What is the relationship between al-Idrisi's work and the travelers he interviewed?

What is the relationship between al-Idrisi's work and the travelers he interviewed?

• A. He limited himself to his own observations.
• B. He only used traveler stories as a supplementary appendix.
• C. He included their stories in his map collection.
• D. He discarded traveler narratives entirely.

Answer: (C)

Al-Idrisi built his geographic project by weaving together his own observations with the accounts of people who had traveled widely. He interviewed travelers, merchants, and diplomats across the known world and then incorporated their stories directly into the map collection and accompanying descriptions he produced for Roger II. This integration allowed him to map regions he couldn’t personally visit, using the routes, distances, and place names they provided as essential information. In short, traveler narratives are a core part of his map collection, not separate or optional.

Al-Idrisi built his geographic project by weaving together his own observations with the accounts of people who had traveled widely. He interviewed travelers, merchants, and diplomats across the known world and then incorporated their stories directly into the map collection and accompanying descriptions he produced for Roger II. This integration allowed him to map regions he couldn’t personally visit, using the routes, distances, and place names they provided as essential information. In short, traveler narratives are a core part of his map collection, not separate or optional.