The People of Gibraltar

 2020 - Once upon a time in Islamic Gibraltar

Ibn Hawqal (900)
Geographer and chronicler Ibn Hawqal (920-990) born in upper Mesopotamia nowadays Iraq. A contemporary of Al Istakhri, he is considered by some as yet another map-maker of the “Al-Balkhi school”. His great book on geography - Kitab Surat al-ard - is based on work by Istakhri.

Notes:

The earliest extant map of the world by Ibn Hawqal - flipped so that the top faces North

There seems to be hardly any difference between the above map and other similar ones by Istakhri and others, hence my semi-educated guess that if Gibraltar had been included it would have been found within my added red square.

Another map of Iberia by Hawqal as interpreted by Kramers el Wiet in 1964  – Gibraltar is not identified  (c950 – Ibn Hawqal)

A later map of the world by Ibn Hawqal - (980 AD – Ibn Hawqal)

Map of the Mediterranean - flipped so that the top faces North (Ibn Hawqal)

Ibn Hawqal, as the above maps demonstrate, was also capable of producing less stylised versions based on his first hand knowledge. The red rectangles are where one would expect to find Gibraltar and Algeciras.

The Spanish historian Ángel J. Sáez Rodriquez – mentions Hawqal as well as other contemporary geographers in his book Las Defensas de Gibraltar in a discussion as to the possibility of Gibraltar being considered as an island.

Las cónicas árabes mencionan su insularidad. En el siglo X al-Muqadasi (Muqaddasi) lo había citado como Yazira Yabal Tarik, la isla del monte de Tariq, al igual que lo harían después otros autores como Al-Istajri (Al Istakhri) e ibn Hawqal. En el XII, Al-Idrisi . . . describía el Yabal Tariq como una montaña aislada y redonda en su basa.

However, “Yazira” can mean both “island” and “peninsular” in Arabic which makes Sáez Rodriquez’s comment rather meaningless.


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