Shifting Perspectives
The Lost Maps of the Caliphs
The cartographic images of The Book of Curiosities and that which Pleases the Eye, from the late Fatimid empire in Egypt (909 to 1171 AD were discovered by Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith, scholars of Islamic History and of History of Islamic Science. Thanks to their key study, The Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh-Century Cairo (2018), the manuscript is now archived in the Bodleian Libraries for future study.
These remarkable historical maps are the starting point of our collaborative work on imagining emergent forms of climate dignity in contemporary Cairo, the territory of Egypt, and the Mediterranean. For us, the beauty and complexities of the Fatimid Caliphate maps – and the ways they challenge Western mapping -- motivated us to engage with their cartographic knowledges and culture-based representations of the world, the land, and the sea. Working with these maps foregrounds a non-European perspective of the world from a southeastern Mediterranean angle and opens a vista on how medieval Arabo/Muslim culture viewed the world. The maps also inspired us to approach the urban processes shaping Cairo today and to produce three textile maps. In dialogue with the maps, we reproduced aspects of Khwarizmi’s Nile map, from The Book of Curiosities, onto fabric and then integrated a current urban-development controversy involving Qursaya and al-Warraq islands in the Nile in Cairo as well as other contemporary conditions. Our approach respects the maps as living hybrid forms of knowledge.
Three Maps
The Book of Curiosities represents cartographic adaptations from earlier periods, extending to Greek antiquity. For instance, one of the Fatimid mapmakers used variations from earlier mapmakers to include contemporary political and social conditions; this is why modern cartographers now examine these maps as dynamic hybrid maps. Although our anonymous mapmaker of The Book of Curiosities accepted the earlier Arabo/Islamic cartographic tradition of placing south, rather than north, at the top of the map, he adopted a maritime focus, reflecting the imperial interests of the Fatimids as a Mediterranean power. In a revealing statement on his “imperfect” cartographic approach and on how he drew the world of his time, he tells us, “The maps that will follow will convey knowledge, albeit imperfect, of God’s creation. The contours of coastlines change over time, the map making instruments are not fine enough to reproduce reality on a small scale, and labels need to be legible.”
As collaborators, we needed to agree on how to read, use and be in dialogue with these hybrid maps. The use of fabric an architectural element in the public spaces of Cairo and how this practice allowed the creation of makeshift structures in the city became a surprising entry point for us. These large fabric structures in Cairo accommodate funerals, weddings, and concerts in public spaces, particularly in poorer areas of the city. We decided to use fabric as the medium for the production of our hybrid maps. As Huda had used fabric works in her practice previously, we had a connection to the historical district of the tentmakers in Cairo, a community of craftsmen highly skilled in fabric tent-making. This existing connection led to our collaboration with Tariq Al-safti to produce these textile maps, using traditional appliqué and embroidery techniques.
This collaborative process of producing the maps needed to be detailed and precise. Once the historical maps were printed in large formats, Huda deciphered the Arabic names of towns and places inscribed in the maps. Intrigued by what kind of cartographic knowledge these names conveyed, we sat together for long hours deciphering both familiar and unfamiliar names. The modifications to the maps to add contemporary issues and conditions involved long discussions, exploring appropriate ways to integrate the present. When this process was completed, we took print-outs of the maps to Tariq Al-safti for him to recreate them on fabric by hand. Multiple, pleasurable visits to our tentmaker were necessary to see how the production work was going.
