Map Of The Mahometan Empire

Description

This map shows the geographical areas of spread of the Islamic world under the title "Map of the Mahometan Empire". This work, published in London by John Murray in the early 19th century, is a cartographic document that reflects the European-centered orientalist perspective and classifies Islamic geography with a Western perspective. On the map, the borders of the areas where Islam spread are visualized with a thin orange line and shown as the "Muhammadian Empire" as a whole. The borders on the map do not represent modern nation-state lines, but rather the basins of civilization where the historical influence of Islam is seen. The map displays a wide Islamic geography starting from the Atlantic coast of North Africa and covering Anatolia, Iran, Central Asia, most of India and the Arabian Peninsula. The regions seen include a wide belt extending from Andalusia to the Maghreb, from the Nile valley to Mesopotamia, from the Iranian plateau to Sind and the Deccan. The term “Mahometan” was widely used in Western literature in the 18th and 19th centuries, indicating an orientalist approach that called Islam “the religion of the believers in Muhammad.” Today, this term is considered archaic and anachronistic.