The Arab Geographer al-Idrisi (XII century) about the Turkic Peoples of Central Asia)

Abstract

The author of the article presents translations from Arabic into Russian by the fragments of the 12th-century geographer al-Idrisi literary composition "Nuzhat al-mushtak fi ikhtirak al-afak" ("Entertainment of the exhausted in wandering through the regions") concerning the peoples of Central Asia (the Kazakhs, Kirghizs, Turkmens). Among other similar medieval geographical works, it is still poorly studied and not even studied – there are no complete translations into Russian of source materials related to the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. Despite the fact that the work of al-Idrisi is geographical, in fact it carries a lot of information concerning the life and everyday life of many Turkic tribes and peoples of Central Asia of the Middle Ages. Therefore, this work can rightly be called both a historical and ethnographic work that reflects the spirit of the medieval era. Moreover, this work, among other Arab-Muslim works, is one of the most informative geographical sources about the peoples of Central Asia. This translation presented in the article will serve as a source for the development of archaeological investigations, since it is associated with the determination of the place of settling of the ancient Turkic peoples of Central Asia. The translations were made by the author of the publication on the basis of the Italian edition of 1970-1984, which most correctly reflects the name of ethnonyms and geographical names of Central Asia.

Keywords

• regional studies
• archaeology
• al-idrisi
• peoples of central asia
• the kimaks
• karluks
• oguzes