Mapping North Africa and Spain in Early Islam

The RomanIslam Center for Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies in Hamburg—co-directed by BGC Fellow Stefan Heidemann—brings together scholars from multiple disciplines to compare the Roman Empire and the Islamic Empire by looking specifically at North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. One outcome of this initiative will be three unique sets of maps. While many scholars use maps as mere illustration for already-written linear texts, the visuality of historic maps communicate ideas and information about the past. The three sets of maps will encompass toponymy—a matter which is warped by colonialism, mapping polities without borders—and economy, where we have insufficient, if any, data. In this talk, Heidemann will share their mapmaking process, which has involved not only a close reading of narrative sources, but also looking for proxy data, formulating hypotheses, and using a generally comprehensible visual language.

Stefan Heidemann has been professor of Islamic studies at Universität Hamburg since 2011, and currently serves as director of RomanIslam—Center for Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies in Hamburg (2020–25). The Center compares the Roman Empire with the Islamic Empire and each post-imperial period. Heidemann was the principal investigator of the ERC Advanced Grant Project “The Early Islamic Empire at Work—The View from the Regions Toward the Center” (2014–19) and has been the editor in chief of the journal Der Islam since 2011. Formerly, he served as associate curator of Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum and as professor of Islamic history and material culture at Bard Graduate Center. He earned his PhD at Free University Berlin in 1993 and his habilitation degree at Jena University in 2001. He has cooperated with German, British, French, and Syrian archaeological missions in al-Raqqa, Damascus, Aleppo, Masyaf, Balkh, Karakorum (Mongolia), Cerro da Villa (Portugal), and other sites.