Al-Idrisi is best known in the West as the geographer who made a silver globe for King Roger II of Sicily. On a 400 kilogram ball of silver, he meticulously recorded the seven continents with trade routes, lakes and rivers, major cities, plains and mountains. He included such information as distance, length and height as appropriate. The globe was accompanied by his book, Al-Kitab al-Rujari (Roger's Book). He also made a second representation of the known world on a disc.
Like Muslim geographers before him, Al-Idrisi traveled many distant places, including Europe, to gather geographical data. The Muslim geographers had already made accurate measurements of the earth's surface, and several maps of the whole world were available. Al-Idrisi combined this available knowledge with his own findings to create comprehensive information for all parts of the known world. As his fame spread, he gained the attention of European sea navigators and military planners and eventually that of Roger II, the Norman King of Sicily, who invited him to produce an up-to-date world map.
Al-Idrisi was better known than other Muslim geographers because ships and navigators from the North Sea, Atlantic, and Mediterranean frequented Sicily which was under Muslim rule before King Roger. Muslim works were freely available for transmission to Europe through Latin West. Al-Idrisi's book 'Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq,'(The Delight of Him Who Desires to Journey Through The Climates) is a geographical encyclopedia containing detailed maps and information on European countries, Africa, and Asia. He later compiled a more comprehensive encyclopedia, entitled 'Rawd-Unnas wa-Nuzhat al-Nafs' (Pleasure of Men and Delight of Souls). Al-Idrisi's knowledge of the Niger above Timbuktu, the Sudan, and of the head waters of the Nile was remarkable for its accuracy.
Several of his books were translated into Latin and his books on geography were popular for several centuries. One translation, published in 1619 in Rome, was an abridged edition and the translator did not credit Al-Idrisi. Although Europe took several centuries to make use of his globe and world map, Christopher Columbus used a map originally taken from Al-Idrisi's work.
Al-Idrisi also made major contributions in the science of medicinal plants and wrote several books, the most popular entitled 'Kitab al-Jami-li-Sifat Ashtat al-Nabatat.' He reviewed and synthesized all literature on the subject and associated drugs available to him from Muslim scientists with those from his own research and travels. He contributed this material to the subject of botany with emphasis on medicinal plants, describing the names of the drugs in several languages including Berber, Syriac, Persian, Hindi, Greek, and Latin. Al-Idrisi also called on knowledge gained through travels to write on zoology and fauna.
Al-Idrisi died circa 1166 C.E.
