Historical Writing in the Books of Eastern Travelers in the 7th Hijri Century

Abstract

The research topic titled "(Historical Writing in the Books of Eastern Travelers in the 7th Hijri Century)" consists of two sections. The first section addresses the traveler Yaqut al Hamawi (574 AH / 626 AH) and the hardships he faced in his early life, including captivity and poverty. He used to copy books for a fee and then started trading them. His extensive travels contributed to the diversity of his cultural knowledge as he accessed cultural books in the libraries of the cities he passed through and met with scholars and notable figures. This greatly enriched the Arabic library with numerous works in various fields, most notably his book "Mu'jam al-Buldan," the most famous geographical dictionary, which included accounts of his journeys to different cities and regions, as well as their histories. The second section discusses the astronomer-geographer Zakariya al-Qazwini (600 AH / 682 AH), one of the most prominent travelers and geographers of the 7th Hijri century. He traveled extensively across the Islamic world and read what other travelers had documented about their journeys, which greatly aided him in writing his book "Athar al Bilad wa Akhbar al-Ibad" (Monuments of Countries and Stories of Peoples). In this book, he focused on the conditions of the lands and their inhabitants, combining simplicity and diversity, while maintaining a religious tone.