Istakhri

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farsi al-Istakhri was a 10th-century travel author and Islamic geographer who wrote valuable accounts in Arabic of the many Muslim territories he visited during the Abbasid era of the Islamic Golden Age. These accounts would include both maps and descriptions of the Muslim world he was discussing. Istakhri also belonged to the Balkhi school of cartography, which he helped to popularize. Istakhri's writing style was innovative for its addition of Islamic traditions throughout the text, and for its inclusion in conjunction with the maps he presented. Istakhri met the celebrated traveller-geographer Ibn Hawqal, while travelling, and Ibn Hawqal incorporated the work of Istakhri in his book Kitab al-Surat al-Ard.