Astronomers+and+geography

Astronomy and Geography were two major fields in the history of Islam. Muslims made many contributions to both of these fields. In the field of astronomy some of these include: they were the first to make mark the nebula of Andromeda in an atlas, they measured the rate of measure, and invented the astrolabe. Al-Battani is considered one of the greatest astronomers of Islam. He was able to make an accurate determination of the solar year. In the field of geography one of the largest contributions is the invention of the compass by Abn-Majid. Al-Biruni was first to come up with geographical facts on the formation of the sedimentary rocks.

One of the first original mathematician and astronomer of al-Andalus was Maslamah al-Majriti. Although many other scientists had come before him during the 9th century, al-Majriti was in a class by himself. He wrote a number of works on mathematics and astronomy, studied and elaborated the Arabic translation of Ptolemy's Almagest, and enlarged and corrected the astronomical tables of the famous al-Khwarazmi. He also compiled conversion tables in which the dates of the Persian calendar were related to Hijrah dates, so that for the first time the events of Persia's past could be dated with precision.

Al-Zarqali, also known as Arzachel, was another leading mathematician and astronomer who flourished in Cordoba in the eleventh century. Combining theoretical knowledge with technical skill, he excelled at the construction of precision instruments for astronomical use and built a water clock. The water clock had the capabilities to determine the hours of the day and night and indicating the days of the lunar months. He contributed to the famous Toledan Tables, a highly accurate compilation of astronomical data. Arzachel was famous also for his Book of Tables. Many "books of tables" had been compiled before then, but his is an almanac containing tables which allow one to find the days on which Coptic, Roman, lunar, and Persian months begin, other tables which give the position of planets at any given time, and still others facilitating the prediction of solar and lunar eclipses. He also compiled valuable tables of latitude and longitude.

Spain produced many scholars that started with works from Baghdad and went on to add such contributions as a basic geography of al-Andalus by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Razi and a description of the topography of North Africa by Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Warraq. Another contributor to geography was al-Bakri. One of his two important geographical works is devoted to the geography of the Arabian Peninsula. It is arranged alphabetically, and lists the names of villages, towns, wadis, and monuments which he culled from the hadith and from histories. The other was an encyclopedia of the entire world, arranged by country, with each entry preceded by a short historical introduction. It included descriptions of the people, customs, and climate of each country, the principal features, the major cities, and even anecdotes.

Other important figures in the field of geography include Ibn Jubayr, an Andalusian traveler, and the most famous traveler of all Ibn Battutah, also made important contributions. Born in North Africa, then in the cultural orbit of Islamic Spain, Ibn Battutah. He traveled extensively for twenty-eight years and produced a travel book that proved to be a rich source for both historians and geographers. It included invaluable information on people, places, navigation, caravan routes, roads, and inns. But the most famous geographer of the period was al-ldrisi, who studied in Cordoba. Al-ldrisi after traveling settled in Sicily and wrote a systematic geography of the world, usually known as the Book of Roger after his patron Roger II. The information contained in the Book of Roger was also engraved on a silver planisphere, a disc-shaped map that was one of the wonders of the age.