http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1577883
This map carries the headline "The image of the West" (Maghrib). In the Mediterranean, a large triangle and a red-round circle are placed. The red circle is called Scilly and the triangle is identified as the Mountain of Fire (Vesuvius). The golden letters in the upper part of the blue sea with light and dark blue waves mark it as the Encompassing Sea. The Encompassing Sea surrounds the entire globe as one single ocean. This is an old concept going back to Mesopotamia.
The red circle in the centre of al-Andalus is the city of Cordoba. The mountain close to the Mediterranean is called the Mountain of Tariq (today Gibraltar, which is a corrupted of the Arabic name). Tariq was the commander of the Muslim troops who crossed in 711 the Mediterranean from Marocco to the Iberian Peninsula, beginning the conquest of the region. The eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula carries names that point to Christian territories, such as Franja (the Franks), often used synonymously for all western Christians.
The purple circle in Africa carries the name Sijilmasa, an important trade centre south of the Atlas. No parts of Subsaharan Africa are included.
The Mediterranean is thus shown primarily as a body of water between territories ruled by Muslims.
