All Topics  
Ibn Khordadbeh

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Ibn Khordadbeh
 
 
  Topics Ibn Khordadbeh Topic Home

Abu'l Qasim Ubaid'Allah ibn Khordadbeh (Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
: ) (c. 820 – 912 CE
Common Era

Common Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used in the Western world, and also internationally, for numbering the year part of the calendar date....
), author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography, was a Persian geographer
Geographer

A geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's physical natural environment and human habitat .Though geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography....
 and bureaucrat of the 9th century. The son of a wealthy Persian
Persian people

Persian identity, at least in terms of language, is traced to the ancient Indo-Iranians , who arrived in parts of Greater Iran circa 2000-1500 BCE....
 family in northern Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
, he was appointed "Director of Posts and Intelligence" for the province of Djibal in northwestern Iran under the Abbasid
Abbasid

The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire. The Caliphate is one of the high points of Islam, and at the time Muslim civilization, together with that of Byzantium, China and India, was the most developed part of the world....
 Caliph al-Mutammid
Al-Mu'tamid

This article is about the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tamid of Baghdad. For the Andalusi Arabic poet who was also the Abbadid king of Seville, see Muhammad Ibn Abbad Al Mutamid...
 (ruled 869–885 CE).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Ibn Khordadbeh'
Start a new discussion about 'Ibn Khordadbeh'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Abu'l Qasim Ubaid'Allah ibn Khordadbeh (Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
: ) (c. 820 – 912 CE
Common Era

Common Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used in the Western world, and also internationally, for numbering the year part of the calendar date....
), author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography, was a Persian geographer
Geographer

A geographer is a scientist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's physical natural environment and human habitat .Though geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography....
 and bureaucrat of the 9th century. The son of a wealthy Persian
Persian people

Persian identity, at least in terms of language, is traced to the ancient Indo-Iranians , who arrived in parts of Greater Iran circa 2000-1500 BCE....
 family in northern Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
, he was appointed "Director of Posts and Intelligence" for the province of Djibal in northwestern Iran under the Abbasid
Abbasid

The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire. The Caliphate is one of the high points of Islam, and at the time Muslim civilization, together with that of Byzantium, China and India, was the most developed part of the world....
 Caliph al-Mutammid
Al-Mu'tamid

This article is about the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tamid of Baghdad. For the Andalusi Arabic poet who was also the Abbadid king of Seville, see Muhammad Ibn Abbad Al Mutamid...
 (ruled 869–885 CE). In this capacity ibn Khordadbeh served as both postmaster general and the Caliph
Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah....
's personal spymaster in that vital province.

Around 870 ibn Khordadbeh wrote Kitab al Masalik w’al Mamalik
Book of Roads and Kingdoms (ibn Khordadbeh)

The Book of Roads and Kingdoms is a 9th century geography text by the Persian people geographer Ibn Khordadbeh. It maps and describes the major trade routes of the time within the Muslim world, and discusses distant trading regions such as Japan, Korea, and China....
 (The Book of Roads and Kingdoms). In this work, ibn Khordadbeh described the various peoples and provinces of the Abbasid Caliphate
Abbasid

The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire. The Caliphate is one of the high points of Islam, and at the time Muslim civilization, together with that of Byzantium, China and India, was the most developed part of the world....
. Along with maps, the book also includes descriptions of the land, people and culture of the Southern Asiatic
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
 coast as far as Brahamputra, The Andaman Islands
Andaman Islands

The Andaman Islands are a group of archipelago islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India....
, peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia , also known as Malaya or West Malaysia, is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula, and shares a land border with Thailand in the north....
 and Java. The lands of Tang China
Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an Dynasties in Chinese history preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire....
, Unified Silla
Unified Silla

Unified Silla or Later Silla is the name often applied to the kingdom of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, when it conquered Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668....
 (Korea) and Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 are referenced within his work. It is one of the few surviving sources that describes the Jewish merchant company known as the Radhanites.

Sources

  • Adler, Elkan. Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages. New York: Dover Publications, 1987.
  • Bendiner, Elmer. The Rise and Fall of Paradise. New York: Putnam Books, 1983.
  • Bareket, Elinoar. "Radhanites". in Jewish Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Norman Roth, ed. Routledge, 2002. pp 558-561.
  • Fossier, Robert, ed. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages, vol. 1: 350-950. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Gil, Moshe. "The Radhanite Merchants and the Land of Radhan." in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 17:3 (1976). 299-328.
  • Israeli, Raphael. "Medieval Muslim Travelers to China" in Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2000


See also

  • List of Iranian scholars


External links