Idrisi [key], in full Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abdallah Ibn Idris Al-Hammudi Al-Hasani Al-Idrisi, b. 1099?, d. after 1154, Arab geographer, b. Ceuta. He traveled in Europe, Asia Minor, and Mediterranean lands and settled at the court of Roger II of Sicily, for whom he made a silver celestial globe and a map of the earth engraved on a plate of silver. He completed (1154) a description of the earth, compiled from his studies and observations and from the reports of travelers sent out by Roger II. This monumental compendium, called Al-Kitab ar-Rujari [the book of Roger], is the most important geographic work of the period. In a world map to which the book acted as a guide, Idrisi divided the earth into seven horizontal climatic zones, each divided longitudinally into ten sections. He is also known as Ash-Sharif al-Idrisi.
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