Al-Khuwarezmi

ABU JA'FAR MUHAMMAD MUSA AL-KHUWAREZMI

before 833 A.D. Geographer and astronomer at the court of the Abbasids till 846 A.D. K. Surat al-Ard. MS: Strasbourg, Bibl. Univ., Cod. 4247 (1037), fols.30s. Brockelmann 1, 225 Ed.: H. von Mzik, Das K. Surat Al-Ard des Abu Gafar M., Leipzig 1926, pp. 107-109. T.: MC 519-523

Towns:

In the First Climate: LONG. LAT.

Dunqula, the town of the Nubah 53° O' ... 30’

'Aiwa Bahriyah 60° O' 12° 20'

Zaqhawah 60° 15' 11° O'

In the Second climate:

Jarmi(?) (Jerma?), the great town 34° O' 19° 30'

Jarma(?) the town of the kingdom of Habash 19° 40'

The town of Bilaq 55° 25' 21° 40'

Suwan 56° 0' 22° 30'

Al-Qaar 55° 50' 21° 45'

Ma'din az-Zumurrud (the emerald mines) 57° O' 21° 15'

Ma'din adh-dhahab among the Buja 57° 55' 21° 45'

(KC 519r).

(RIVERS) There are two lakes in the form of a circle, each having a diameter measuring 5° (degrees): The centre of the first is at Long. 50° O' Lat. 7° O' and the centre of the other is at Long. 57° O' Lat. 7° O'. Five rivers coming from Jabal al-Qamar flow into the first lake. The source of the first river is at Long. 48° O', the second's at Long. 49° O', the third’s at Long. 50° O', the fourth's at Long. 51° O' and the fifth's at Long. 52° O'. Five other rivers start from Jabal al-Qamar and flow down to the second lake. The source of the first is at Long. 55° 20'; the second's at 56° 20'; the third's at 57° 20'; the fourth's at 58° 20'; and the fifth's at 59° 20'. Four rivers rise from each of these two lakes (all ending) in a (smaller) circular lake within the First Climate; the diameter of this lake is 2° (two degrees) and its centre lies at Long. 53° 30' Lat. 2° O' in the First Climate. The first river rises from the first lake at Long. 48° 40'; the second at 49° 30'; the third at 51° 15'; these two rivers merge into one at Long. 52° O' Lat. 1° O' beyond the equator before flowing into the lake we have just mentioned; the fourth river rises at Long. 52° O'. The first river of the second lake - which also ends in the smaller lake - rises at Long. 55° 30•, the second at 56° 20', and the third at 58° O'; these merge into one at Long. 56° O' Lat. 1° 0• beyond the equator, before ending in the above mentioned lake; the fourth rises at Long. 59° O'.

Each of these rivers enters the small lake, through a separate mouth. From this small lake out-flows one large river which is the Nile of Egypt. It flows through the territory of the Blacks (Sudan), the ’Alwa, the Zaqhawa. the Fazzan. and the Nuba. It also touches Dunquia, the town of the Nubians which is situated at Long. 52° 20’ Lat. .2° O’ within the First Climate, if we count the Lat. degrees beginning from the northern limit of this climate back towards the equator, or at Lat. 15° O' if we count the degrees from the equator to this point. The Nile flows on to Long. 53° O' Lat. 16° 20' (where it crosses into the Second Climate); then it continues in the same direction for one and a half degrees beyond the (northern) limit of the First Climate, then it bends to Long. 52° O’ Lat. 18° 40’, turns to 51° 0’ Lat. 17° O’ and successively to Long. 50° O' Lat. 17° 30'; Long. 50° 20' Lat. 18° 20’; Long. 52° 30• Lat. 19° 40• until it touches the town of Malwi (Malwa) at Long. 51° 30' Lat. 19° 20', after which it reaches the town of Uswan at Long. 55° 30’ Lat. 22° 30'.

A Description of the Source (’ayn) which lies on the line of the equator and discharges into the Nile of Egypt: also (another) source of circular form, the centre of which is on the line of the equator, and gives rise to the Nile near the town of the Nubah. The diameter of this source (’ayn) is 3° (three degrees) and its centre is at Long. 62° O'. At Long. 61° 30', a river rises (from this source) and flows into the Nile at Long. 53° O' Lat. 16° 20’, touching the borders of the First Climate. There is a branch river (khalil) between the river which rises from this source and the Nile, upstream from the town of the Nubah. (MC 522r).