What was the significance of the year 1154 in relation to Muhammad al-Idrisi?

• A. He started his first voyage.
• B. It was the year he completed his collection of maps.
• C. He published a travelogue.
• D. He was born in that year.

Answer: (B)

This question is testing knowledge of a key milestone in Idrisi’s work as a geographer. In 1154, Muhammad al-Idrisi completed his major atlas, the Tabula Rogeriana, which was created for Roger II of Sicily. He had spent years gathering information from travelers and sources across the Islamic world and beyond, and 1154 marks the culmination: a comprehensive collection of maps and geographic descriptions that synthesized that knowledge into a coherent world view for the time. This atlas stands as a landmark in medieval cartography, offering one of the era’s most detailed and influential representations of the known world.

So, the year is significant because it signals the completion of his map collection and the creation of the major atlas. It isn’t tied to the start of a voyage, nor to the publication of a travelogue, and it isn’t his birth year.