This chapter examines the textual practice of dividing the world in early Islamic geographical literature. The resulting regions were represented at a larger scale than cities in the discourse of place, but could still be distinguished from the world as a whole by a degree of particularity and boundedness. By exploring the different methods of dividing the world into regions, including the latitudinal clime (iqlīm) system, the circular kishwar system, and others, this chapter argues that regions were endowed with meanings that differentiated peoples as well as plots of land. It moves on to a consideration of itineraries as a method of spatial organization in world geographies and their emphasis on cities as nodes along linear routes. It argues that even in these works, regions appear as meaningful divisions of the world that transcend the cities within them and the routes that crosscut them and enable particular claims to authority.
This chapter introduces the book’s conceptual framework, the “discourse of place,” the genres of texts it includes, and their shared commitment to the representation of territories as categories of belonging. It also discusses the methodology of close reading used in the book and the related ideas of textual and extratextual performance that make it possible to view written and graphic texts as acts of creativity that were intended to interact with audiences. Viewing texts as performances sheds light on the various modes of reception and reproduction of knowledge in this period. This chapter also considers the open-ended processes of manuscript redaction and transmission that have made texts from the ninth through the eleventh centuries available for analysis. Finally, it presents the book’s main argument, that in a period characterized by political fragmentation the discourse of place gave Muslims a powerful language to assert connectivity and belonging.
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