El İdrisi

El İdrisi


El Idrisi was born in 1100 in Septe. He is a famous Arab traveler, cartographer, and geographer. He was the founder of the Idris dynasty. El Idrisi is a descendant of the 1st Urdisi. There is very little information we have about El Idrisi. He completed his education in Kurtuba. He traveled extensively in Spain and North Africa. He has a very famous geography book. This famous geography book was written under the name I. Nüzhetü’l-müştak fi’htirakı’l-afak.

After the book was completed, it was presented to 2.Roger. Other known names of the book are Kitabu Rucar and El Kitabü’r Rücar. This work has been designed considering climates. In the book, 7 different climates are arranged in ten jets. Apart from the map at the entrance, there are also maps at the beginning of each climate wall. While Idrisi was writing his work, he used the geography book of Ptolemy. The book also benefited from medicinal plants. Idrisi, as a close follower of Ptolemy, has also made changes in some of his maps while making use of Ptolemy's geography in his work.

In this work he wrote, he divided the world into two using the equator. He stated that living things cannot survive in the Southern Hemisphere due to climate, that is to say, extreme temperatures. It divided the Northern Hemisphere into 7 different climatic zones. He studied 7 different climatic zones from the Equator to the north. He also mentioned gravity in his work. It is seen that the objects falling in the sky and the magnet sample are mentioned in the book. The book is very important in this regard. It is the first comprehensive work on geography written in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages.

This work, called Nüzhetül Müştak, is a geography book with realistic and detailed information about Europe. The map of most Western European countries in the Middle Ages was drawn for the first time in such a realistic way. The book has been the subject of many translations. It is a preferred book for education in universities. The translation of the book has been published as 9 fascicles. Almost all of them are in French. There are also different works of El Idrisi. Apart from Nüzhetül Müştak, his other works are Ünsü'l Mühec and Ravzü'l Ferec, El-Câmi 'li-Şıfâtı Eştâti'n-Nebât and Durûbi Envâci'l-Müfredât Mine'l-Eşcâr Ve's-Simâr Ve'l-Hasâ' business. 

Nüzhetül Müştak is a pioneer in map drawing. It is a book that costs about 15 years of Al Idrisi, who lived 350 years before Piri Reis. During the preparation of the book, many geography books were used as well as conversations with ship captains and travelers. The world map of El Idrisi, which thinks that the world has a sphere-like shape, is a very large study describing the geography of the world. El Idrisi passed away in Palermo in 1166.