Tabula Rogeriana

What it is

The Tabula Rogeriana, known in Arabic as the Nuzhat al-mushtaq, is an atlas of 70 maps with commentary, completed in 1154 by the geographer al-Idrisi for King Roger II of Sicily. Al-Idrisi gathered information from travelers and his own experience to describe the known world, region by region.

Why it matters

Made over a century before Mansa Musa's reign, the atlas shows how the Islamic and Mediterranean world already knew of the gold-producing lands and Niger river towns of the western Sudan that Musa would later rule. It reveals how trans-Saharan trade connections long predated Musa's famous pilgrimage, and how geographers like al-Idrisi relied on travelers' reports rather than direct observation of distant regions.

Look closer

• Why might regions far from Sicily, like West Africa, be shown with less detail or accuracy on this map?
• What does the map's reliance on travelers' accounts tell us about the limits of medieval geography?
• How might knowledge of this region before Musa's reign have shaped reactions to his wealth later on?