World-views of Arab Geographers

This paper describes the fundamental attitudes toward nature, land, and human existence which characterize Koranic teachings. Created by God of Heavens and Earth, Land is a substratum of life and resource for human welfare, subject to Divine Will and the fulfillment of human vocations through belief and right action. No land is the eternal or unequivocal possession of any group and the abuse or destruction of the land is due to pride and arrogance which leads to violence, oppression, and the division of mankind between Greeks and barbarians. Arab geography, while drawing on pre-Islamic sources and constantly adapting to new environments and challenges, was a unified science incorporating astronomy, geology, botanics, metallurgy, ethnology, mathematics and metaphysics. Travel accounts provided empirical foundations for mathematical, commercial, economic, and maritime geography, the Portolan charts and other maps providing guides for Spanish and Portuguese sailors and the geographical discoveries of European explorers.