Muhammad al-Idrisi
Andalusian geographer (1100–1165)
- Fame66.7
- Momentum17.7
- Spain rank#149
Source-basedRising
- Fame66.7
- Momentum17.7
- Spain rank#149
- Scientists rank#135
- Wikipedia13.6K
Lived 1110–1166, aged 56Spain
SpainSummary
Updated 2026-06-08
He drew the world in 1154 — not from Scripture or guesswork, but from traveler accounts, star charts, and his own journeys — and for three centuries his map was the most accurate thing Europe had. An Arab geographer working in the Christian court of Norman Sicily, al-Idrisi made the Tabula Rogeriana, a silver planisphere that flipped the conventions and rede
Biography
About
Born in Ceuta in 1100 under Almoravid rule, Muhammad al-Idrisi ended up at the court of King Roger II in Palermo, an unusual posting for a Muslim scholar in Christian Sicily. There he spent years compiling the Tabula Rogeriana, synthesizing Mediterranean and Islamic geographic knowledge into one of the most advanced medieval world maps. The work became a reference across continents long after his death in 1165. He remains a signal figure in the preservation and transmission of Arabic geographic scholarship through Norman Sicily's rare intellectual crossroads.
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The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.
Fame
Rising66.7
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum17.7
Historical23.6
Now attention1.4
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
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Sources
- WikipediaHigh confidencewikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- WikidataHigh confidencewikidata · wikidata.org
- Pantheon 2.0High confidencedatabase · pantheon.world
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