Which medieval Muslim geographer produced a detailed world map and geographic descriptions?

• A. Ibn Battuta
• B. al-Biruni
• C. Al-Idrisi
• D. Ptolemy

Answer: (C)

Al-Idrisi is remembered for turning geographic knowledge into a single, richly detailed world map accompanied by extensive descriptions. He compiled the Tabula Rogeriana around 1154 for Roger II of Sicily, drawing on a wide range of sources—from Muslim travelers to earlier geographers and even materials from other regions—to produce one of the era’s most comprehensive maps and accompanying geographic text. The work covers continents, major regions, cities, climates, and notable features, presenting a cohesive picture of the known world at that time. This combination of a detailed map with layered descriptive geography is why his name stands out as the medieval Muslim geographer who produced both a world map and geographic descriptions. By contrast, Ibn Battuta is renowned for travel writings, al-Biruni for measuring and analyzing geographic data but not for a single definitive world map, and Ptolemy, though foundational, is an ancient Greco-Roman geographer whose works predate the medieval Islamic mapmaking tradition.