The nautical atlases of Alī al-sharafī

The two extant atlases of the 16th-century Tunisian chartmaker and scholar Alī al-Sharafī are indispensable documents for understanding the history and development of Maghrebi nautical cartography. They provide precious information on al-Sharafī’s chartmaking techniques, production and sources, which include the output of his own family and the atlas of a certain A¬mad al-Andalusī who had settled in Istanbul. The making, contents and characteristics of the atlases are examined in connection with the Maghrebi and Majorcan traditions of nautical cartography which positively influenced al-Sharafī’s compilation of coastal place names. This is explained by the circulation of such cartography across the Mediterranean of his time. Further questions are also raised on the working conditions in which Maghrebi and Andalusian chartmakers flourished and the impact of their legacy.