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Fuat Sezgin and The Re-writing of The History of Geography

Year 2019, , 1 - 22, 24.12.2019
https://doi.org/10.32704/erdem.656964

Abstract

ABSTRACT



Fuat Sezgin has shown in his deep studies on the history of
mathe- matical geography and cartography in Islam and its continuation in the
West that during the reign of Abbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn (813- 833 AC) the disciplines
had been further developed decisively. The al-Maʾmūn era went hand in hand
with an early enlightenment. While introducing a new world view – not least
into the history of cartography – European mapmakers started from the mid of
the 13th century onwards to adapt the Arabic rational cartography. Against the
background of current debates on theoretical approaches towards history of
sciences, the contribution will discuss motives behind mapmaking. World maps
reflect intentions beyond pure cartographies, thus also with regard to various
meta-scientific and extra-scientific objectives. Map-making in Venice in the
first quarter of the 14th century was motivated by imperial expansion. The
world map of Marino Sanuto (1260-1331) is an outstanding example of early
imperial geography and cartography. Geographical and cartographical knowledge
of so far unknown regions and oceans, especially the Indian Ocean, was a pre-condition
for expansionist proto-imperialism of European powers in the footsteps of the
so-called crusades. In contrast to the travel reports of the Venetian traveller
Marco Polo (1254-1324) – still playing an important role in Eurocentric
geographies, cartographies and in so- called history of discoveries – the
“Secret Book of the Holy Crusade” (liber secretorum fidelium crucis) spoke
plainly on the desire to con- quer Egypt and Palestine. In the context of
resent debates on theoretical approaches towards history of science which
mainly discuss problems of e.g. global or entangled history, it  will be asked for motivations and intentions
of map makers. As history of science and techniques in general, not least
history of geography, cartography and so-called discoveries are in urgent need
to be discussed critically. The following paper will, based on the
path-breaking findings of Fuat Sezgin, contribute to the decolonization of
early European map-making.

References

  • Akerman, James R. (2017). Decolonizing the Map, Chicago: University Press.
  • Brett, Michael (2015). Approaching African History, New York: Rochester, James Curry.
  • Brinken von den, Anne Dorothee (2006). “Die stumme Weltkarte im Bodleian Douce 319 – ein arabisches Dokument in einer abendländischen Handschrift”, Wissen über Grenzen, Arabisches Wissen und lateinisches Mittelalter, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
  • Bucher, Corinna (2006). Christoph Kolumbus, Korsar und Kreuzfahrer, Darmstadt: Primus.
  • Burri, Renate (2013). Die Geographie des Ptolemaios im Spiegel der griechischen Handschriften, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.
  • Davies,Surekha (2012).“The Wondrous East in the Renaissance Geographical Imagination: Marco Polo, Fra Mauro and Giovanni Battista Ramusio”,History and Anthropology, 23:2, pp. 215-234.
  • Dilke, O. A. W.(1987).“The Culmination of Greek Cartography in Ptolemy”, The History of Cartography, Vol. I, Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, ed. by J. B. Harley and David Woodward, Chicago: Chicago University Press.
  • Dorsch, Sebastian (2016). ‟Translokale Wissensakteure: Ein Debattenvorschlag zu Wissens- und Globalgeschichtsschreibung”, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 64, Heft 9, pp. 778–795.
  • Droysen, Johann Gustav (1833). Geschichte Alexander des Großen, Hamburg: Perthes.
  • Eppele, Angelika (2018). “Calling for a practice turn in Global History: Practices as Drivers of Globalization”, History and Theory, 57, No. 3, September 2018, pp. 390-407.
  • Harley, John Brian (1987). “The Map and the Development of the History of Cartography”, History of Cartography, Vol. I, Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean ( John B. Harley, David Woodward Eds.), Chicago: University Press.
  • Kunitzsch, Paul (2016). “Al-Maʾmūn”, Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technologies, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Helaine Selin (Ed.), Dordrecht: Springer.
  • Nyhart, Lynn K. (2016). “Historiography of History of Science”, A Companion to the History of Science, Bernard Lightman (Ed.), Oxford: Wiley, Blackwell, pp. 7-23.
  • Needham, Joseph (2004). Science and Civilization in China, Vol. VII, 2, General Conclusions and Reflections, edited by Kenneth Girdwood and Ray Huang, Cambridge: University Press.
  • Pérez, Demetrio Ramos, Quintana, Marta González (1995). Diario del Primer Viaje de Colón, Granada: Diputación Provincial de Granada.
  • Quintern, Detlev (1996). Zur Leistungsfähigkeit der Universalistischen Geschichtstheorie von Karam Khella in der Analyse internationaler Zusammenhänge, Hamburg: Theorie und Praxis.
  • Said, Edward (2003). Orientalism, New York: Vintage.
  • Sarton, George (1927). Introduction to the History of Science, Vol. I, From Homer to Omar Khayyam, Baltimore: Carnegie Institution Washington DC.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band X, Historische Darstellung, Teil 1, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band XI, Historische Darstellung, Teil 2, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band XII (2000), Kartenband, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band XIII (2007) Autoren, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2003). Wissenschaft und Technik im Islam, Bd. 1, Einführung in den Katalog der Instrumenten Sammlung des Instituts für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Wiedemann, Eilhardt (1984). "Über die Dimensionen der Erde nach muslimischen Gelehrten", Gesammelte Schriften zur Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 2. Bd., Schriften 1912-1923, gesammelt und bearbeitet von Dorothea Girke und Dieter Bischoff, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sanudo Torsello, Marino (2016). The Book of the Secrets of the Faithful of the Cross, Liber Secretorum Fidelis Crucis, translated by Peter Lock, Crusade texts in translation, Vol. 21, Routledge: London, New York.
  • Wood, Frances (1996). Did Marco Polo go to China? Colorado: West View

Fuat Sezgin ve Coğrafya Tarihinin Yeniden Yazımı

Year 2019, , 1 - 22, 24.12.2019
https://doi.org/10.32704/erdem.656964

Abstract

Fuat Sezgin, İslam Dünyası ve onun devamındaki Batı
matematiksel coğrafya ve kartografi üzerine derin çalışmalarıyla, Abbasi
halifesi el- Me’mûn’un hükümdarlığı döneminde (813-833) bu alanların belirgin
bir biçimde ilerlediğini göstermiştir. el-Me’mûn dönemi, bir erken
aydınlanmayla el ele gelişmiştir. XIII. yüzyılın ortalarından itibaren Avrupalı
haritacılar, -yalnızca coğrafya tarihi bakımından da değil- yeni bir dünya
anlayışını tanıtırken Arap rasyonel kartografisini benimsemeye başladılar.
Bilimler tarihindeki güncel teorik tartışmaların aksine bu katkı, haritacılığın
ardındaki motivasyonları tartışacaktır. Dünya haritaları salt kartografi
değildir, niyetleri de yansıtır; dolayısıyla farklı farklı meta-bilimsel ve
bilimin dışındaki hedefleri de hesaba katarlar. XIV. yüzyılın ilk çeyreğinde
Venedik’teki haritacılık, emperyal yayılmacılık motivasyonuyla yapılmıştır.
Marina Sanuto’nun (1260-1331) dünya haritası, erken emperyal coğrafyacılık ve
haritacılığın çok önemli bir örneğidir. Özellikle Hint Okyanusu gibi uzak ve
bilinmeyen bölgelerin coğrafi ve kartografik bilgisi, Avrupa güçlerinin sözde
Haçlı seferlerinin devamındaki yayılmacı proto-emperyalizminin ön koşuluydu.  Venedikli gezgin Marco Polo’nun (1254-1324)
gezi raporlarının aksine- Marina Sanuto hâlâ Avrupa merkezli coğrafyalar,
kartografiler ve sözde keşifler tarihi kitaplarında önemli yerler alan- Kutsal
Haçlı Seferinin Gizli Kitabıʼnda (liber seretorum fidelim crucis), Mısır’ı ve
Filistin’i fetih isteğinden açıkça bahsetmektedir.



Bu çalışmada bilim tarihinde küresel ya da dolanık tarih
gibi problemlerini tartışan çağdaş kuramsal yaklaşımlar bağlamında,
haritacıların motivasyonları ve niyetleri soruşturulacaktır. Yalnızca coğrafya,
kartografi ve sözde keşifler tarihi değil, genel anlamda bilim ve teknikler
tarihi de ciddi bir biçimde eleştirel düşünmeye ihtiyaç duymaktadır. Fuat
Sezgin’in çığır açan bulgularını temele alan bu makale erken dönem Avrupa haritacılığının
dekolonizasyonuna katkı sağlayacaktır.

References

  • Akerman, James R. (2017). Decolonizing the Map, Chicago: University Press.
  • Brett, Michael (2015). Approaching African History, New York: Rochester, James Curry.
  • Brinken von den, Anne Dorothee (2006). “Die stumme Weltkarte im Bodleian Douce 319 – ein arabisches Dokument in einer abendländischen Handschrift”, Wissen über Grenzen, Arabisches Wissen und lateinisches Mittelalter, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
  • Bucher, Corinna (2006). Christoph Kolumbus, Korsar und Kreuzfahrer, Darmstadt: Primus.
  • Burri, Renate (2013). Die Geographie des Ptolemaios im Spiegel der griechischen Handschriften, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.
  • Davies,Surekha (2012).“The Wondrous East in the Renaissance Geographical Imagination: Marco Polo, Fra Mauro and Giovanni Battista Ramusio”,History and Anthropology, 23:2, pp. 215-234.
  • Dilke, O. A. W.(1987).“The Culmination of Greek Cartography in Ptolemy”, The History of Cartography, Vol. I, Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, ed. by J. B. Harley and David Woodward, Chicago: Chicago University Press.
  • Dorsch, Sebastian (2016). ‟Translokale Wissensakteure: Ein Debattenvorschlag zu Wissens- und Globalgeschichtsschreibung”, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 64, Heft 9, pp. 778–795.
  • Droysen, Johann Gustav (1833). Geschichte Alexander des Großen, Hamburg: Perthes.
  • Eppele, Angelika (2018). “Calling for a practice turn in Global History: Practices as Drivers of Globalization”, History and Theory, 57, No. 3, September 2018, pp. 390-407.
  • Harley, John Brian (1987). “The Map and the Development of the History of Cartography”, History of Cartography, Vol. I, Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean ( John B. Harley, David Woodward Eds.), Chicago: University Press.
  • Kunitzsch, Paul (2016). “Al-Maʾmūn”, Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technologies, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Helaine Selin (Ed.), Dordrecht: Springer.
  • Nyhart, Lynn K. (2016). “Historiography of History of Science”, A Companion to the History of Science, Bernard Lightman (Ed.), Oxford: Wiley, Blackwell, pp. 7-23.
  • Needham, Joseph (2004). Science and Civilization in China, Vol. VII, 2, General Conclusions and Reflections, edited by Kenneth Girdwood and Ray Huang, Cambridge: University Press.
  • Pérez, Demetrio Ramos, Quintana, Marta González (1995). Diario del Primer Viaje de Colón, Granada: Diputación Provincial de Granada.
  • Quintern, Detlev (1996). Zur Leistungsfähigkeit der Universalistischen Geschichtstheorie von Karam Khella in der Analyse internationaler Zusammenhänge, Hamburg: Theorie und Praxis.
  • Said, Edward (2003). Orientalism, New York: Vintage.
  • Sarton, George (1927). Introduction to the History of Science, Vol. I, From Homer to Omar Khayyam, Baltimore: Carnegie Institution Washington DC.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band X, Historische Darstellung, Teil 1, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band XI, Historische Darstellung, Teil 2, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band XII (2000), Kartenband, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2000). Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie im Islam und ihr Fortleben im Abendland, Band XIII (2007) Autoren, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sezgin, Fuat (2003). Wissenschaft und Technik im Islam, Bd. 1, Einführung in den Katalog der Instrumenten Sammlung des Instituts für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Wiedemann, Eilhardt (1984). "Über die Dimensionen der Erde nach muslimischen Gelehrten", Gesammelte Schriften zur Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 2. Bd., Schriften 1912-1923, gesammelt und bearbeitet von Dorothea Girke und Dieter Bischoff, Frankfurt am Main: Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
  • Sanudo Torsello, Marino (2016). The Book of the Secrets of the Faithful of the Cross, Liber Secretorum Fidelis Crucis, translated by Peter Lock, Crusade texts in translation, Vol. 21, Routledge: London, New York.
  • Wood, Frances (1996). Did Marco Polo go to China? Colorado: West View
There are 26 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Erdem
Authors

Detlev Quıntern This is me

Publication Date December 24, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2019

Cite

APA Quıntern, D. (2019). Fuat Sezgin and The Re-writing of The History of Geography. Erdem(77), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.32704/erdem.656964

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ERDEM Journal is indexed by TR Dizin, MLA International Bibliography, EBSCOhost, SOBIAD, ASI (Advanced Science Index) ISAM, DAVET, AYK Journal Index and Academindex.