Abstract: By comparing with previous travelogues and geographical works, this paper analyzes the changes of Arab travelogues and geographies in the 13th~14th century in terms of research sources and writing forms, research themes and research methods, research horizons and narrative contents, and discusses the literary, geographical and historical value of Arab travelogues and geographies in this period based on the relevant documents, and believes that these documents have high reference value for the study of the Silk Road in this period. Regarding the historical value of the early Arabic texts, Mr. Zhang Guangda's "The Significance of Excavated Documents and Muslim Geographical Works for the Study of the Historical Geography of Central Asia" and his "Preface" for the Chinese translation of Ibn Huldaz's Chronicles of the Dauribang. [2] Na Zhong et al., "Inheritance and Blending: Arab Culture" [3], Cai Weiliang edited "The Splendid Abbasid Culture" [4], and the humble essay "Arab-Islamic Geoscience and History" and "Arab-Islamic Geo Literature and Its Research" [5], which also sorted out and discussed the Arab public opinion literature before the 12th century. In the 13th century, the Mongols conquered Central Asia and West Asia and established the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate. Against this backdrop, many Arabic literati, geographers, and travelers embarked on inquisitive journeys along the Silk Road, measuring the earth while using their bodies and minds to perceive the vicissitudes of the world and religious doctrines. They not only inherited the 500-year-old tradition of combining Arab history and geography, but also added philosophical thinking to the literature and travelogues they wrote, and carried out pure research on geoscience, so as to make the literature and travelogues of Arabian geographies in the 13th ~ 14th centuries unique and develop Arab geographies to a new height. For the study of the Arabic literature of this period, Chinese scholars have mainly focused on the Travels of Ibn Battuta. In addition, Dr. Ge Tieying's "China in Ancient Arabic Books: A Case Study of Historical Works" mentions the record of Chinese porcelain in Yakobby's Gazetteer. [6] Dr. Guo Yun's "Research on Arab Geography in the Middle Ages" and "China in Arabic Geographical Classics" [7] discuss the development of Arab geography in the 9th ~ 15th centuries, involving the characteristics and achievements of Arab geography in the 13th ~ 14th centuries, but do not compare them with the relevant works of the previous period. What are the changes and characteristics of Arabic geographical works in the 13th ~ 14th centuries, and what are their historical values, these questions still need to be further explored. 1. 13th~14th Century Arab Opinion Literature and Travelogue and Its Edition13~14th century, more than 30 Arab documents and travelogues appeared, among which the representative works are: 1. 'Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī (1162~1231), born in Baghdad, Iraq, died in Baghdad, and completed the "Egyptian Observations" (also known as "Abd al-Latif" in the 600th year of the Hiji calendar (1203 AD). Riḥlatuh 'Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādīfī Miṣr, Egyptian Book Directorate, Cairo, 1998. 2. Yākūt al-Ḥamawī (1179~1229) is the author of the Dictionary of Geographical Names, the Dictionary of Geographical Names, and the Observation of Geographical Names, etc., which was completed in 1224 and edited by Farid Abdul Aziz Judi, published by Beirut Science Book Publishing House in 1990. 3. 'Abd al-Wāhid al-Marrākushī (1185~1250), born in Marrakech, Morocco, died in an unknown place, completed al-Mu'jibfī Talkhīṣ Akhbār al-Maghrib (Maghrib Chronicle) in 621 A.D. (1224 AD), Beirut Modern Bookstore, published in 2006. 4. Zakarīyā al-Kazwīnī (1203~1283) is the author of "Monuments and Human Chronicles of Places" (
), Kītāb'Adjāīb al-Makhlūkāt (completed in 1280) and Egyptian Cadastre, Zweiter Theil compiled Kazwini's Chronicles of Monuments and Mankind in various places, and Kītāb āthār al-bilād wa Akhbār (Chronicles of Architecture and Humanity of Nations). al-'bilād) (Göttingen, 1848, 8-folio, 418 pages). The first two books were republished under the titles 'Ajā'ib al-Makhlūqātwa-Gharā'ib al-Mawjūdātāt, Beirut: Al-Alami Book Company, 2000) and Āthār al-Bilādwa-Akhbār al-'Ibād (Beirut: Soder Press, 1960). The book "Wonders of the World and Treasures of All Things" has been translated and published in Persian, Turkish and German, and is highly recognized. 5. Abū'l-Hasan'Ali Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribī (1208 or 1214~1274 or 1286) was the author of Kitāb al-Jughrāfiyā (Geographical Chronicles) and Maghreb in Western Treasures (also known as the Maghreb Book), a manuscript of the Geographical Chronicles (i.e., a collection and summary of Ptolemy's geographical books on the seven climatic zones (zones) Kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, No. 2234 in Arabic, published in 1970 by the Commercial Press in Beirut and later by the Historical Press of Beirut in 1980. 6. The Travels of Abu Darei by Al-Abu Daare (13th century A.D.)
Edited by Ali Ibrahim al-Kurdi, published by the Saduddin Printing House in Damascus in 1999, 738 pages. 7. Muḥammad al-'Abdarīal-Ḥāḥī, ?) ~c. 1325), born in Ḥāḥā, Morocco, died in Haha, and author of al-Riḥlatuh al-Maghribīyah (Algiers: Bona Research Company, 2007). 8. The Strange Essence of the Land and Sea (Nukhbah al-Dahr fī Adjā'ib al-Barr wa al-Baḥ) by Shams al-dīn Abū 'Abdallah Sūfi al-Dimashqī (654~727/1256~1327 A.D.), written by the Danish orientalist Mehren Dimassky's Cosmology was published under the title "St. Petersburg: Press of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1865); In 1923, Melan's edition was republished with an added preface. 9. Abd Allāh al-Tijānī (1272~1318)'s Riḥlatuh al-Tijānī (Travels) (Riḥlatuh al-Tijānī), which truthfully recorded what he saw and heard during his journey from Tunisia to Tripoli, Libya in the early 14th century, and left a rich record of North Africa during that period, and the more authoritative version is now published by the Arab Book Press in Tripoli, Libya, in 1981. 10. Abū al-Fidā' (672~732 / 1273~1331 A.D.) is the author of A Concise General History of Mankind and Taqwīm al-Buldān (Taqwīm al-Buldān, also known as Cadastral Maps of Various Places, and Geography of Abu Fidān), of which the Chronicles of the Kingdoms was photocopied and published by the Soder Publishing House in Beirut, the year of publication is unknown. 11. Ibn al-Wardī's (1290~1349) Kitāb Kharīdat al'-adjāïb wa farīdat al-gharāïb, also known as Strange Treasures, Liang Daoyuan's research verified that the book "Strange Treasures" (he translated as "Miracles of Pure Pearls and Rare Pearls") was not written by Ibn al-Wardī (1290~1349), but by his grandson Sirāj al-Dīn al-Wardī，？ ~1457), written in 1419, 70 years after Ibn al-Waldy's death. [8] 12. Masālik al-Abṣār fī Mamālik al-Amṣār, "Records of the Journeys of the Kingdoms" (Masālik al-Abṣār fī Mamālik al-Amṣār) (Masālik al-Abṣār fī Mamālik al-Amṣār) (Masālik al-Abṣār fī Mamālik al-Amṣār) (Masālik al-Abṣār fī Mamālik al-Amṣār) is "one of the three major encyclopedias of the Mamluk period" and the largest geographical work of the 14th century. Nijim's proofreading book, published by Beirut Academic Books Publishing House in 2010, is divided into 27 volumes. 13. Ibn Baṭūṭṭa (c. 1304~1378[9]) Tuḥfah al-Nuẓẓār fī Gharā'ib al-Amṣārwa-'Ajā'ib al-Asfār, the Chinese translation is Ibn Battuta's Travels, with nearly 500,000 words and rich content, and is an important reference book for the study of Asian and African history in the 14th century. The best book available today is the 5-volume edition published in 2007 by the Royal Moroccan Academy of Sciences in Rabat. The more complete Chinese translation is the Li Guangbin translation, which consists of 17 chapters and 21 appendices. [10] 14. Ibn Khaldūn (732~808 / 1332~1406 AD) "Riḥlatuh Ibn Khaldūn" and "Introduction to History", of which "Ibn Khaldūn's Travels" was published in Beirut Academic Books Publishing House, 2004. Ibn Khaldun wrote an account of his life and his travels between East and West, as well as letters and poems of his own composition, in his Travels, which ended in 807 A.D., a year before his death. 2. Characteristics of Arab Texts and Travelogues in the 13th~14th CenturiesCompared with the previous period (10th~12th century AD), the 13th~14th century Arab Texts and Travelogues show different characteristics. This is mainly manifested in the following aspects: 1. Changes in research sources and forms of writing. In the past, Arabic geography developed from the traveler's chronicles and the navigator's voyages, and the forms of writings such as the traveler's chronicles and the voyages accounted for a large proportion of Arabic geography writings. In the past, the sources of geographical records were mainly the geographical records and voyages of Greece, India, and Persia, as well as materials obtained from various sources, such as anecdotes brought by navigators, records of travelers and pilgrims, pictures and archives of government posts and taxation departments, books and books of money valleys, local post newspapers, administrative reports of governors, practical knowledge of mountains and rivers, and itineraries from merchants and travelers, as well as information on territories, mountains, rivers, cities, passes, fortresses, populations, products, taxes, customs, and folk customs. In this way, Arabic classical geography is given a special style. For example, Ibn Huldazbih (c. the first half of the 9th century) wrote Kitab al-Masalik wal-Mamalik and Abu Hasan al-Ma'sūdī (c. 912~956 A.D.) The Golden Grassland and the Jewel Treasure (Chinese translation of the Golden Grassland). Even the various "Geographical Chronicles" and "Chronicles of Terroir" have more characteristics that describe geography. Since the 13th century, there has been a great decline in works such as the Chronicle of Travels and Voyages, while the number of geographical works that combine history and geography and explore social changes has greatly increased. Arab geographers relied mainly on the geographical writings of their predecessors to carry out their research. After more than 200 years of Arabic translation movement (8~10th century) and nearly 400 years (9~12th century) of Arabic geoscience, Arabic geoscience has a profound cultural accumulation. By the 13th century, Arab travelers and geographers were able to make full use of the research and writings of their predecessors. In their works, the accounts of a certain place are often listed from the writings of many predecessors, and the anecdotal materials of the past are discarded. When Arab geographers acquired new, contemporary geographic information that contradicted Ptolemaic geographical knowledge and the accounts of their predecessors, they no longer tried to merge them, but gave their own insights. For example, in his research, Abu Feida cited Mūsā al-Khuwārīzmī (780~849) The Astronomical Table, Mesodhi's Golden Meadow and the Jewel Treasure, al-Yakūbī (died 897) The Chronicles of the Kingdoms, al-Bīrūnī (973~1048) Principles of Astronomy and Astrology, al-Edrīsī, After 1099~1155), the Gazetteer of Yakuts, and the geographical works of Ibn Sa'id, he added various information about the geographical locations and properties of the world. Al-Qazwini's Chronicle of the World's Curiosities and Treasures, in its descriptions of geography, curiosities, and anecdotes, often cites the accounts of several Arab geographers, such as Zakariyā ar-Razī, Ibn al-Fakīh, Yahyā bin Khākān, and Māhān bin Bahr. Let the reader learn as much as possible about the exotic flora, fauna and customs of the area. [11] 2. Changes in research themes and research methods. Before the middle of the 10th century, many writers of geographical literature were travelers themselves, and their purpose of writing and research was either for taxation, postal service, or for exploration and curiosity, and their purpose was more to tell people "what the world is like", so that readers could understand the geographical distance between places, the location of various places, the race, language, religious beliefs, and living conditions of the inhabitants of various places, which made Arabic geographical works and travelogues full of curiosity and adventure. Their research methods were more based on fieldwork as the main research method, relying on experience and maps to carry out fieldwork for the purpose of traveling, and synthesizing observations into Ptolemaic geography. They developed descriptive geography through travelogues written from fieldwork. For example, Khorezmi's "Topographies", Yaqupi's "Chronicles of the Kingdoms", Ibn Huldazbih's "Chronicles of the Nations", etc. The historical, humanistic and social information contained in their works requires readers and researchers to screen and judge the authenticity of their works. In these works, there is little analysis of historical events and figures, and there is also a lack of exploration of historical theory. Therefore, we cannot use them as purely historiographical works. In the 10th century, Arab geographers and travelers were no longer satisfied with observing and recording, but tried to distinguish the authenticity of the data and explore the reasons for the differences and changes in the humanities and societies, and the trend of combining geography and history began to appear. It took him about 40 years and several expeditions to India to complete the Chronicles of India, but this book is not a geographical work in the narrow sense, it is first and foremost a work about Indian thought and culture, and only a small part of the 80 chapters of the book are purely geographical knowledge, so it should be classified more as a treatise on ideas than a work on geography. Through Biruni's efforts, geoscience in the true sense of the word was formed. By the 13th century, this trend of historical and geographical integration, initiated by Mesodi and Biruni, developed into the mainstream. Many geographers are also historians, and their research focuses more on exploring the truth of knowledge and the differences between different societies, and exploring the changes in societies and their causes. In order to achieve this goal, their research methods have also changed, fieldwork and documentary research have been more closely combined, through the comparison and synthesis of many materials of their predecessors, the documentary accounts and the data obtained from travel investigations are mutually corroborated, correcting the errors of their predecessors, and introducing historical research methods, focusing on the exploration of material and cultural exchanges, the social value of natural products, and the changes in society and history in various places, and carrying out pure academic research. In the 13th ~ 14th century, many Arab geographers and historians were also great travelers, who took expeditions as the main means of collecting scientific research materials, and cross-examined the information obtained from the expeditions with the records of their predecessors. For example, Yakutia traveled from Mosul in Iraq to Syria and Egypt, and traveled east, across Asia, to Khorasan, where he traveled to Mulu (Moufu), Khiva, and Balkh, and spent two years looking through all the books in the Mulu Library. Ibn Sa'id made a pilgrimage to Mecca and traveled to Egypt, Baghdad, Aleppo, Damascus, Armenia and other places. He visited 36 libraries in Baghdad and took many notes and collected a large amount of material. For a long time, Yakutia's Gazetteer was the only geographical dictionary available to Central and West Asian scholars and travelers who studied the East. [12] In this work, in addition to describing the earth and its mountains, seas, islands, climates, cities, local products, and people, Yakutia pays special attention to the social outlook and social phenomena of various countries, the most notable of which is the phenomenon of population migration, its causes and effects. He also gave a comprehensive review of the activities of Arab tribes in and around the Arabian Peninsula, documented the cultural conditions of each country, introduced the scholars, poets and writers among them, as well as the major cultural institutions of the time, such as mosques and libraries, and their influence on Islamic civilization, as well as the main monuments of each country, and told the stories and myths associated with these monuments. When discussing the location of a place in the Chronicles of the Kingdoms (The Geographical Chronicles of Abul Fida), Abel Fida often listed the accounts of several geographers, and added various information such as the geographical location and properties of various parts of the earth that he had mastered, so that readers could understand the relevant information and the errors of his predecessors, and correct the accounts of geographers in the past, especially in terms of geographical coordinates. He once accurately described the latitude and longitude of Quanzhou, China. [13] This reflects the latest knowledge of the Silk Roads by Arab travelers and geographers. 3. The research horizon and the content of the description have changed greatly. Unlike the travelers and geographers of the past, who mainly focused on the Islamic world and its curiosities, customs and customs, during this period, their research horizon was broader, and the scope of their research was more focused on the world outside Islam, and their research fields involved many disciplines other than geography, history, and astronomy, and they often combined physical geography, human geography, history and culture to focus on ethnic, material and cultural exchanges along the Silk Road. For example, Ibn Khaldūn (1332~1406) of Tunisia used his philosophical theory of history to analyze the events he experienced in his Travels in Ibn Khaldūn (1332~1406). In the "Introduction to History" (the Chinese translation of "Introduction to History"), he also analyzed the characteristics of the Arab nation and other nations, and bluntly said that the Arab nation has the characteristics of being militant and warlike, winning over autocracy, subjugating other peoples, treating them as cattle and horses, and having no sense of statehood. [14] He is known as the "founder of the philosophy of social history" in Arabia. Al-Omily's Journey Through the Kingdoms is an encyclopedia of history and geography, which is extremely rich in content on the earth, people, people, animals, mountains, rivers, seas, islands, architecture, etc., which is difficult to find in other works. The author explores geography, astronomy, oceanography, architecture, history, literature, linguistics, philosophy, law, musicology and other disciplines. During this period, most travelers and geographers did not set foot in the eastern part of the Middle East, but they still paid attention to the products and customs of Southeast Asia and China. For example, Ibn Waldi barely hiked, but in his Book of Miracles he wrote extensively about Southeast Asia and the China Sea. [15] Abor Fida was not a full-time traveler, but traveled mainly in Egypt, most of the Sham region, and parts of eastern Asia Minor, but his travelogues documented India, Iran, Khorasan, China, the Indonesian archipelago, and the China Sea. 3. The value of Arab documents and travelogues in the 13th ~ 14th centuries 1.The literary value of Arab travelogue works In this period, most of the Arab travelogue works in the form of narration, dialogue, and description, the most common is narrative, and its literary value is reflected in this narrative writing style. Many of the travelogues resemble the sketches of painters, trying to be concise and straightforward, rather than seeking ornate rhetoric. Arab travelogue literature absorbs the style of novels, poems, dramas and other literary forms, but is not subject to the standards and standards of these literary forms, it is rich in content, integrates literature, legends, myths, sometimes scientific, sometimes popular, sometimes realistic, sometimes legendary, also harmonious and solemn, contrasting with each other, unique literary characteristics, so it has a unique position in the development of the history of Arab-Islamic literature in the Middle Ages. After the 11th century, although some literary works, especially some historical books, still provided the geographical knowledge that the author had witnessed with his own eyes, pure geographical works were more and more inclined to literary collation of the materials of the predecessors, which added literary color to the geographical chronicles. [16] The literary characteristics of the Arab travelogue of this period are remarkably represented in the Travels of Ibn Khaldun. The travelogue contains a large number of poetic references from others, as well as many poems written by Ibn Khaldun himself, reflecting that he was a poet of great literary origin. From the beginning of the 12th century, the form of "writing" of travelers' travelogues changed, no longer in the form of the well-known "Daoli Chronicles", but in the form of a diary to record the details of what they saw and heard every day. The founder of this form of travelogue was the jurist Ibn al-Arabi (1070~1148), an Iberian who came to Arabia to study after the fall of the Ibadia dynasty, and traveled to Sham, Iraq, Hijaz, Egypt and other places before returning to Andalusia. He recorded his daily itinerary in detail and wrote a follow-up work "Travel" (or translated "Travel Arrangement"), which unfortunately has been dispersed. Ibn Arabi was followed by Ibn Jubeir (1145~1217), who, with his great literary skill, made the journal-form travelogue mainstream. Two centuries later, Ibn Battuta created a new style of travelogue that further advanced the development of Arab travelogue literature. Ibn Battuta's new travelogue style resembles a mixture of a diary and a story. This is different from the station-by-station account of Ibn Huldaz al-Bih and others, and from the form of al-Biruni et al. in the form of toponymic entries and Ibn Sa'id according to climatic zones. Ibn Battuta is a record of what the traveler saw and heard, and the records of the Daoli and geography are combined with the author's observations, and each story has a beginning and an end, reflecting the local politics, religious beliefs, social systems, social management, economy, culture and customs, etc., and is full of the author's feelings and experiences, and the personal emotions are overflowing on the page. The vocabulary used by Ibn Battuta was not written, but varied, not avoiding village slang, some catchy, others condescending. He sometimes writes long stories about trivial things, but briefly about interesting things that many readers want to know more about. He is meticulous in his observations, discerning and profound, and he makes good use of comparative methods to have unique observations and experiences on the rise and fall of cultures and the differences between civilizations, and put them into writing. Since he lost his diary during his travels and left his travelogues dictated in his later years, errors and omissions in his memories were inevitable. 2. The academic value of Arab travelogues and geographical documents in this periodThe Arab travelogues of this period are not only literary works, but also contain a large amount of knowledge of physical geography and human geography, reflecting the degree of understanding of nature and society of Arab travelers. Arab travelers came into contact with and observed nature and people during their travels, and recorded them, and recorded a large number of geographical, astronomy, historical, customs, products, and economic details in their travel notes, which provided great convenience for the research of future generations. During this period, the Arabic geographical works had the characteristics of combining history and geography, having a broad research horizon and research scope, mutual corroboration of documents and travel investigations, and paying attention to the ethnic, material and cultural exchanges along the Silk Road, which determined that they had a different value from previous geographical records. (1) The Arab-Islamic geographical writings of this period broke through the barriers of the Ptolemaic geographical system in many aspects, corrected some erroneous views of predecessors, and supplemented a large amount of new knowledge about physical geography, human geography, and east-west transportation. For example, Qazwini saw the world differently than his predecessors. In The Chronicle of the World's Curiosities and Curiosities, Qazwini draws a new map of the world based on a sketch of the world drawn by Biruni, which is different from Biruni's. For example, on Qazwini's map, the Nile River splits Africa in half, making the western part of the continent an isolated island; The Caspian Sea is correctly depicted as an inland lake (another small circle in the interior of Asia represents the Aral Sea), however, the Mediterranean Sea is transformed into a small harbor, and the shape of the European continent is seriously distorted. Kazwini's Catalogue of the World's Curiosities and Treasures was translated into Persian, Turkic, Urdu, etc., and was widely circulated until the 16th century. [17]
A Brief Map of the World Drawn by Biruni (Above) A World Map from Kazwini's "Strange Objects and Treasures of the World"[18] (Below) Samstindi Masksky's "A Collection of Land and Sea Wonders" describes the "Seven Climatic Zones" and natural solar terms, the products and customs of the Silk Road by sea and land, and some ancient ruins, among which he divided the second climatic zone (zone) between 20°~27°N, from east to west there are eastern China, Tibra (near Chittagong in the Bay of Bengal), the country of Kamowibo (present-day Assam), Qunu City, Ujjain, part of Shinde, Persian Gulf, etc. However, according to the records of Khorazmi, the second climate zone (zone) is located between 16°27′~24°N,[19] and there is a big difference between the two. From the perspective of academic heritage, Ibn Sa'id belonged to the "Iraqi school" of the classical Arabic school of geography, but he added a lot of new material and knowledge. For example, he supplemented the geographical knowledge of Ptolemy's book Bast al-ard; According to the writings of Ibn Fātima,[20] he added the relatively accurate latitude and longitude coordinates of each region and discussed the geographical and human conditions of each region by segment in each of the seven climatic zones. He divided China into the 9th-10th and third climatic zones of the second climatic zone, and China's "capital city of Tadja is located in the third climatic zone (zone)", and recorded the cities of Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Xi'an, etc., the medicinal herb rhubarb produced in China, and China's shipbuilding technology. He said: "The port of Quanzhou is located at 154 degrees east longitude and 17 degrees and 0a few minutes north latitude," and "those merchants who went to China were very familiar with the situation in the port of Quanzhou." All ships from the China Sea had to enter the port (Quanzhou) ......"[21](2) (2) Many rare accounts of predecessors have been quoted and preserved, which are very precious. Yakutia's Gazetteer is a veritable encyclopedia, which not only collects the geography of the time, but also contains many valuable materials in history, ethnography, and natural science. Content and maps from Introduction to Principles of Astrology. The book's accounts of India, Central Asia, and China are drawn mainly from al-Biruni's Chronicles of India and other Arabic geographical sources; Accounts of China come from the writings of Abul Qasim al-Zajaki, Al-Mufadjdja', Abu Sa'd, and others. [22] Some of the materials cited in the Gazetteer of Yakutia have been dispersed and are very valuable. [23] For example, the Travels of Abu Draf al-Midhal ibn al-Meharhar, an Arab poet and traveler from the first half of the 10th century. This travelogue recounts the journey of Abu Draff al-Mizar to China with a Chinese delegation visiting the Samanid Dynasty in the 40s of the 10th century, and is of high historical value for the study of the communication between Central Asia and China in the first half of the 10th century, and the exchanges between the Samanid Dynasty and China. (3) The accounts of transportation, products, and human geography of the Silk Road (especially the Maritime Silk Road) are very rich and have high historical value. In addition to continuing to describe the natural conditions and human living conditions on the earth, the Arab travelogues and geographical documents of this period paid more attention to the influence of nature and climate on products and navigation, the construction of ports in various places, the size and navigation capacity of ships, the orientation and distance of ports along the route, the situation of ethnic groups and tribes along the Maritime Silk Road, and special properties. The concern of nautical routes and island products is of high historical value. For example, as early as the 11th century, the Maghreb Shutta-born geographer al-Edrīsī (after 1099~1155) recorded in his Chronicles of the Terroirs of the Kingdoms that sugar cane was cultivated in the Dībadjat (Maldives archipelago) in the Bay of Bengal. [24] Samsdin Dimaschi, in his Wonders of the Sea and Land, further records that sugar cane and cinnamon trees grew on the island of Dībā, and that there were cacao trees on the island of Maharaja, "the cacao fruit was so fat and delicious that it could be used to extract oil, make juice, and make wine and vinegar." This reflects that the earliest cane sugar consumed by the Arabs was mainly Bengal sugar, and that cocoa as an Arab drink may have been in the early 13th century. This was one of the earliest references to cocoa and its uses by Arab geographers. For example, Ibn Battuta's Travels takes great pains to record his journey from the east coast of India (the Malabar Coast) to Sumatra, the South China Sea, Guangzhou, and Quanzhou. Whether Ibn Battuta visited China or not, these accounts reflect the voyages of Arab merchants to China. He also described the merchant ships of the countries in the port of Khargut (i.e., the Chinese as Guli, on the north coast of present-day Kerala, India), the size of Chinese ships, the production of spices in Southeast Asia, and the business of Muslim merchants in China. [25] This reflects the flourishing trade between China and Southeast Asia in the first half of the 14th century. In the book, he faithfully recorded the customs and habits of various countries and the lives of people from all walks of life. From the common people, religious figures, celebrities, well-known scholars, government dignitaries, and even imperial concubines, etc., there are excellent descriptions of their diet, daily life, customs, national costumes, moral demeanor, religious beliefs, court etiquette, legal system, and wars, murders, assassinations, etc., which occurred during Ibn Battuta's stay. [26] Regarding the value of Ibn Battuta's Travels, Krachkovsky commented: "Ibn Battuta was a strong competitor to his contemporaries and to Marco Polo, who was older than him. Of course, Ibn Battuta of Tangier had a natural understanding of world civilization, and he described the world in much more ways than Marco Polo of Venice described, and Muslim travelers were more credible than his Christian contemporaries. [27] During this period, Arab travelers and geographers paid more attention to the Maritime Silk Road and its knowledge and information about medicine, spices, and other products that were closely related to their own lives, and these accounts were even the most important documents of the Maritime Silk Road during this period, reflecting the material and cultural exchanges and inter-state exchanges between Asia and Africa before the opening of the new shipping routes. For example, Ibn al-Baytār (1197?) ~1248), the "Collection of Pharmacology" and the "Glossary of Medicine and Food", which recorded the medical value of various incense medicines, and described the medicinal functions of aconitum (grass black), musk, rhubarb, and bezoar from Chinese materia medica, reflecting the historical facts of the influence of Chinese medicine on Arabia. Dimaski's "Wonders of the Sea and Land" records that there are pepper coasts off the coast of Malabar in India, aloe vera and cinnamon trees grow on Champa Island, and camphor, pepper, lilac and cinnamon trees in North Sumatra. [28] In summary, in the 13th ~ 14th century, the sources and forms of writings of Arab travelers and geographers changed, and their research methods also changed. Their research horizons are broader, and their research scope is more concerned with the world outside Islam, and their research fields cover many disciplines other than geography and astronomy, such as literature, history, philosophy, religion, and jurisprudence. The Arab geographical works of this period not only have high literary value, create a new genre of travelogues, but also have high scientific value, and their scientific value is mainly reflected in breaking through the barriers of Ptolemaic's geographical system, correcting the erroneous views of some predecessors, and recording and preserving the historical facts of the material and cultural exchanges on the Maritime Silk Road during this period, which have high historical value. Note[1] This paper is the interim result of the 2017 major project of the National Social Science Fund of China, "Literature Collation and Research on the 'Silk Road' in the 13th-14th Century" (Project No.: 17ZDA256). [2] Zhang Guangda, "The Significance of Unearthed Documents and Muslim Geographical Works for the Study of the Historical Geography of Central Asia" (Part I) and (Part II), Journal of Xinjiang University, No. 1, 1984, pp. 57~64; No. 2, pp. 55~63; [Arabic] by Ibn Huldazbih; Translated by Song Xian, "Preface" of Daoli Bang Guozhi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1991, pp. 1~22. [3] Na Zhong et al., Inheritance and Integration: Arab Culture, Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 1993. [4] Cai Weiliang, ed., The Splendid Abbasid Culture, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1997. [5] Xu Xuya, "Arab-Islamic Geoscience and History", Studies in Historical Theory, No. 4, 1996, pp. 82~88; Xu Xuya, "Arab-Islamic Texts and Their Research", edited by Huang Shijian, "East-West Exchange", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1998, pp. 433~456. [6] Ge Tieying, "China in Ancient Arabic Books: A Case Study of Historical Works", Ph.D. dissertation, Shanghai Foreign Chinese University, 2008, p.90. [7] Guo Yun, Research on Medieval Arab Geography, Shandong University Press, 2016; Guo Yun: China in the Arabic Geographical Classics, The Commercial Press, 2020. [8] [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng and Mugenlai, Annotations on the Oriental Literature of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, Zhonghua Book Company, 1989, pp. 451~452. Liang Daoyuan said that Ibn Waldi was born and died in 1292~1349. See Liang Daoyuan, ed., Catalogue of Ancient Arab Historians and Their Works, Social Sciences Academic Press, 2021, pp. 514~515. Guo Yun recorded the year of Ibn Waldi's birth and death as 1392~1457/1446, and it is suspected that she may have combined the two grandchildren into one. See Guo Yun, China in the Arabic Geographical Texts, p. 181. [9] It is also said that Ibn Battuta was born in 1300 or 1303. See [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, People, p. 472, note 1. [10] [Morocco] dictated by Ibn Battuta; [Moroccan] Zhu Steroid Transcript; Translated by Li Guangbin, Wonders of a Strange Land: The Travels of Ibn Battuta (Full Translation), Ocean Publishing House, 2008. [11] [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Turkic Peoples, pp. 324~329. [12] C.I. Huart, Arabic Documents, Paris, 1902, pp. 302~303. Quoted from Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Annotations to the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Turkic Peoples, pp. 219~220. [13] [French] Yuar, Arabic Documents, p. 202. Quoted from Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Turkic Peoples, pp. 346~347. [14] [Tunisia] by Ibn Khaldun; Translated by Chen Keli, Introduction to History, Chinese Publishing House, 2017, pp. 102~110; [Egypt] by Ahmed Aimin; Translated by Na Chung, A History of Arab-Islamic Culture, Vol. 1, The Commercial Press, 1982, pp. 34~39. [15] [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Annotations to the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Turkic Peoples, pp. 452~471. [16] Li Ling, "An Overview of Arab Travelogue Literature", Arab World, No. 3, 1998, pp. 36~38. [17] Gong Yingyan, "The Genius of Islamic Cartography: Biruni", Map, No. 2, 2006, pp. 102~104. [18] Quoted from Gong Yingyan, "The Genius of Islamic Cartography: Al-Biruni", Map, No. 2, 2006, p. 104. [19] [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, Turkic, People's Republic, p. 673. [20] We know nothing about this writer, who has not been handed down. [21] [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arabic Persian Turks, pp. 346~347, 386~390. [22] [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Turkic Peoples, pp. 223~226; Wang Youyong, Reading Arabic Literature, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2006, p.207; Guo Yun, China in the Arabic Geographical Classics, p. 179. [23] See Wang Youyong, Reading Arabic Literature, p. 207; Guo Yun, China in the Arabic Geographical Classics, p. 179. [24] [Maghreb] al-Edrīsī, Arabic text of the Chronicles of the Lands, pp. 69~70, quoted in [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Turkic Peoples, p. 199. [25] Ma Jinpeng, translated by Ibn Battuta, pp. 489~493, 540~558. [26] Li Guangbin, "Ibn Battuta's Examination of China", Ocean Publishing House, 2009, p. 158. [27] Krachkovsky, History of Arab Geography, Revised Edition, Islamic Western Book Society, 1987, p. 456. Quoted from [Egypt] Fayrouz Ibrahim, "Chinese Culture in the Eyes of the Early Arabs: From 'Stories of China and India' to 'Ibn Battuta's Travels'", master's thesis, Zhejiang University, 2016, p. 32. [28] [Syrian] Dimassky, Arabic text of "Wonders of Sea and Land", pp. 203~206, 215, quoted in [French] Fei Yao, ed.; Geng Sheng, translated by Mugenlai, Commentary on the Oriental Documents of the Arab, Persian, Turkic, and Turkic Peoples, pp. 420~430. Author's Affilications:College of Humanities, Zhejiang Normal University
Source: Western Regions Studies, Issue 2, 2024