Abū ʿUbaid al-Bakrī

Abū ʿUbaid ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Bakrī ( Arabic أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز البكري, DMG Abū ʿUbaid ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Bakrī ; * 1014 in Huelva ; † 1094 ) was an Andalusian geographer and historian. He wrote about Europe, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. His works are known for their objectivity. The Al-Bakri lunar crater was named after him.

Al-Bakrī's father was the governor of Huelva Province . He lived in Spain all his life, lived in Cordoba and never traveled to the places of which he wrote.

Works

His main works were:

• Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik (1068; Book of Kingdoms and Ways). The book was edited by William Mac Guckin de Slane under the title Description de l'Afrique septentrionale in Algiers 1858-1859 and translated into French. New editions appeared in Paris 1913 and Paris 1965. The work was published in Frankfurt am Main in 1993 in the series Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. Islamic geography (No. 134–135) reprinted. It is based on reports by previous authors such as Muhammad ibn Yūsuf al-Warrāq , Ibrāhīm ibn Yaʿqūb and Abū l-Hasan ʿAlī ibn Muhammad an-Naufalī. For each area, al-Bakrī describes the people, their customs, geography, climate, and capitals. The work is also an important source for the history of the Idrisids and the Bargawata .
• Kitāb Muʿǧam mā staʿǧam . Handwritten edition by Ferdinand Wüstenfeld under the title Geographic Dictionary . 2 vols. Göttingen / Paris 1876–1877. Digitized - Ed. Muṣṭafā as-Saqqāʾ. Maktabat al-Ḫānǧi, Cairo, 1996. Digitized

literature

• Herman L. Beck: L'image d'Idrīs II, ses descendants de Fās et la politique sh arīfienne des sultans marīnides 656-869 / 1258-1465. Brill, Leiden, 1989. pp. 21-29.
• E. Lévi-Provençal: Art. "Abū ʿUbaid al-Bakrī" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. I, pp. 155b-157b.

supporting documents

1. ↑ Cf. Beck: L 'image d'Idrīs II . 1989, pp. 22-27.
2. ↑ Cf. Beck: L 'image d'Idrīs II . 1989, pp. 21-29.