Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on transliteration
- Abbreviations
- PART I BACKGROUND
- PART II POLITICAL–ECONOMIC RELATIONS
- PART III INTERMEDIARIES
- PART IV CULTURAL EXCHANGE
- 12 Historiography
- 13 Geography and cartography
- 14 Agriculture
- 15 Cuisine
- 16 Medicine
- 17 Astronomy
- 18 Printing
- PART V ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
- Bibliography
- Index
- Other titles in the series
13 - Geography and cartography
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on transliteration
- Abbreviations
- PART I BACKGROUND
- PART II POLITICAL–ECONOMIC RELATIONS
- PART III INTERMEDIARIES
- PART IV CULTURAL EXCHANGE
- 12 Historiography
- 13 Geography and cartography
- 14 Agriculture
- 15 Cuisine
- 16 Medicine
- 17 Astronomy
- 18 Printing
- PART V ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
- Bibliography
- Index
- Other titles in the series
Summary
As indicated in the preceding chapter, there was a considerable body of geographical data incorporated into the Collected Chronicles. According to Rashīd al-Dīn, the historical narrative was to be “accompanied by maps [ṣuvar] of the climes, routes and countries.” This work, he continues, “composed in two parts, will form an appendix to the aforementioned Chronicle.” Further on, he expands upon this, stating that his geographical treatise presents:
maps of the climes, countries, routes and distances, researched and authenticated to the extent possible [on the bases] of that which previously had been known in this country [Iran] and described in books and [from] that which, in this fortunate age, the philosophers and learned men of India, South China, France, North China, etc., found in their books and subsequently verified. All of this, in substance and detail, has been affirmed in this, the Third Volume [devoted to geography].
In the Arabic and Persian digests of Rashīd al-Dīn's literary output, his geographical compendium, entitled the Ṣuvar al-āqālīm, or “Configuration of Climes,” is further described. According to these texts, this work constitutes volume four, not three, of the Collected Chronicles.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia , pp. 103 - 114Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001