In which century did Ibn Khordadbeh publish his geographic treatise detailing routes and realms?

• A. 8th century
• B. 10th century
• C. 9th century
• D. 11th century

Answer: (C)

Dating Ibn Khordadbeh’s geographic treatise falls in the ninth century, around 870 CE, during the Abbasid era. This work, known for detailing routes and realms across the Islamic world and beyond, was produced when long-distance trade and administrative mapping were flourishing, drawing on information from merchants and travelers of that time. The late 800s fit the manuscript evidence and the style of geographic compilation seen in later geographers, but it precedes the later expansions of the tenth and eleventh centuries. So the ninth century is the best fit for when the work was published.