‘Kitab mu'jam al-Buldan’ (The Dictionary of Countries) was a big geographical encyclopedia, with several thousand entries, written in 13th century by Yaqut al-Hamawi al-Rumi al-Baghdadi (1179-1229).

Mujam-al-Buldan contains the geographical names in alphabetical order. The listing includes the names of various countries, towns, mountains, rivers, seas, valleys, monuments and grave sites. For each entry, wherever applicable, Yaqut provides the various variants of the name, etymology, precise pronunciation (for Baghdad, as an example, the book provides seven different pronunciations), spelling, longitude and latitude, population, renowned scholars, mention of the place in Quran and Hadith, history, and customs. The book not only provides relevant geographical information, but is a great resource of history and literature as well. It contains numerous anecdotes and over 5000 poetic quotations. According to George Satron , in the 'Introduction to the History of Science’:

“The Mujam al Buldan is one of the most important works of Arabic literature. It is a store house of information not simply on geography, but also on history, ethnography and natural history. It is preceded by an introduction dealing with mathematical, physical and political geography, the size of the earth, seven climates, etc.”

Yaqut decided to write this geographical encyclopedia after he attended a gathering of Imam al-Samani where people disagreed on the correct pronounciation of an Arabic place mentioned in a Hadeeth. He traveled widely studying the customs and geography of various places including Merv, Mosul, Aleppo, Palestine, Egypt and Iraq.

The introduction of Al-Buldan is very insightful where yaqut discusses the importance of geography for poets, rulers, physicians, Hadith scholars and administrators . He also explains the geographical, astronomical and economical terminology and discusses the shape of the earth (spherical).

Al-Buldan quotes and provides references of the works of prior historians and geographers as well. A very important reference is that of the 10th century Geographer Al-hasan bin Mohammad Al-Misri Al-Muhallabi who had written a geographical book ‘Kitab Al-Aziz’ that is now entirely lost and is known only through the works of Al-Hamawi besides that of Al-Fida.

A few lines from one of the entries of Mujam-al-Buldan:

“Al-Tibr: One of the countries of Sudan known as Bilad al-Tibr. Pure gold is ascribed to it. It is situated south of the Maghrib. Merchants travel from Sijilmasa to a town on the frontiers of the Sudan, called Ghana. Their wares are salt, bundles of pine wood (this is one of the kinds of woods from which tar is made, but its smell is not unpleasant, being more aromatic than rank, blue glass beads, bracelets of copper, bangles and signet rings of copper, and nothing else. All this is carried by numerous camels in heavy loads ……….”

Mujam-al-Buldan was translated and published in 6 volumes in Leipzig (Germany) between 1666- 1873 by the German Historian, Ferdinand Wustenfeld .

Yaqut also wrote another encyclopedia ‘Mu'jam al-udaba' , (The Dictionary of Learned Men) in 1226. The length of both these encyclopedia, combined, is 33,180 pages!

Braille, the system of reading and writing for blinds, was invented by Loius Braille in the 19th century. The precursor of Braille was developed by a Syrian scholar, Zain Din al Amidi, several centuries earlier.


In the 14th century, Zain Din al Amidi, who had become blind in childhood, developed his own system for reading and writing by the sense of touch. He was a professor at the university 'Mustansiriya Madrasahin', Baghdad, established in 1227 by caliph Al-Mustansir. His area of interests were jurisprudence and foreign languages. Al-Amidi died in 1314.