Abstract

Al-Edreesi is considered one of the pioneering Arab geographers who appeared in the 6th century A.H. (the 12th century A.D.), and who had their great impact on the Arabic civilization and on the development of the science of maps (cartography) during the middle and modern ages. His writings have a great influence on modern researchers who have examined many of his books. The objective of the present research is motivated by the status of Al-Edreesi’s writings, the aim being to uncover part of his knowledge through studying his efforts in the geographic Arabic thought (493-560 A.H./ 1100-1160 A.D.).
Since the geographic concepts are scattered in Al-Edreesi’s books, it is required by the researcher to collect those concepts in a unified study. The significance of the present research is revealed in documenting and investigating those concepts by tracing them back to their original sources.
The construction of the present research shows that Al-Edeesi had great influences on the Arabic geographic thought. Those influences were demonstrated by many of his geographic ideas which emerged in the different fields of natural, human, regional geography and maps; these fields had constructed in the middle ages, along with other sciences, the pillars of the tower that the Arabic civilization has been built on.