Historical maps of the Arab world

Pre-Islamic period

Asia Minor - Ancient (638k)
From a Classical Atlas of Ancient Geography by Alexander G. Findlay, 1849

Madaba mosaic map
An illustrated discussion of the famous 6th century Byzantine map found in Jordan in 1896. Covering an area from Lebanon to the Nile, and from the Mediterranean to the Arabian desert, it contains more than 150 captions which provide an important geographical record of the area. See also: notes from the Franciscan Archaeological Institute; photograph (1), photograph (2), and notes on Jerusalem as shown in the map.

The Middle East in the Sixth Century
From R. Roolvink et al., Historical Atlas of the Muslim Peoples (Amsterdam, 1957) [University of Pennsylvania]

Arabia (625 CE)


Early Islamic period

Muslim Expansion in the Time of Muhammad
from R. Roolvink et al., Historical Atlas of the Muslim Peoples (Amsterdam, 1957) [University of Pennsylvania]

Map of Muslim Expansion until A.D. 661
from W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam (Leiden, 1981) [University of Pennsylvania]

The Growth of Muslim Power: First 25 Years
[Medieval Sourcebook] Source: H.G. Wells, A Short History of the World, (London: 1922)

Muslim Expansion in the East in the Umayyad Period (661-750)

The Umayyad Empire c.A.D.750
from W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam (Leiden, 1981) [University of Pennsylvania]

The Muslim Empire: 750 CE
Source: H.G. Wells, A Short History of the World, (London: 1922) [Medieval Sourcebook]

The Muslim Empire (ca. 750 CE)

The Abbasid Caliphate (786-809)
from R. Roolvink et al., Historical Atlas of the Muslim Peoples (Amsterdam, 1957) [University of Pennsylvania]

The Mediterranean in the Ninth Century
from R. Roolvink et al., Historical Atlas of the Muslim Peoples (Amsterdam, 1957) [University of Pennsylvania]

The Late Abbasid Caliphate c.A.D.900
from W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam [University of Pennsylvania]

The Muslim east in the first half of the 13th Century
[University of Pennsylvania]

The Muslim World cAD 1300
from W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam (Leiden, 1981) [University of Pennsylvania]

The Muslim World cAD 1500,
from W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam (Leiden, 1981) [University of Pennsylvania]


Islamic Spain

The Umayyad Caliphate in the Second Half of the 9th and the Second Half of the 10th Centuries
[University of Pennsylvania]

Spain after the Fall of the Umayyad Caliphate in the Periods of the Party Kings and of the Almoravids
[University of Pennsylvania]

Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Reconquest by the Christian Kingdoms of the North. The Kingdom of Granada
[University of Pennsylvania]


The Crusades

The First Crusade, 1099
Adaptation of "Europe at the time of the First Crusade", in Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]

The Crusader States in the Early 12th Century
From: George Richard Potter, The Autobiography of Ousama, (New York: 1929 [copyright seems to be expired]) [Medieval Sourcebook]

Crusader States
Adapted from Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]

Jerusalem
Adapted from Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]

Early 12th century Crusader Map of Jerusalem

Second and Third Crusades
Adapted from Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]

The Empire of Sultan Salah Al-Din (1171-1193) and the Crusaders' principalities in Syria and Palestine
[University of Pennsylvania]

Fourth Crusade
Adapted from Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]


Nineteenth century

Red Sea, 1860 (1Mb)
From Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt uber Wichtige Neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geographie von Dr. A. Petermann. Volume 6, 1860.

Suez Bay, Egypt, 1856 (351k)
From Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt uber Wichtige Neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geographie von Dr. A. Petermann. Volume 7, 1861.

Somali Coast and Aden Gulf, 1860 (1Mb)
From Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt uber Wichtige Neue Erforschungen auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Geographie von Dr. A. Petermann. Volume 6, 1860.

The Middle East in the Nineteenth Century
from W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam (Leiden, 1981) [University of Pennsylvania]


Palestine and the Levant

A selection of maps from Palestine and Syria: Handbook for Travellers by Karl Baedeker, 1912

Aleppo, 1912 (400k)

Antioch, 1912 (352k)

Beirut, 1912 (737k)

Beirut environs, 1912 (346k)

Bethlehem, 1912 (392k)

Damascus (central), 1912 (374k)

Hebron (al-Khalil), 1912 (319k)

Jaffa environs, 1912 (260k)

Mt. Carmel - northern part, 1912 (309k)

Mt. Sinai - environs of the monastery, 1912 (521k)

Nazareth, 1912 (351k)

Petra, 1912 (431k)

Sidon environs, 1912 (290k)

Tyre environs, 1912 (240k)


Turks and Ottomans

Map of Almoravid, Saldjuk, and Ghaznavid Expansion c.A.D. 1100
from W.C. Brice. An Historical Atlas of Islam (Leiden, 1981) [University of Pennsylvania]

Growth of the Ottoman Empire From the Early 14th Century Till 1512
[University of Pennsylvania]

The Ottoman Sultanate in the 16th and 17th Centuries
[University of Pennsylvania]

The Ottoman Empire: 1556
Source: H.G. Wells, A Short History of the World, (London: 1922) [Medieval Sourcebook]

Europe, 1360
Adapted from Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]

Europe, 1519
Adapted from Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]


Jerusalem

Jerusalem - Ancient (356k)
From Palestine and Syria: Handbook for Travellers by Karl Baedeker, 1912

Jerusalem
Adapted from Muir's Historical Atlas: Medieval and Modern, (London: 1911) [Medieval Sourcebook]

Early 12th century Crusader map

Anonymous, 16th century

Anonymous, 1543

G. Braun & F. Hogenberg 1575

H. Buenting, 1581

Anonymous, 17th century

M. Merian, 1674

A.M. Mallet, 1685

M. Seutter, 1745

A.A Calmet, 18th century

G. Browsky, 18th century

A. Eltzner, 1852

A.G. Wartensleben, 1870

F.W Sieber, 1818

C. Wilson, 1865

S. Illes, 1873

C. Schick, late 19th century

Baedeker, 1912 (754k)