African Landings: Egypt and Sinai as Seen by Medieval European and Arab Travellers (4th15th Centuries) [Paperback]

Introduction? 1. Geographical Space? 2. Human Space? 3. Time Frames of History and Sacred Places? 4. Between the Daily Life and the Marvelous.? Conclusions

This book seeks to break free from Eurocentric historical perspectives of medieval-era travel through Egypt and Sinai by focusing on the testimonies of 4th?to 15th-century travellers from the African continent, especially pilgrim diaries from the Arab Muslim Egyptian world.

Beatrice Borghi?is Associate Professor of Medieval History at the Department of Education, University of Bologna. Her research concerns the field of pilgrimage and its manifestations in the three monotheistic religions and the study of medieval statutes.

This book seeks to break free from Eurocentric historical perspectives of medieval-era travel through Egypt and Sinai by focusing on the testimonies of 4th to 15th-century travellers from the African continent, especially pilgrim diaries from the Arab Muslim Egyptian world.

Humanity's past is the story of movements by peoples who reshaped and redefined their identity and reported their impressions to a gradually diversified publicmigratory currents that transported not just goods but ideas, intellect, culture and inventions. Focusing on Egypt in the Middle Agesits cities, its suburbs and hinterland, and the many faces of its landscapecan provide us with answers to topical issues, as well as a new and better understanding of Levantine Mediterranean history. These diaries tell of objects, calendars, written works and artworks, sculptures, frescoes, monuments, musical instruments, animals, foodstuffs, and finally, of material and immaterial heritagesall valuable sources for understanding world history and posing questions about their, and our own, preconceptions.

This volume will be of interest to students, scholars, and general readers of medieval lƒ+