Istanbul: The 'Islam History Atlas,' which enables users to explore nearly 1,300 years of Islamic history through geography, dynasties, scholars, cities, and historical events, brings history and geography together on the interactive platform islamicatlas.org. Covering the Islamic world from 632 to 1924, the atlas compiles data from various sources on a single map.
According to Anadolu Agency, the current version of the atlas includes comprehensive datasets covering 186 Islamic dynasties and 830 rulers, as well as 13,940 biographical records from Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli's 'Al-A'lam,' 8,528 scholar biographies from the Turkish Religious Foundation (TDV) Encyclopedia of Islam, and 12,954 geographical records from Yaqut al-Hamawi's 'Mu'jam al-Buldan.' The atlas also contains records of 3,458 mints, 2,049 settlements identified by Al-Maqdisi, 317 stops by Ibn Battuta, 5,444 stops by Evliya Celebi, and 801 architectural structures.
Speaking to Anadolu, Huseyin Gokalp, a faculty member in the Department of Islamic History at Selcuk University's Faculty of Theology and creator of the platform, said they established the TIMAV Digital Humanities Center, called T-CORPUS, under the Turkish Imam Hatip Foundation (TIMAV), with the Islam History Atlas as its first project. Gokalp said the atlas was prepared by a large team and revealed plans for future projects, including the Atlas of Islamic Historiography and several EU and TUBITAK 1001 projects.
Gokalp noted that the project was initially based on British historian Clifford Edmund Bosworth's book 'The New Islamic Dynasties' and has expanded to include various datasets like travel accounts, cities, and battles. He emphasized the value of the atlas's network of relationships, which allows users to see connections between scholars, rulers, and commanders.
Gokalp also discussed the platform's potential for future development, including a mobile application, and highlighted their work on an international project called 'Frontiers,' which examines historical processes in frontier regions. He mentioned ongoing studies on historical events and alternative scenarios and plans to reveal relationships between Islamic thinkers through digital methods.
Ali Cetinkaya, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at Selcuk University's Faculty of Technology, said the atlas had attracted more interest than expected and outlined plans for a second version. Cetinkaya highlighted the international OpenITI project's role in transforming text into structured data and emphasized the open-source nature of the atlas, encouraging researchers to use its datasets for new academic studies.
Cetinkaya noted the platform's educational potential and its availability in Turkish, Arabic, and English, which has garnered significant interest from international users.