outlook, the accumulation of empirical material. A person's worldview was formed in the space of their residence. Primary geographical motifs were represented by existential geography, which has survived to this day, but has lost its position in scientific geography. It was based on the concept of "place" or topos (from Greek - a place, a plot of land), which forms the properties of topophilia and topophobia in a person, i.e. ideas about good and bad places, good and bad hunting, friendly and bad people (Preobrazhensky, 1997).
In a slave-owning society, an important component of culture is the relationship of man not only with nature, but also with people and himself. In this case, a person defends the value and integrity of the individual in the mirror of a cultural myth. Mythological consciousness proceeded from the ability of a person with the help of rituals to reproduce an act of creation similar to divine forces, creating altars, altars, temples. This is how the illuminated (sacred) center of the world was born, which characterized the sacredness of the place. The place became part of something common, hidden (divine), to which the Greek philosophers gave the name "horos", i.e. space. It was the result of creation and had a cosmocentric character, including the ideal layers (macrocosm), the ecumene (mesocosm) and the place of human life (microcosm). Thus, the concepts of “space” and “place” are already separated by ancient philosophers. The place becomes part of the space.
Geography, like all other sciences of the ancient world, developed initially within philosophy. Philosophers considered the world as a natural unity, and all the activities of people as one of the manifestations of things. Man united with nature, included in it. At the same time, the idea of humanizing nature, giving it human features was expressed in mythological form. Geographical ideas were associated with a unified geography, which studies undivided space with the help of a descriptive method. The regional direction in the development of geography was descriptive. The explanation had a religious-mythological, and then a natural-philosophical basis, speculatively interpreting nature. It was based on the geocentric understanding of the universe. At the same time, some speculative ideas were expressed (about the sphericity of the Earth and its spheres, the dependence of man on nature), which “illuminated” the path of development of geography for many centuries. arose and unique method empirical generalizations and transmission of geoinformation - cartographic.
The greatest success was achieved by the ancient Greeks, who were able to use the method of abstraction to operate not only with empirical data, but also with their ideal images (models), which allowed the emergence of scientific knowledge in Ancient Greece. At the same time in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Central and South America this did not happen in high culture. "These Greeks were superficial - from the depths," wrote F. Nietzsche.
Geography arose in ancient times in connection with the practical activities of people - hunting, fishing, nomadic cattle breeding, primitive agriculture. The range of factual knowledge of primitive man was determined by the nature of his activity and the immediate natural environment. The ability to navigate in space is closely related to observation. Acute powers of observation and a good knowledge of individual facts were combined with underdevelopment of thinking. Hence the inability to explain many natural processes and phenomena (droughts, earthquakes, floods, etc.), which found expression in animism (the concept of spirits and the soul) and magic (sorcery, sorcery, sorcery). The primitive man's idea of the origin of things was inevitably fantastic and passed down orally from generation to generation. It took the form of myths, i.e. folk tales about gods and legendary heroes, about the origin of the world.
The first large slave-owning states appeared in the 4th millennium BC. among the agricultural peoples of Asia Minor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, North India and China. Their formation was facilitated by the position along large rivers (sources of irrigation and waterways) and reliable natural boundaries - mountains and deserts. The first written documents that have survived to this day were created. In the literary epic, travel occupied an important place. So, in the ancient Sumerian epic poem about Gilgamesh (3rd millennium BC), it tells about the wanderings of a hero who reached the ocean through deserts and mountains.
The main travels were made for the purpose of trade and the conquest of new lands. Already by 2000 BC. the Minoans founded on about. Crete is the oldest maritime power and sailed to the Canary Islands, Senegal and India. According to Herodotus, the Phoenicians, on behalf of Pharaoh Necho (610-594 BC), sailed around Africa, which lasted three years. The Carthaginian Hanno sailed along the western coast of Africa. Indian sailors as early as the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. sailed to the shores of Arabia, the mouth of the Euphrates and East Africa, using the monsoon winds. In winter they sailed west, in summer they sailed east. The Indian epic poems "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata" give an idea of the geographical knowledge of the peoples of India. The first of them provides a description of the then known part of the Earth. The Mahabharata lists the main mountains, seas, rivers; provides information about the ancient Indian states and tribes. In China, already in the 1st millennium BC. there were special geographical works that contained short descriptions territory of the state (for example, the book "Yugong"). The geographical representation of the Chinese expanded with the opening of the "Silk Road".
The most ancient map, according to L. Bagrov, has been known since 3800 BC. The clay tablet depicted the northern part of Mesopotamia with a river (Euphrates) and two mountain ranges. Back in the III millennium BC. the Sumerians created myths about the creation of the world, the flood and paradise. In Babylon, astrology was popular, explaining the influence of heavenly bodies on the fate of people.
Slave culture flourished in ancient Greece and Rome, inheriting all the best of its predecessors - the Minoans, Egyptians (geometry, solar calendar), Assyro-Babylonians (astronomical knowledge, dividing the day, drawing), Phoenicians (alphabet). contributed to the development of the Mediterranean geographic factor, in particular, the diversity of natural landscapes, which played a large role in the social development of this time.
The ancient Greeks had an extremely solid and clear worldview. There was the Cosmos, the Sky, the gods lived there. People lived on earth. But there was no gap between them. The gods were like people. They could both get drunk and commit adultery, but they were always ready to interfere in the fate of people. The idea of the Earth among the early Greeks was religious and mythological. The Earth in the form of a convex shield was surrounded by the Ocean, from which all the rivers flowed. Beyond the Ocean was the realm of shadows. It was warmer in the eastern countries than in the western ones. They were closer to the sun.
During the archaic stage in the development of ancient Greece, the center of scientific thought was Miletus (an Ionic colony in Asia Minor), where the first school of natural philosophy arose. The followers of this school tried to explain the structure of the universe by natural causes, based on a holistic picture of the world, a single material principle: air for Anaximenes, water for Thales, “apeiron” or abstract matter for Anaximander, fire for Heraclitus. However, the interpretation of natural phenomena by the Ionian natural philosophers was speculative. Earthquakes, for example, they explained as a consequence of the cracking of the earth from drought or after heavy rains. .
Section 5 Scholastic period of the development of the Earth sciences (V-XV centuries in Western Europe, VII-XVII centuries in other countries).
Feudal limitation and disunity of the spatial outlook, the growing role of church postulates - a characteristic feature of the Middle Ages. The transition to feudalism in Europe was accompanied by the decline of culture. The Bible replaced the works of ancient scholars. The earth from a sphere "turns" into a rectangle or disk. However, the idea of a single picture of the world was preserved in the religious dogmas of world outlook.
At the stage of sociogenesis, the formation of national cultures, the emergence and dominance in the ideology and worldview of world religions, the methodology of sacredness (i.e., recognition of the sacred) in geography, the concept of descriptive regional geography is formed.
Its basis was spatiality, which is a universal form of ordering. The concept of space remained divine; created by God. Real spaces represented a multitude of territories (regions) discovered and described in the era of the great geographical discoveries(VGO). A mythologized place becomes a part of the territory, acquiring the properties of mentality (going to Jerusalem, Mecca, across the three seas for spices to India or for silk to China). Labor activity people was associated with the resource development of natural landscapes by farmers and nomads. Their way of life was also determined by cultural values, where the dependence of a person on natural conditions. It was the peak of the development of a unified geography, where man existed as part of nature. The methodological basis of topographic geography was morphological analysis, i.e. analysis of the distribution of forms and objects in space. The main successes were associated with the generalization of geographical knowledge recorded on maps. Cartography became the first applied science to emerge from the undivided unified geography. Therefore, the applied interests of geography have become the creation of an image of certain territories through a cartographic model.
The collapse of the Roman Empire weakened Europe's overland trade links with the East. The low level of shipbuilding, the religious isolation of the countries of Western Europe, superstitions and legends about sea monsters prevented long journeys. The main stimulus for the knowledge of distant countries was the Christian pilgrimage to "sacred places" and missionary work, as well as the crusades.
In the early Middle Ages, the most skilled sailors were Irish monks (VI-VIII centuries) and Scandinavian Vikings (VIII-X centuries). The first sailed to the Hebrides and Orkney Islands, discovered the Faroe Islands and Iceland. The latter had connections with Byzantium along the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, re-discovered Iceland (860), then Eric the Red discovered Greenland (983), and Leif Erikson discovered North America.
Feudal Europe was isolated from India, China and even Africa. Only Byzantium in the V-VI centuries. had trade relations with the East. In the middle of the VI century. Kozma Indikoplov visited Ethiopia, Arabia, India. He wrote "Christian Topography" in 12 books, in which an attempt was made to harmonize some general geographical ideas of antiquity with the Bible. He denied the sphericity of the Earth and represented it as a rectangle surrounded by an ocean with 4 bays - Roman, Caspian, Arabian and Persian. Rivers originated from the ocean: the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Ganges.
From the 7th century the Arabs, who created a huge state, played a prominent role in the development of world culture. They traded with China, northern and eastern Africa, knew about Madagascar. The linguistic community, the presence of trade relations in the Arab Caliphate and going to Mecca (Haji) contributed to the spread of geographical knowledge. Already in the VIII century. geography was seen as "the science of postal communication" and "the science of paths and regions". Abu Abdallah Ibn Batuta was one of the greatest travelers of the Middle Ages. For 25 years of his wanderings, he traveled 130 thousand km by land and sea and visited Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Iran, Crimea and the lower reaches of the Volga, the Ustyurt Plateau, the Indus Valley, China, Sri Lanka, etc. Description of the travels of famous Arab authors become the most popular type of literature. The value of the geographical knowledge of the Arabs is that, although they did not add anything new to the theoretical developments of ancient geography, they nevertheless preserved them for future descendants and used them when accumulating new data about the lands known to them.
Al-Idrisi (1100-1165) in his book "Geographical Entertainment" analyzes the ideas of Ptolemy on the basis of the latest information accumulated by travelers by that time. He compiled two maps of the world on 70 sheets, on which clarifications were made and Ptolemy's mistakes were corrected. Unfortunately, like all maps of the Arabs, they were without a degree network.
The dogmas of Christianity in the West played essential role and in the decline of the geological sciences in the Middle Ages. For example, finds of fossil shells and skeletons of vertebrates were considered solely as evidence of the Flood. Any conclusions could count on recognition only if they were consistent with the scripture.
However, pra-science, which was based on practical knowledge, developed, otherwise there would be no progress of society. This process proceeded in different ways and at different paces. However, the systematization of knowledge and attempts to explain the phenomena after the collapse of the Roman Empire, we find mainly in the Arab East, in Central and Asia Minor, in China and Armenia. Only in the XIII century. worthy works of European authors appear on the border with the early Renaissance.
In China in the V-XII centuries. in addition to reports on minerals, a number of scientists considered questions about fossils. Tao Hong-jing, Shen-Chen correctly explained the origin of amber. Some scientists correctly understood the essence of the remains of fish, molluscs, and plants in rocks. Along with this, there were also fantastic views. Chinese sources indicate, for example, that mammoths are animals that live in the Earth and die from the sun and wind. This information came from Siberia.
In the Middle East, natural science bears traces of the influence of classical science, it contains ideas about the eternal changeability of nature, the enormous duration of its existence. Let us recall the names of the Tajik Avicenna (Ibn Sina), the Uzbek Abu Raykhan Biruni. They studied geography and geology. Avicenna pointed to the formation of mountains by the action of earthquakes and erosion by flowing waters that form valleys. He believed that the transformation of loose rocks into solid ones occurs under the influence of the “plastic force” inherent in nature.
According to Avicenna, rocks (“stones”) can be formed in two ways - either from mud due to heating from sunlight, or from the aquatic environment, again due to heating and drying. Very important was the statement that the now inhabited world was previously uninhabited and submerged under the ocean. Finally, for the first time, the idea is expressed that each retreat of the sea leaves behind a layer (precipitation) and we see that some mountains seem to be heaps of layer after layer. In this case, the sequence of layers reflects the sequence of the time of their deposition.
According to some researchers, the appendix to the 4th book of Aristotle "Meteorology" actually belongs to Avicenna. In it, he writes about the power that contributes to the petrification of plants and animals.
Biruni was a versatile empiricist who did not deny the importance of generalizations. He considered experience to be the criterion of truth. Biruni (Mineralogical Treatise) was the first to use the method of determining the specific gravity of minerals, to which they returned only in the 18th century. He established the density of water. He pointed to the aqueous origin of crystals and minerals in general, based on the study of inclusions in some of them of liquid bubbles. About 100 known minerals and rocks were described in the "treatise". The diagnostic features were color, transparency and specific gravity. He dealt with the issues of joint finding of rocks with useful minerals and ores, explained the reason for the action of artesian sources. The scientist studied the formation of the Ganges delta, the position of the ancient channel of the Amu Darya and the formation of the Aral Sea. He was clear on the pattern of change in the granulometric composition of alluvium from the upper reaches to the mouth of the river.
By the X century. belongs to the work of Omar Aalem "Retreat of the Sea", in which he, comparing geographic Maps different eras to change the contours of the Caspian Sea, came to the conclusion of a gradual increase in the area occupied by land. This method still exists today, but using aerial photographs.
One of the greatest scientists of the Middle Ages was Albert the Great (Bolstedt). He believed that mountains can arise in two ways - by the action of "underground winds" (earthquakes) or by destruction by sea waters. Albert was the first to resort to a model experiment. He blew steam into the fire, as a result of which coal and ash were scattered. He was one of those who expressed doubt about the general flooding of the land during the Flood. Jean Buridan, rector of the University of Paris, came to the same conclusion.
Under the influence of Aristotle and the Arabs, Ristoro d'Arezzo's book "The Formation of the World" (mid-13th century) was written. He considered the main cause of mountain building to be cosmic (the influence of stars), and secondary to the action of flowing water and accumulation sea waves. D'Arezzo described the sequence of rock suites, dug pits, finding pebbles and organic remains, on the basis of which he drew a conclusion.
Close to the views of d "Arezzo are the representations of Dante Alighieri (1320 AD) in the treatise "Water and Earth." He denies the widespread belief that the ocean level was previously higher than land. Considering God to be the "first push", he is looking for a real the force that carried out the order of God “let there be land.” This force, in his opinion, is in space.
The reasons for the formation of metals and ores in the Middle Ages were interpreted by the chemistry of that time - alchemy. There was an opinion about their origin under the influence of the planets, in general, cosmic influences and the rays of the Sun in particular. Thomas Aquinas and R. Bacon adhered to such ideas, dating back to Aristotle.
The Middle Ages and earlier Renaissance for geology in terms of the nature of knowledge, the ratio of facts and generalizations are a continuation of antiquity. However, one can speak of a well-known relative judgment of the subject of research in conditional "geology". With the birth of the ideas of Christianity, research took on a narrowly practical character. Mining developed, experience accumulated. Classical antiquity left geology with many observations and a wide range of ideas, the role of which was assessed in different ways.
Science at the stage under consideration was extremely poorly differentiated. In the cycle of Earth sciences, only geography began to emerge, including a conglomeration of various, sometimes fantastic phenomena. The conditional “mineralogy” and dynamic geology, including “seismology”, also arose early. Observations were the basis of knowledge, but this base was clearly insufficient. General conclusions were often a primitive application of single observations to a wide range of phenomena. Man observed the facts, sometimes imperfectly and superficially, and not only "made", but "saw" the conclusions from these facts. Therefore, classical antiquity can be conditionally considered as a whole era of "living contemplation".
What has been said about the nature of the observations of the ancients does not contradict the fact that they were often accurate and formed the basis of ideas, sometimes only seeming divorced from the facts. For a long time, for example, Aristotle's statement about the hibernation of birds was considered a fable. Only recently this rare phenomenon has been established. Thus, the basis of pra-science is experience. There was no geology as such. If the idea of variability was widely applied to geological knowledge, then the concept of the "geological past" did not exist.
So, in the period under review, the areas of endogenous and exogenous phenomena were already delimited, mineralogy, closely connected with practice, received significant development. However, there is no methodology in geology yet.
Section 6 Renaissance period (XV - XVII to the middle of the XVIII century).
Renaissance can be called the era of the birth of modern sciences and arts. Great geographical discoveries are associated with it, so important for the earth sciences. In the field of geology, first of all, mineralogy and the theory of minerals developed as part of mining.
The greatest flowering of the Renaissance falls at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. Lived in this era Leonardo da Vinci. His scientific legacy has not been fully preserved. Manuscripts concerning geology were published only in the 19th century. He led big engineering work, and his interests in the field of geology were to a certain extent determined by works on hydraulic engineering. Therefore, the characteristic of the activity of waters in his records prevails. Leonardo gives the correct explanation for the fossils, but rejects the idea of a global flood. land movements Leonardo attributes the movement of water from one hemisphere to another with a change in the center of gravity of the Earth - an idea that occurs in science until the 19th century. According to Leonardo, the relief of the Earth's surface is the result of erosion by sea water flowing down from the rising land. His opinion is interesting that the salinity of the sea comes from the bringing of soluble salts by water. Salt is returned to the earth when the sea water dries up and the land rises.
Bernard Palissy, "On Waters and Springs" (the first hydrogeological work), in which he argued that springs are ultimately fed by rainwater seeping into the soil. In his essay on fossil organic remains, Palissy expresses the idea of their organic origin, but also indicates that among fossil organisms there are remains of extinct species, incl. tropical-like.
The largest figure in the geology of the 16th century. was Georg Bauer Agricola.) He was interested in mining, metallurgy and mineralogy , which for that era should be defined as the doctrine of terrestrial inanimate matter. Agricole belongs to the classification of substances. Her virtues are detail And division of "mineral bodies" into "rocks" and "underground inanimate bodies" (minerals). Among the latter, however, he did not clearly single out simple, as well as composite and mixed ones. Salts, precious stones and metals stand out among minerals. Rocks are classified according to color, hardness and other physical properties. This differentiation of the object of study was a significant methodological step forward. Water and air were sequentially related Agricola to mineral bodies. Ideas Agricola concerning the genesis of geological formations, which he accepts or advances, are entirely connected with the observation of modern phenomena. Mountains are formed by the activity of water, wind, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. He assigns the first place to erosion, which forms, in particular, valleys. Mountains are destroyed by the same factors, as well as fire. Underground fire and volcanism are the result of burning bitumen and sulfur. Agricola distinguished between atmospheric and deep (hot springs), “clean” and mineralized water. In his works, the birth of theory from mining practice is clearly visible.
In 1577 P. Martin the idea of a "golden tree" allegedly growing from the center of the Earth was put forward. Its branches are veins of gold. The idea arose about the seeds of metals, metallic minerals, growing from the Earth.
By 1600, a summary W. Gilbert by terrestrial magnetism; in it, for the first time, the core of the Earth is considered as a huge magnet, which is the core surrounded by the crust. In this work appears the germ of the doctrine of geomagnetism and the idea of the shell structure of the Earth.
Thus, among the scientists of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci and Agricola can be distinguished. Their ideas reflect the science of the era and are connected with the method of actualism that originated long ago. At this stage, mineralogy arose as the science of terrestrial matter. Term "mineralogy" appeared at cesium from Modena in 1636.
In the XIII century. there is a revolution in nautical art: sailing ships (caravels) are created, a compass is used, nautical charts are created (portolans or compass charts, where the degree grid was replaced by compass points). The cities-republics of Venice and Genoa became the center of trade between the West and the East. The laws of the Mongol Empire allowed European merchants to enter Central and East Asia. So, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo from 1271 to 1295. traveled through China and visited India, Ceylon, Burma, Arabia. He wrote the book "On the Diversity of the World" or, as it is usually called, "The Book of Marco Polo", which entered the golden fund of world literature and was one of the first printed books in Europe.
Cartographers, creating maps, put on them all the names that they had heard somewhere. At the same time, the names of the same object (for example, Madagascar) were often distorted. Travelers, merchants, diplomats and missionaries paid little attention to geographical facts. They were more interested in the customs and customs of the peoples. Fictional descriptions, full of legends and stories of miracles, were popular. The Russian alphabet books (encyclopedic reference books) were interesting, they contained extensive information about different countries and cities. In general, the XIII and XIV centuries. gave very little new in geography. There were no new ideas either.
History of the 15th century characterized by the emergence of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie and the formation of large centralized states. A consequence of the development of commodity-money relations was a great interest in gold, which continuously flowed from Europe to the East to buy spices and lye. Trade went through intermediaries - the Arabs. However, with the strengthening of the Ottoman Empire, these trade routes were interrupted, which served as the main impetus for the search for new routes to the country of spices - India.
The great geographical discoveries were preceded by a number of circumstances related to the printing of books and the dissemination of regional descriptions, which contained information about the countries of the East, rich in gold, precious stones and spices. They formed a powerful social motive for the search for wealth, satisfying curiosity and becoming a guide for many travelers, adventurers and dreamers. Reliable cartographic material is also appearing, which ensures the predictability of travel.
The center of geographical thought of this time was Venice. She became " high school geographical and historical sciences” (Ritter, 1864, p.185). Numerous manuscripts of ancient, Persian and Arabic authors were collected in the city's libraries. The works of ancient geographers were translated into Latin. Compiled collections of trips and sailing directions. All this contributed to the revival of the geographical concepts of antiquity and the liberation of scientific thought from church dogmas.
At the end of the 15th century, the Spaniards made an attempt to reach India “in their own way”. This was the first voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492), when he discovers the islands of the Caribbean (Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola) and mistakenly calls them the West Indies. The voyage of Columbus is considered the beginning of the VGO. During the third (1498) and fourth (1502-1504) voyages, Columbus discovers the northern coast of South America from the island of Trinidad and the mouth of the Orinoco to the Gulf of Darien. P. Cabral reaches the coast of Brazil, which he calls the island of Santa Cruz.
The sea route to India was opened by the Portuguese, when Vasco da Gama rounded the Good Hope metro station and in 1498. reached the desired goal. The entire spice trade ended up in the hands of the Portuguese. The French and the British (for example, D. Cabot) tried to get to India by the northwestern passage, but only reached the shores of S. America in the Labrador area.
To search for new routes to India in 1519, a Spanish squadron of 5 ships of Ferdinand Magellan was sent. Through the strait that now bears his name, he rounded South America and entered the Pacific Ocean. After a four-month voyage, Magellan reached the Philippine Islands, where he died in a skirmish with the locals. The first circumnavigation of the world was completed in 1522.
In the era of VGO, good cartographic support appears. Special cartographic institutions were created and their products were in great demand. In the second half of the XVI century. Antwerp became the center of cartography with its famous Flemish school, famous for the names of A. Ortelius and G. Mercator. The first became famous for publishing a collection of maps that included 70 titles and received the name "Theater". The second developed the mathematical foundations of cartography. Mercator created a map of the world in a double heart-shaped projection, where the name of the mainland America was extended to both continents of the New World. Prior to this, America was most often referred to as the region of Brazil. In 1569 he creates a map of the world on 18 sheets in a cylindrical projection, and in 1570. - his "Atlas", which was published in 1595. his son entitled "Atlas, or Cartographic considerations about the creation of the world and the view of the created."
VGO continued in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Francis Drake makes the second circumnavigation of the world after Magellan (1577-1580). Abel Tasman in 1642-1643 bypassed Australia from the south and discovered Tasmania and New Zealand. The first topographic surveys also date back to this time. So, F. Apian took pictures of Bavaria, and Sexton - of England and Wales. When compiling maps, a large number of cartographic projections were used, including the famous Mercator cylindrical projection. On his maps it was already possible to distinguish the modern contours of the continents.
Major discoveries were made by Russian explorers in eastern Asia. After the defeat of Khan Kuchum by Ermak, the Cossacks began to move rapidly towards the Lena and Vilyui rivers. Ivan Moskvitin went to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Vasily Poyarkov went down the Amur to its mouth. Fedot Popov and Semyon Dezhnev in 1648 rounded Chukotka and opened the strait separating Asia and America.
There were no generalizing geographical works explaining many natural phenomena (belts of calm, trade winds, monsoons, sea currents), which had already become known to travelers. No one tried to bring in single system newly received information. Religious dogmas interfered with the correct interpretation of phenomena. So, H. Columbus, having opened the mouth of the Orinoco, believed that this road to "earthly paradise." Only B. Kekkerman in his book "Geography", published in Hannover in 1617. revives the ideas of Aristotle about the amphibious ball, including earth and water in its composition. It replaces Ptolemy's triad (geography - quantity, topography - map, chorography - description) with "general" and "special" geography
At the same time, the VGO expanded the boundaries of the part of our planet known to Europeans. They contributed:
Development of cartography, formation modern map world, where the continents and oceans were shown, to the publishing of maps, which became possible thanks to the spread of printing and engraving on copper. Unfortunately, most of the maps were published as an appendix to Ptolemy's Geography, which created a lot of controversy. Martin Beheim from Nuremberg made the first globe that has come down to us, and G. Mercator prepared his Atlas;
Coverage in the literature of geographical discoveries. Letters and diaries of H. Columbus, A. Vespucci, Pigafetta (participant in the first round-the-world voyage) and others were published. Pedro Martir compiled the first chronicle of the history of discoveries. In 1507 Lorraine geographer M. Waldseemüller, impressed by the letters of A. Vespucci, suggested calling New World America. Later, the literature of voyages and travels was published in multi-volume collected works (J. Ramusio, R. Hakluyt);
Appearance of the first regional-statistical descriptions. For example, the books of the Florentine merchant L. Guicciardini "Description of the Netherlands", which describes nature, population, economy and cities;
The development of the ideas of mathematical geography, which was associated with the strong influence of ancient geography. The most famous are the works of M. Waldseemüller "Introduction to Cosmography" and P. Apian "Cosmography", which focused on navigation rather than geographical descriptions. They continued the traditions of the geography direction of ancient authors about the place of the Earth in the universe and the features of its structure, and also summarized knowledge in astronomy, physics and geography;
The emergence of educational institutions called voluntary "academies" (Florence, Bologna, Naples), where lectures were given on mathematics, mechanics, astronomy;
Interest in observing natural phenomena was characteristic of the Arabs from the very beginning. By the stars, they determined the paths on land and at sea, some astronomical knowledge helped them determine the weather, sowing time, etc. This knowledge was passed down from generation to generation.
The Arabs attached great importance to the stars, their appearance and disappearance. They called these phenomena the word "al-Anwa", that is, the connection of a phenomenon (for example, rain) with the appearance of a particular star. They studied the stars well and gave names to several hundred. This is described in the book of Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bayruni, who died in 1048.
Orientalist V. V. Bartold notes that the development of Muslim civilization began with putting their state in order and commanding troops. They began with the organization of the work of the post office, for which they paved and repaired roads. The Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) himself paid great attention to the mail. During the reign of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), the work of the postal service moved forward, and under the Umayyads it took a leading place in state affairs. Therefore, Caliph Abdel-Malik ibn Marwan ordered to build roads from Damascus and Jerusalem to the southern cities of Ash-Sham to ensure their livelihoods and collect taxes.
During the time of the Abbasids, Muslim scholars showed great interest in the shape of the Earth and everything that is on it. Therefore, Caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur ordered the translation of some sciences into Arabic, especially astronomy. And Caliph al-Mamun ordered the translation of the book of Claudius Ptolemy "Geography" into Arabic. The great mathematician and astronomer al-Khwarizmi referred to it in his works. His book The Shape of the Earth opened new Age geographic knowledge. This first work of Arabic geography is kept in the library of Strasbourg.
In the II and III centuries. Hijri astronomy in the Islamic world has been widely developed. And in the IV century. Muslim scholars laid the foundation for descriptive geography based on maps. Many orientalists write that in the Middle Ages, Arab geographers were the first in the field of knowledge of ways, roads and routes. They could accurately determine the length of the lines of communication. Among them are the geographers ibn Hardazabah and Abu al-Faraj ibn Jafar. In the school of Islamic geography, the book "Al-masalik wal-mamalik" ("Roads and provinces"), written by Ibn Hardazabah, is considered the first book. By origin, he was a Persian, worked as a postmaster in the mountainous province of Iran, Maydaya. He described in detail the sea routes leading to India and China, as well as to Central Asia, Byzantium and Andalusia, spoke about the culture, agriculture, flora and fauna of different countries, as well as trade routes between the East and Europe.
Abu al-Faraj Kudamat ibn Jafar headed the chancellery during the reign of al-Muqtadir Billahi al-Abasi (272 kh). He traveled to all regions of the Abbasid Caliphate, using his knowledge of history, people's life, and communication routes. He wrote the book "Al-Kharaj", which was constantly used by the caliph to understand the state of affairs in the Caliphate and to move troops to the required place.
The book "Al-Buldan" ("Cities and Countries") is one of the first works on geography. Its author is the historian-geographer Abul-Abbas Ahmad ibn Yaqub ibn Jafar, known as al-Yakubi. He made long journeys to Armenia, Iran, India, Egypt and Western countries.
In the IV century. X. Islamic geography, like other sciences, has been widely developed. Travel is the basis for descriptive geography, while astronomy is the basis for cartography. Islamic geography relied on maps created by al-Idrisi.
An outstanding geographer of the 4th century. Abul-Hasan Ali ibn al-Hussein al-Masudi, a descendant of the Companion of the Prophet (PBUH) Abdullah ibn Masud, visited the cities of the ancient world from India to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Red Sea to the Caspian Sea. He also visited Asia Minor and Iraq, and then settled in Egypt in 341 AH, where he died four years later. Of his books, the most famous are Marwaj al-Zahab (Gold Selling Place) and Madin ul-Jawkhar (Jewels Mining Place), which are translated into French was carried out in 1861 by orientalist Ernest Renan.
A special place in the development of geography is occupied by the Arab traveler ibn Fadlan. His journey in 309 AH. is still being studied by European researchers. Abu Ishaq al-Astarahi in his book "Roads and Provinces" divided the Islamic world into 20 geographical regions, described the borders, listed the cities and roads leading to them, as well as the life of the peoples, the conditions of trade and Agriculture. Abul-Qasim Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Khavkal was a merchant and from 336 to 340 AH. traveled around most of the cities of the Islamic world, visited Egypt, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
And in the period from 350 to 358 he visited Iraq, Khorasan and Persia. Shamsuddin Abu Abdullah ibn Abi Bakrin al-Maxidi, known as al-Bashari, is the most significant figure in classical Islamic geography. He visited most of the Islamic countries and wrote the book "Ahsan ut-taqasim fi marifat il-akalim" ("The best way of regional division in terms of climate"). One of the great connoisseurs of geography was Abdullah ibn Abi Musaib al-Akri (died 487 AH), who lived in Andalusia. Kut al-Hamawi also lived there. He owns works on the history of Western Asian countries, as well as the book "Muja-al-buldan" - the main reference book on geography.
Muhammad ibn Abdelziz al-Sharif al-Idrisi was considered the most famous among Muslim geographers. He developed a theory about the seven parts of the world, studied the above-mentioned Arabic translation of the "Geography" by the Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy. Al-Idrisi was born in 493 AH. 1100) in the Moroccan city of Ceuta. He studied at the University of Cordoba, visited the cities of Andalusia, France, England, North Africa. Making a pilgrimage, he visited Hijaz, Egypt, Asia Minor and Greece. Speaking about the Arab travelers-geographers, we cannot fail to mention the name of al-Idrisi's compatriot, Muhammad ibn Ab-dar-Rahim ibn Suleiman ibn Ra-big al-Granadi, nicknamed Abu Hamid. He was born in Grenada in 473 AH. His manuscript is kept in Madrid, at the Academy of Historical Sciences. In 500 h. Abu Hamid left Andalusia. He visited the most distant cities of Europe, then by sea went to Africa - Tunisia, Alexandria. He described the islands and volcanoes of the Mediterranean Sea, and also gave a detailed idea of one of the wonders of the world - the Lighthouse of Alexandria. He is considered the last Arab traveler who saw him in a complete state.
Sailing of the Arabs.
The navigation of the Arabs is mentioned in the ancient works of Strabo and Ptolemy. They write that maritime activities Arabs goes back in time. The sea is inextricably linked with the extraction of fish and marine animals, trade, as well as the desire to know other peoples and get to know their culture. Long journeys of experienced navigators gave the Arabs the opportunity to refine and expand their knowledge in the field of astronomy and geography.
The Arabs were the first to use the seasonal winds in trade voyages between the Red Sea and East Africa and India. The leading position of the Arabs in trade between East and West was due to the superiority of the ethics of trade relations. The Indian Ocean was open to anyone who wanted to compete with the Arabs in trade. At the same time, he was safe thanks to the generosity of the Arabs.
With the fading of Arab rule in Andalusia, an influx of adventurers from Europe and scientific delegations began to explore the eastern countries. At the beginning of the XVII century. Portugal and Spain began to conduct geographical surveys. The large profits that they received from trade with the East forced the European rulers to think about new ways to conduct trade. So, King Henry of Portugal sent several naval delegations to India through West Africa. The Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias was able to reach southern Africa and named the southern tip of the mainland the Cape of Storms. And in 1498, with the help of the famous Arab navigator Shihabuddin Ahmad ibn Majid, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reached the Cape of Storms and named it the Cape of Good Hope.
The eminent scholar Ahmad Zaki Basha confirmed that da Gama met with ibn Majid and found many maps and nautical devices from him. He also said that it was Ibn Majid who showed the Spaniard the way to India and led him there. Da Gama testified that the marine sciences among the Arabs are very developed. The confidence of Arab geographers that the Earth is spherical helped Christopher Columbus to arrive in India by sea through the west and, in the end, led to the discovery of a new continent - America.
Spiritual educational magazine "Islam", No. 1 (11), 2005.
52. What was the geographical knowledge of Arab and Malay merchants in the Middle Ages?
From the 6th century Arabs begin to play a prominent role in the development of world culture. By the beginning of the 8th century they created a huge state that covered the whole of Asia Minor, part of Central Asia, northwestern India, North Africa and most of the Iberian Peninsula. Among the Arabs, handicraft and trade prevailed over subsistence farming. Arab merchants traded with China and African countries. In the XII century. the Arabs learned of the existence of Madagascar, and according to some other sources, in 1420 Arab navigators reached the southern tip of Africa. I expanded the spatial horizons of the Arabs, the development of trade was of paramount importance. Already in the VIII century. geography in the Arab world was seen as "the science of postal communication" and "the science of paths and regions" (126). Description of travel becomes the most popular form of Arabic literature. From travelers of the VIII century. the most famous merchant Suleiman from Basra, who sailed to China and visited Ceylon, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as the island of Socotra.
In the writings of Arab authors, information of a nomenclature and historical-political nature predominates; nature, however, has received unjustifiably little attention. In the interpretation of physical and geographical phenomena, scientists who wrote in Arabic did not contribute anything essentially new and original. The main significance of Arabic literature of geographical content lies in new facts, but not in the theories to which it adhered. The theoretical ideas of the Arabs remained underdeveloped. In most cases, the Arabs simply followed the Greeks without bothering to develop new concepts.
Indeed, the Arabs collected a lot of material in the field of physical geography, but failed to process it into a coherent scientific system (126). In addition, they constantly mixed the creations of their imagination with reality. Nevertheless, the role of the Arabs in the history of science is very significant. Thanks to the Arabs, a new system of "Arabic" numbers, their arithmetic, astronomy, as well as Arabic translations of Greek authors, including Aristotle, Plato and Ptolemy, began to spread in Western Europe after the Crusades.
The works of the Arabs on geography, written in the VIII-XIV centuries, were based on a variety of literary sources. In addition, Arab scholars used not only translations from Greek, but also information received from their own travelers.
One of the earliest Arab travelers was Ibn Haukal. The last thirty years of his life (943-973) he devoted to traveling to the most remote and remote regions of Africa and Asia. During his visit to the east coast of Africa, at a point about twenty degrees south of the equator, he drew his attention to the fact that here, in these latitudes, which the Greeks considered uninhabited, a large number of people lived. However, the theory of the uninhabitedness of this zone, which was held by the ancient Greeks, was revived again and again, even in the so-called modern times.
Arab scientists own several important observations on the climate. In 921 Al Balkhi summarized information about climatic phenomena collected by Arab travelers in the first climatic atlas of the world - "Kitab al-Ashkal".
Masudi (died 956) penetrated as far south as present-day Mozambique and made a very accurate description of the monsoons. Already in the X century. he correctly described the process of evaporation of moisture from the water surface and its condensation in the form of clouds.
In 985 Makdisi proposed a new subdivision of the Earth into 14 climatic regions. He found that climate changes not only with latitude, but also westward and eastward. He also owns the idea that most of the southern hemisphere is occupied by the ocean, and the main land masses are concentrated in the northern hemisphere.
Some Arab geographers expressed correct ideas about the formation of the forms of the earth's surface.
Avicenna, or Ibn Sina , who had the opportunity to directly observe how mountain streams develop valleys in the mountains of Central Asia, also contributed to deepening knowledge about the development of the forms of the earth's surface. He owns the idea that the highest peaks are composed of hard rocks, especially resistant to erosion.
Ibn Battuta - one of the greatest Arab travelers of all times and peoples. He managed to visit those places of the Arabian Peninsula, where no one had been before him. He sailed the Red Sea, visited Ethiopia. Ibn Battuta confirmed what Ibn Haukal insisted on, namely, that the hot zone of East Africa was not sizzling hot and that it was inhabited by local tribes who did not oppose the establishment of trading posts by the Arabs.
Returning to Mecca, he soon sets off again, visits Baghdad, travels around Persia and the lands adjacent to the Black Sea. Following through the Russian steppes, he eventually reached Bukhara and Samarkand, and from there through the mountains of Afghanistan came to India.
