Machine summary:
e. (1) an extensive travel literature by land an~ by sea, (2) the various itineraries, giving profuse details of routes, distances and stages, (3) elaborate treatises on regional and local geography, (4) a mass of historical-topographical literature on single towns in various parts of the Islamic world-quite often providing much geographical information.
In fact such expansions in the knowledge about descriptive geography as have been very briefly summarised were possible on account of an ex• tensive commercial activity, the political and spiritual dominance of the Muslims, and the remarkable achievements of intrepid travellers like Ibn-Fadlan, al-Biruni, Ibn-Hawqal, 1fas'udi, Idrisi and Ibn-Battuta, to mention but , few of them, and seamen of the calibre of Sulairnan, Abu• Zaid, Ibn-Shahriyar, Majid, and al-Mahri.
His method is best set forth in his own words :-" I thought it expedient therefore to engage in a subject which they (scientists and writers) have disregarded and to single out a branch of knowledge of which they have not treated save imperfectly• and that is the chorography (geography) of the empire of Islam, com• prising a description of the deserts and seas, the lakes and the rivers that it contains, its famous cities and noted towns, the resting-places on its roads and highways of communication ; the original sources of spices and drugs ; and the places of the growth and production of exports and staple commodities and containing an account of the in'iabitants of different countries as regards the diversity in their language and manner of speech , the hills, plains, and mountains, the limestones and the sandstones, the thick and thin soils, the lands of plenty and fertility ............