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{{short description|10th century geography book written in Persian by an unknown author}}
{{short description|10th-century Persian geography book}}
{{Cleanup bare URLs|date=August 2022}}
{{italic title}}
{{italic title}}
The '''''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam''''' ({{lang-ar|حدود العالم}}, {{lit.}} "Boundaries of the World" or "Limits of the World") is a 10th-century geography book written in [[Persian language|Persian]] by an unknown author from [[Guzgan]] (present day northern Afghanistan).<ref name="CEB">[[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|C. E. Bosworth]] in: [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]. New Edition, s.v. ḤUDŪD AL-ʿĀLAM</ref> The title in full is {{lang|ar|حدود العالم من المشرق الی المغرب}} (''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam min al-Mashriq ilá l-Maghrib'', {{lit.}} "The Boundaries of The World from The East to the West").


In English, the title is also translated as "The Regions of the World" following [[Vladimir Minorsky]]'s 1937 translation, in which he commented on the title as follows: "The word [[Hudud|ḥudūd]] (properly 'boundaries') in our case evidently refers to the 'regions within definite boundaries' into which the world is divided in the Ḥ.-'Ā., the author indicating with special care the frontiers of each one of these areas, v.i., p. 30. [As I use the word "region" mostly for ''nāḥiyat'' it would have been better, perhaps, to translate ''Ḥudūd al-Ālam'' as "The limited areas of the World".]"{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvii}}
The '''''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam''''' ({{langx|ar|حدود العالم|italic=yes}}, {{lit.}} 'Boundaries of the World', 'Limits of the World', or 'The Regions of the World')<ref name="Iranica">{{iranica|hodud-al-alam}}</ref> is a 10th-century geography book written in [[Persian language|Persian]] by an anonymous author from [[Guzgan]] (present day northern Afghanistan),<ref name="CEB">[[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|C. E. Bosworth]] in: [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]. New Edition, s.v. ḤUDŪD AL-ʿĀLAM</ref> possibly [[Sha'ya ibn Farighun|Šaʿyā bin Farīghūn]].<ref name="Iranica" /> The full title is {{lang|ar|حدود العالم من المشرق الی المغرب|italic=yes}} (''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam min al-Mashriq ilá l-Maghrib'', {{lit.}} "The Boundaries of the World from the East to the West").
 
The sections of its geographical treatise, which describes the margins of Islamic world, are of great historical importance, including early descriptions of the [[Turkic peoples]] in [[Central Asia]].{{sfn|Bosworth|Asimov|2003|p=221}} Also noteworthy is the archaic language and style of the ''Ḥudud'', making it a valuable Persian linguistic document.<ref name="Iranica" />


==Contents==
==Contents==


Finished in 982 CE, it was dedicated to [[Abu'l Haret Muhammad]], the ruler of the [[Farighunids]]. Its author is unknown, but Vladimir Minorsky has surmised that it might have been written by the enigmatic [[Sha'ya ibn Farighun|Šaʿyā bin Farīghūn]], author of a pioneer encyclopedia of the sciences, the ''Jawāmeʿ al-ʿUlum'', for an [[Emir|amir]] of Čaghāniān on the upper [[Amu Darya]] in the mid-10th century.<ref name="Iranica">{{iranica|hodud-al-alam}}</ref> The available text of ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' is part of a larger manuscript which contains other works:
In regards to the title, [[Vladimir Minorsky]] commented on it in his 1937 translation as follows: "The word [[Hudud|ḥudūd]] (properly 'boundaries') in our case evidently refers to the 'regions within definite boundaries' into which the world is divided in the Ḥ.-'Ā., the author indicating with special care the frontiers of each one of these areas, v.i., p. 30."


#A copy of the ''Jahān-Nāma'' ("Book of The World") by Muḥammad ibn Najīb Bakrān
Finished in 982 CE, it was dedicated to [[Abu'l Haret Muhammad]], the ruler of the [[Farighunids]]. Its author is unknown, but [[Vladimir Minorsky]] surmised that it might have been written by the enigmatic [[Sha'ya ibn Farighun|Šaʿyā bin Farīghūn]].<ref name="Iranica" /> The available text of ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' is part of a larger manuscript which contains other works:
#A short passage about music
 
#The ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam''
#A copy of the ''Jahān-Nāma'' ("Book of The World") by Muḥammad ibn Najīb Bakrān;
#A short passage about music;
#The ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam;''
#The ''Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm'' ("Collection of Knowledge") by [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi]];
#The ''Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm'' ("Collection of Knowledge") by [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi]];


The ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' contains information about the known world. The anonymous author reports about different countries (''nāḥiyat''), people, languages, clothing, food, religion, local products, towns and cities, rivers, seas, lakes, islands, the steppe, deserts, topography, politics and dynasties, as well as trade. The inhabited world is divided in Asia, Europe and "[[Ancient Libya|Libya]]" (i.e. the [[Maghreb]]). The author counts a total of 45 different countries north of the equator.{{cn|date=February 2023}} Among other things, Hudud al-Alam appears to mention a [[Rus' Khaganate]]; it refers to the Rus' king as "Khāqān-i Rus".{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=159}}
The ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' contains information about the known world at the time. The anonymous author reports about different countries (''nāḥiyat''), people, languages, clothing, food, religion, local products, towns and cities, rivers, seas, lakes, islands, the steppe, deserts, topography, politics and dynasties, as well as trade. The inhabited world is divided in Asia, Europe and "[[Ancient Libya|Libya]]" (i.e. the [[Maghreb]]). The author counts 45 countries north of the equator.{{cn|date=February 2023}} Among other things, Hudud al-Alam appears to mention a [[Rus' Khaganate]]; it refers to the Rus' king as "Khāqān-i Rus".{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=159}}


The author never visited those countries personally, but rather compiled the book from earlier works and tales.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv}} He did not indicate his sources, but researchers deduced several 9th-century sources.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv}} Minorsky (1937) reconstructed them as follows:
The author never visited those countries personally, but rather compiled the book from earlier works and tales.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv}} He did not indicate his sources, but researchers deduced several 9th-century sources.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv}} [[Vladimir Minorsky|Minorsky]] (1937) reconstructed them as follows:
# Non-literary sources, including ''yādhkird-i haklmān'' ("memories of the sages"), ''akhbār'' ("information [heard]"; more fully ''ha-akhbār-hā ba-shanidim'', "the information that we have heard"), and ''dhikr'' ("mention").{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvi}} It is unclear whether or not these non-literary sources included the author's personal experiences, which were probably limited to his home region of [[Guzgan|Guzganan]], and maybe [[Gilan province|Gilan]].{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv–xv}}
# Non-literary sources, including ''yādhkird-i haklmān'' ("memories of the sages"), ''akhbār'' ("information [heard]"; more fully ''ha-akhbār-hā ba-shanidim'', "the information that we have heard"), and ''dhikr'' ("mention").{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvi}} It is unclear whether or not these non-literary sources included the author's personal experiences, which were probably limited to his home region of [[Guzgan|Guzganan]], and maybe [[Gilan province|Gilan]].{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv–xv}}
# Books, called ''kitāb-hā-yipīshīnagān'' ("books of the predecessors").{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv}}
# Books, called ''kitāb-hā-yipīshīnagān'' ("books of the predecessors").{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xiv}}
::(a) [[Ibn Khordadbeh]] (I.Kh.), ''[[Book of Roads and Kingdoms (Ibn Khordadbeh)|Book of Roads and Kingdoms]]'' ({{lang-ar|كِتَاب ٱلْمَسَالِك وَٱلْمَمَالِك|translit=Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik}}).{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvi}} This work shows overlap with the similarly titled now-lost book ''Kitāb al-Masālik wal-Mamālik'' written by [[Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Jayhani]], and therefore these books were sometimes confused with each other.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvi–xvii}}
::(a) [[Ibn Khordadbeh]] (I.Kh.), ''[[Book of Roads and Kingdoms (Ibn Khordadbeh)|Book of Roads and Kingdoms]]'' ({{langx|ar|كِتَاب ٱلْمَسَالِك وَٱلْمَمَالِك|translit=Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik}}).{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvi}} This work shows overlap with the similarly titled now-lost book ''Kitāb al-Masālik wal-Mamālik'' written by [[Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Jayhani]], and therefore these books were sometimes confused with each other.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvi–xvii}}
::(b) An unknown source also used by [[Ahmad ibn Rustah]], [[Al-Bakri]], [[Gardizi]], [[Muhammad Aufi]], and others.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvii}} This unknown source is usually identified as the lost book ''Kitāb al-Masālik wal-Mamālik'' written by Jayhani.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvii}}
::(b) An unknown source also used by [[Ahmad ibn Rustah]], [[Al-Bakri]], [[Gardizi]], [[Muhammad Aufi]], and others.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvii}} This unknown source is usually identified as the lost book ''Kitāb al-Masālik wal-Mamālik'' written by Jayhani.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xvii}}
::(c) [[Istakhri]] (Ist.), ''Masālik al-Mamālik'' ({{lang|ar|مسالك الممالك}}, "Routes of the Realms") or ''kitab al-masalik wa-l-mamalik'' ({{lang-ar|كتاب المسالك والممالك}} "Book of Roads and Kingdoms", or "Book of the Paths and Provinces"<ref>Fr. Taeschner in ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]''. New Edition, s.v. Djughrāfīya</ref>).{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xviii}} As his source, Istakhri used the work of [[Abu Zayd al-Balkhi]], the ''[[Abu Zayd al-Balkhi|Figures of the Regions]]'' (''Suwar al-aqalim''), and thus he belonged to the Balkhī school.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xviii–xix, 5}} The Balkhī school also included [[Ibn Hawqal]] and [[Al-Maqdisi]], whose works show significant overlap with the ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'', but they appear to have directly copied their content from Istakhri rather than via ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam''.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xviii–xix}}
::(c) [[Istakhri]] (Ist.), ''Masālik al-Mamālik'' ({{lang|ar|مسالك الممالك}}, "Routes of the Realms") or ''kitab al-masalik wa-l-mamalik'' ({{langx|ar|كتاب المسالك والممالك}} "Book of Roads and Kingdoms", or "Book of the Paths and Provinces"<ref>Fr. Taeschner in ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]''. New Edition, s.v. Djughrāfīya</ref>).{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xviii}} As his source, Istakhri used the work of [[Abu Zayd al-Balkhi]], the ''[[Abu Zayd al-Balkhi|Figures of the Regions]]'' (''Suwar al-aqalim''), and thus he belonged to the Balkhī school.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xviii–xix, 5}} The Balkhī school also included [[Ibn Hawqal]] and [[Al-Maqdisi]], whose works show significant overlap with the ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'', but they appear to have directly copied their content from Istakhri rather than via ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam''.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xviii–xix}}
::(d) [[Al-Masudi]], ''[[The Meadows of Gold]]''. According to Minorsky (1937), as ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' contains more details about the same topics, the author probably did not directly copy from Masudi's work, but they both drew from a common source 'of which Mas'udī possessed only an abstract. Possibly the same source is responsible for the interesting details on Gīlān.'{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xix}}
::(d) [[Al-Masudi]], ''[[The Meadows of Gold]]''. According to Minorsky (1937), as ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' contains more details about the same topics, the author probably did not directly copy from Masudi's work, but they both drew from a common source 'of which Mas'udī possessed only an abstract. Possibly the same source is responsible for the interesting details on Gīlān.'{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xix}}
::(e) Some contents about Arabia appear to derive from [[Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani|Hamdani]]'s ''Geography of the Arabian Peninsula'' ({{lang-ar|صفة جزيرة العرب|translit=Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab}}), perhaps a more complete version of Ibn Khordadbeh's work, or a yet unknown source.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xix}}
::(e) Some contents about Arabia appear to derive from [[Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani|Hamdani]]'s ''Geography of the Arabian Peninsula'' ({{langx|ar|صفة جزيرة العرب|translit=Sifat Jazirat ul-Arab}}), perhaps a more complete version of Ibn Khordadbeh's work, or a yet unknown source.{{sfn|Minorsky|1937|p=xix}}
 
===Chapters===
# Preface
# The disposition (''nihādh'') of the Earth; the amount of (its) cultivation and lack of cultivation (''miqdār-i ābādhānī va vīrānī'') and its countries (''nāḥiyat-hā'')
# The Seas
# The Islands
# The Mountains
# The Rivers
# The Deserts
# The countries (''nāḥiyat-hā'') of the World
# The country (''nāḥiyat'') of [[China|Chīnistān]]
# The country of [[Hindustan|Hindūstān]]
# The country of [[Tibet]]
# The country of the [[Uyghur Khaganate|Toghuzghuz]] and [[Tatar confederation|Tātār]]
# The country of the [[Yagma|Yaghmā]]
# The country of the [[Kyrgyz Khaganate|Khirkhīz]]
# The country of the [[Karluk Yabghu|Karluk]]
# The country of the [[Chigil]]
# The country of the [[Tuhsi|Tukhs]]
# The country of the [[Yemek|Kīmāk]]
# The country of the [[Oghuz Yabgu State|Ghūz]]
# The country of the [[Pechenegs]]
# The country of the [[Kipchaks|Khifjākh]]
# The country of the [[Eastern Hungarians|Majgharī]]
# The country of [[Khurāsān]]
# The country of the Marches (''ḥudūd'') of Khurāsān
# The country of [[Transoxania]]
# The country of the Marches (''ḥudūd'') of Transoxania
# The country of [[Sind]]
# The country of [[Kerman province|Kirmān]]
# The country of [[Fārs]]
# The country of [[Khūzistān]]
# The country of [[Jibāl]]
# The country of [[Daylam|Daylamān]] (all the Iranian [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] region)
# The country of [[Iraq|'Irāq]]
# The country of [[Upper Mesopotamia|Jazīra]]
# The country of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Ādharbādhagān]]
# The country of [[Armīniya]] and [[Arran (Caucasus)|Arrān]]
# The country of the [[Arabia|Arabs]]
# The country of [[Greater Syria|Syria]] (''Shām'')
# The country of [[Egypt]]
# The country of [[Maghreb|Maghrib]]
# The country of [[Hispania|Spain]] (''[[Al-Andalus|Andalus]]'')
# The country of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]] (''[[Rūm]]'') (Includes all of christian Europe, including [[France]], [[Rome]] and [[Great Britain|Britain]])
# The country of the [[Slavs]] (''[[Saqaliba|Ṣaqlāb]]'')
# The country of the [[Kievan Rus'|Rūs]]
# The country of the [[Onogurs|Inner Bulghār]]
# The country of the [[Mirvāt]]
# The country of the [[Pechenegs|Khazarian Pechenegs]]
# The country of the [[Alans|Alān]]
# The country of the [[Sarir|Sarīr]]
# The country of the [[Khazar]]
# The country of the Burṭās ([[Bolghar]] and [[Suar Principality|Suvar]])
# The country of the [[Burtas|Barādhās]]
# The country of the V.n.nd.r (The [[Volga Bulgaria|Volga Bulgarian]] tribes of [[Esegel]], [[Barsil]] and [[Bulgars|Bulgar]])
# Southern Inhabited Lands
# The country of [[Zanj|Zangistān]]
# The country of [[Zabag|Zābaj]]
# The country of [[Abyssinia]]
# The country of [[Beja people|Buja]]
# The country of [[Nubia]]
# The country of the [[Sudan (region)|Sūdān]]
# Epilogue of the book


==Rediscovery and translation==
==Rediscovery and translation==


The [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] Russian scholar [[Alexander Tumansky]] found a manuscript with a copy of this text in 1892 in Bukhara. The copy from the original was made by the Persian chronographer Abu l-Mu'ayyad ʿAbd al-Qayyūm ibn al-Ḥusain ibn 'Alī al-Farīsī in 1258.<ref name="CEB" /> The facsimile edition with introduction and index was published by [[Vasily Bartold]] in 1930; a thoroughly commented English translation was made by Vladmir Minorsky in 1937, and a printed Persian text by [[Manouchehr Sotoudeh|Manouchehr Sotudeh]] in 1962.<ref>The Hejri-ye Shamsi date on the title page of Sotudeh's edition reads in Persian "esfand-mah 1340"; on the 4. cover page, which is in English, the year "1962" is written.</ref>
The [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] scholar [[Alexander Tumansky]] found a manuscript with a copy of this text in 1892 in Bukhara. The copy from the original was made by the Persian chronographer Abu l-Mu'ayyad ʿAbd al-Qayyūm ibn al-Ḥusain ibn 'Alī al-Farīsī in 1258.<ref name="CEB" /> The facsimile edition with introduction and index was published by [[Vasily Bartold]] in 1930; a thoroughly commented English translation was made by Vladmir Minorsky in 1937, and a printed Persian text by [[Manouchehr Sotoudeh|Manouchehr Sotudeh]] in 1962.<ref>The Hejri-ye Shamsi date on the title page of Sotudeh's edition reads in Persian "esfand-mah 1340"; on the 4. cover page, which is in English, the year "1962" is written.</ref>
 
==Importance==
 
The sections of its geographical treatise which describes the margins of Islamic world, are of great historical importance. The work also includes important early descriptions of the [[Turkic peoples]] in [[Central Asia]].{{sfn|Bosworth|Asimov|2003|p=221}} Also noteworthy is the archaic language and style of the ''Ḥudud'', which makes it a valuable Persian linguistic document as well.<ref name="Iranica" />


==See also==
==See also==
Line 43: Line 104:
* {{Cite book |editor-last1=Bosworth |editor-first1=C. E. |editor-last2=Asimov |editor-first2=M. S. |date=2003 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume IV. The age of achievement: A. D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELrRr0L8UOsC |location=Delhi |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publications |pages=745 |isbn=9788120815964}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last1=Bosworth |editor-first1=C. E. |editor-last2=Asimov |editor-first2=M. S. |date=2003 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume IV. The age of achievement: A. D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELrRr0L8UOsC |location=Delhi |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publications |pages=745 |isbn=9788120815964}}
* Bosworth, C. E. in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition'', s.v. ḤUDŪD AL-ʿĀLAM
* Bosworth, C. E. in: ''Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition'', s.v. ḤUDŪD AL-ʿĀLAM
* {{Cite book |last1=Minorsky |first1=Vladimir |authorlink1=Vladimir Minorsky |date=1937 |title=Hudud al-'Alam, The Regions of the World A Persian Geography, 372 A.H. - 982 A.D. translated and explained by V. Minorsky |url=http://www.kroraina.com/hudud/hudud_al_alam_1937.pdf |location=London |publisher=Luzac & Co. |pages=546}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Minorsky |first1=Vladimir |authorlink1=Vladimir Minorsky |date=1937 |title=Hudud al-'Alam, The Regions of the World A Persian Geography, 372 A.H. – 982 A.D. translated and explained by V. Minorsky |url=http://www.kroraina.com/hudud/hudud_al_alam_1937.pdf |location=London |publisher=Luzac & Co. |pages=546}}


==External links==
==External links==
Line 50: Line 111:


[[Category:10th-century manuscripts]]
[[Category:10th-century manuscripts]]
[[Category:10th-century Persian books]]
[[Category:Atlases]]
[[Category:Atlases]]
[[Category:10th-century books]]
[[Category:Persian literature]]

Latest revision as of 12:12, 16 March 2026



The Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist., Template:Lit. 'Boundaries of the World', 'Limits of the World', or 'The Regions of the World')[1] is a 10th-century geography book written in Persian by an anonymous author from Guzgan (present day northern Afghanistan),[2] possibly Šaʿyā bin Farīghūn.[1] The full title is حدود العالم من المشرق الی المغرب (Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam min al-Mashriq ilá l-Maghrib, Template:Lit. "The Boundaries of the World from the East to the West").

The sections of its geographical treatise, which describes the margins of Islamic world, are of great historical importance, including early descriptions of the Turkic peoples in Central Asia.[3] Also noteworthy is the archaic language and style of the Ḥudud, making it a valuable Persian linguistic document.[1]

Contents[edit | edit source]

In regards to the title, Vladimir Minorsky commented on it in his 1937 translation as follows: "The word ḥudūd (properly 'boundaries') in our case evidently refers to the 'regions within definite boundaries' into which the world is divided in the Ḥ.-'Ā., the author indicating with special care the frontiers of each one of these areas, v.i., p. 30."

Finished in 982 CE, it was dedicated to Abu'l Haret Muhammad, the ruler of the Farighunids. Its author is unknown, but Vladimir Minorsky surmised that it might have been written by the enigmatic Šaʿyā bin Farīghūn.[1] The available text of Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam is part of a larger manuscript which contains other works:

  1. A copy of the Jahān-Nāma ("Book of The World") by Muḥammad ibn Najīb Bakrān;
  2. A short passage about music;
  3. The Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam;
  4. The Jāmiʿ al-ʿUlūm ("Collection of Knowledge") by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi;

The Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam contains information about the known world at the time. The anonymous author reports about different countries (nāḥiyat), people, languages, clothing, food, religion, local products, towns and cities, rivers, seas, lakes, islands, the steppe, deserts, topography, politics and dynasties, as well as trade. The inhabited world is divided in Asia, Europe and "Libya" (i.e. the Maghreb). The author counts 45 countries north of the equator.[citation needed] Among other things, Hudud al-Alam appears to mention a Rus' Khaganate; it refers to the Rus' king as "Khāqān-i Rus".[4]

The author never visited those countries personally, but rather compiled the book from earlier works and tales.[5] He did not indicate his sources, but researchers deduced several 9th-century sources.[5] Minorsky (1937) reconstructed them as follows:

  1. Non-literary sources, including yādhkird-i haklmān ("memories of the sages"), akhbār ("information [heard]"; more fully ha-akhbār-hā ba-shanidim, "the information that we have heard"), and dhikr ("mention").[6] It is unclear whether or not these non-literary sources included the author's personal experiences, which were probably limited to his home region of Guzganan, and maybe Gilan.[7]
  2. Books, called kitāb-hā-yipīshīnagān ("books of the predecessors").[5]
(a) Ibn Khordadbeh (I.Kh.), Book of Roads and Kingdoms (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.).[6] This work shows overlap with the similarly titled now-lost book Kitāb al-Masālik wal-Mamālik written by Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Jayhani, and therefore these books were sometimes confused with each other.[8]
(b) An unknown source also used by Ahmad ibn Rustah, Al-Bakri, Gardizi, Muhammad Aufi, and others.[9] This unknown source is usually identified as the lost book Kitāb al-Masālik wal-Mamālik written by Jayhani.[9]
(c) Istakhri (Ist.), Masālik al-Mamālik (مسالك الممالك, "Routes of the Realms") or kitab al-masalik wa-l-mamalik (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist. "Book of Roads and Kingdoms", or "Book of the Paths and Provinces"[10]).[11] As his source, Istakhri used the work of Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, the Figures of the Regions (Suwar al-aqalim), and thus he belonged to the Balkhī school.[12] The Balkhī school also included Ibn Hawqal and Al-Maqdisi, whose works show significant overlap with the Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, but they appear to have directly copied their content from Istakhri rather than via Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam.[13]
(d) Al-Masudi, The Meadows of Gold. According to Minorsky (1937), as Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam contains more details about the same topics, the author probably did not directly copy from Masudi's work, but they both drew from a common source 'of which Mas'udī possessed only an abstract. Possibly the same source is responsible for the interesting details on Gīlān.'[14]
(e) Some contents about Arabia appear to derive from Hamdani's Geography of the Arabian Peninsula (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.), perhaps a more complete version of Ibn Khordadbeh's work, or a yet unknown source.[14]

Chapters[edit | edit source]

  1. Preface
  2. The disposition (nihādh) of the Earth; the amount of (its) cultivation and lack of cultivation (miqdār-i ābādhānī va vīrānī) and its countries (nāḥiyat-hā)
  3. The Seas
  4. The Islands
  5. The Mountains
  6. The Rivers
  7. The Deserts
  8. The countries (nāḥiyat-hā) of the World
  9. The country (nāḥiyat) of Chīnistān
  10. The country of Hindūstān
  11. The country of Tibet
  12. The country of the Toghuzghuz and Tātār
  13. The country of the Yaghmā
  14. The country of the Khirkhīz
  15. The country of the Karluk
  16. The country of the Chigil
  17. The country of the Tukhs
  18. The country of the Kīmāk
  19. The country of the Ghūz
  20. The country of the Pechenegs
  21. The country of the Khifjākh
  22. The country of the Majgharī
  23. The country of Khurāsān
  24. The country of the Marches (ḥudūd) of Khurāsān
  25. The country of Transoxania
  26. The country of the Marches (ḥudūd) of Transoxania
  27. The country of Sind
  28. The country of Kirmān
  29. The country of Fārs
  30. The country of Khūzistān
  31. The country of Jibāl
  32. The country of Daylamān (all the Iranian Caspian region)
  33. The country of 'Irāq
  34. The country of Jazīra
  35. The country of Ādharbādhagān
  36. The country of Armīniya and Arrān
  37. The country of the Arabs
  38. The country of Syria (Shām)
  39. The country of Egypt
  40. The country of Maghrib
  41. The country of Spain (Andalus)
  42. The country of Byzantium (Rūm) (Includes all of christian Europe, including France, Rome and Britain)
  43. The country of the Slavs (Ṣaqlāb)
  44. The country of the Rūs
  45. The country of the Inner Bulghār
  46. The country of the Mirvāt
  47. The country of the Khazarian Pechenegs
  48. The country of the Alān
  49. The country of the Sarīr
  50. The country of the Khazar
  51. The country of the Burṭās (Bolghar and Suvar)
  52. The country of the Barādhās
  53. The country of the V.n.nd.r (The Volga Bulgarian tribes of Esegel, Barsil and Bulgar)
  54. Southern Inhabited Lands
  55. The country of Zangistān
  56. The country of Zābaj
  57. The country of Abyssinia
  58. The country of Buja
  59. The country of Nubia
  60. The country of the Sūdān
  61. Epilogue of the book

Rediscovery and translation[edit | edit source]

The Orientalist scholar Alexander Tumansky found a manuscript with a copy of this text in 1892 in Bukhara. The copy from the original was made by the Persian chronographer Abu l-Mu'ayyad ʿAbd al-Qayyūm ibn al-Ḥusain ibn 'Alī al-Farīsī in 1258.[2] The facsimile edition with introduction and index was published by Vasily Bartold in 1930; a thoroughly commented English translation was made by Vladmir Minorsky in 1937, and a printed Persian text by Manouchehr Sotudeh in 1962.[15]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Template:Iranica
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 C. E. Bosworth in: Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, s.v. ḤUDŪD AL-ʿĀLAM
  3. ↑ Bosworth & Asimov 2003, p. 221.
  4. ↑ Minorsky 1937, p. 159.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Minorsky 1937, p. xiv.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Minorsky 1937, p. xvi.
  7. ↑ Minorsky 1937, p. xiv–xv.
  8. ↑ Minorsky 1937, p. xvi–xvii.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Minorsky 1937, p. xvii.
  10. ↑ Fr. Taeschner in Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, s.v. Djughrāfīya
  11. ↑ Minorsky 1937, p. xviii.
  12. ↑ Minorsky 1937, p. xviii–xix, 5.
  13. ↑ Minorsky 1937, p. xviii–xix.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Minorsky 1937, p. xix.
  15. ↑ The Hejri-ye Shamsi date on the title page of Sotudeh's edition reads in Persian "esfand-mah 1340"; on the 4. cover page, which is in English, the year "1962" is written.

Literature[edit | edit source]

  • Bosworth, C. E.; Asimov, M. S., eds. (2003). History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume IV. The age of achievement: A. D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publications. p. 745. ISBN 9788120815964.
  • Bosworth, C. E. in: Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, s.v. ḤUDŪD AL-ʿĀLAM
  • Minorsky, Vladimir (1937). Hudud al-'Alam, The Regions of the World A Persian Geography, 372 A.H. – 982 A.D. translated and explained by V. Minorsky (PDF). London: Luzac & Co. p. 546.

External links[edit | edit source]

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