Paths of Sharq al-Andalus: The Formation of a Local Road Network in Jibāl Balansiya

Abstract

The road network is one of the main elements in the historical construction of a territory, acting as a keystone in its organisation and cohesion. In addition, due to its stability and durability over time, the road network of a certain region remains fossilized in the landscape and allows to understand the rhythms in the fixation and articulation of its settlement patterns. The historical information about the region of the Jibāl Balansiya is tremendously rich in detail, as Pierre Guichard already noticed at the time, and there are numerous mentions of their roads and paths both in the ancient itineraria and in the medieval Arabic kutub al-masālik wa-l-mamālik and feudal administrative documents. Thus, our text aims to approach the road genesis of this territory from a holistic approach that combines a wide set of sources to, finally, address a global historiographic problem based on a regional proposal that can be compared with other similar examples.

Keywords

• road
• path
• road network
• al-andalus
• middle ages