Map of the world (engraving)

copied by Dr William Vincent (1735-1815) for his book about the voyage, from India to Susa, made by Nearchus (c. 360-300 BC), Alexander the Great's admiral; Al Idrisi was the most famous Arab geographer and cartographer of the 12th century and settled in Palermo at the court of King Roger II (c. 1095-1154) of Sicily; he produced a world map ('Kitab Rujar' or Roger's Book) and later an enlarged version of the maps for Roger's son, William I (1120-66) known as the 'Little Idrisi'; none of the original manuscripts have survived and the versions extant at Cairo, Paris and Oxford are all copies of the 'Little Idrisi';