Question

Who was Al-Idrisi?

Answer 1

Hint: Al Idrisi who was the famous Arab geographer and an advisor to Roger II. He got his nickname from a family of Caliph Idris because he belonged to the family, who was the ruler of Cardova. There are not many records of the early life of Al Idrisi except that he was born in Ceuta.

Complete answer: Al Idrisi was born in Ceuta in 1100 and was a famous Arab geographer. He received his education from the University of Cardova in Spain. It was after an invitation from the ruler of Sicily, Roger II that he lived at Palermo for a long time and wrote new geography.
Al Idrisi has made immense contributions to the world map. He plotted various geographical features for which he used the Islamic and Christian sources. His maps were based on rectangular and rough projections. On his map, the richest region was the Asiatic part in terms of information. It represents the parts of Aral and Caspian seas which were earlier misinterpreted. He also showed the division of the Greek world into five climatic zones, two temperate, two cold and one torrid zone and had suggested a more defined world climatic system.

Note: His maps were oriented with the south on the top which was a common feature of Islamic maps. In the half of the 12th century, he gave an account of Europe which was unrivalled during that time and corrected the idea of Indian Ocean and the idea of the Caspian Sea as a gulf of the World Ocean. He had visited various places such as France, England, Lisbon, Spain, Morocco etc. In 1154 he wrote a book called The title of Amusements for Him who Desires to Travel around the world. In this book, he corrected the wrong notion of the Indian Ocean.