Al-Bakri

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Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Bakrī (Arabic: أبو عبيد عبدالله بن عبد العزيز البكري‎) (1014–1094) was a Spanish-Arab geographer and historian. He was born in Huelva, the son of the governor of the province. Al-Bakri spent his entire life in Spain, living in Cordova, and never travelled to the locations of which he wrote.

Al-Bakri wrote about Europe, North Africa, and the Arabian peninsula. His primary works were Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-Mamālik ("Book of Highways and of Kingdoms") and Mu'jam. The first mentioned work was composed in 1068, based on literature and the reports of merchants and travellers, including Yusuf al-Warraq and Abraham ben Jacob. His works are noted for the relative objectiveness with which they are presented. For each area, he describes the people, their customs, as well as the geography, climate, and main cities. That information was also contained in his written geography of the Arabian Peninsula, and in the encyclopedia of the world in which he wrote. ^[1] He also presents various anecdotes about each area. Unfortunately, parts of his main work have been lost.

The crater Al-Bakri on the Moon is named after him.

References

Further reading

• El-Bekri (1859), Description de l'Afrique septentrionale, Mac Guckin de Slane, translator and editor, Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LkEYAAAAYAAJ . Revised edition with corrections (1913), Tangiers: Adolphe Jourdan. Available from Gallica.
• Levtzion, Nehemia; Hopkins, John F.P., eds. (2000), Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West Africa, New York, NY: Marcus Weiner Press, ISBN 1-55876-241-8 . First published in 1981. Pages 62-87 contain an extract from "The Book of Routes and Realms" describing West Africa.
• Reinaud, J.T. (1860), "Notice sur les dictionnaries géographiques arabes", Journal Asiatique Ser. 5 16: 65-106, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k931762.image.f65  . Al-Bakri's dictionary mentioned on page 75.
• White, Robert C. (1968), "Early geographical dictionaries", Geographical Review 58: 652-659, http://www.jstor.org/stable/212687 . Link requires subscription to Jstor.

• "Bakrī, Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbdallāh Ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Ibn Muḥammad al-". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1970–80. ISBN 0684101149. 
•  "Bakri". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

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