Map-making | Science and Islam

Duration: 5'42''

Synopsis

Jim Al-Khalili explains why Al-Ma'mun, a medieval caliph, funded a programme of map-making.

Further Information

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Al-Khwarizmi's digit and numerical system | Science and Islam

Al-Khwarizmi's digit and numerical system | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 3'40''

Jim Al-Khalili explains how our numerical system spread to Europe through the work of the Arabic mathematician ...

Algebra | Science and Islam

Algebra | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 5'52''

Jim Al-Khalili describes the invention of algebra by medieval Islamic mathematicians.

Arabic, the language of God | Science and Islam

Arabic, the language of God | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 5'36''

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how Islamic caliphs encouraged scientific research and made Arabic the official language of their vas...

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Islamic Medicine | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 1'51''

Jim Al-Khalili explains the importance of medical knowledge to medieval Islam.

Medieval Islamic Compassion | Science and Islam

Medieval Islamic Compassion | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 2'15''

Jim Al-Khalili talks about the enduring legacies of medieval Islamic medicine.

Printing press | Science and Islam

Printing press | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 6'14''

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how the printing press shifted the centres of scientific research from East to West.

Time-keeping and prayer | Science and Islam

Time-keeping and prayer | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 2'20''

Jim Al-Khalili explains how Islamic prayer patterns encouraged the development of new methods of time-keeping.

More resources about Islamic civilisations (e.g., baghdad c. 900)

1: Medicine and Religion | History File

1: Medicine and Religion | History File

BBC Two | 1998 | 24'02''

Programme begins with looking at Ancient Greece, then the Roman Empire then looking at Muslim and Christian links.

1: Medicine, Religion and Natural Causes | History File

1: Medicine, Religion and Natural Causes | History File

BBC Two | 1989 | 19'00''

This programme looks at ancient Egypt, Hippocrates, Christianity and Islam.

1: Wellspring of Holiness | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

1: Wellspring of Holiness | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

BBC Four | 2011 | 59'02''

Simon Sebag Montefiore begins a history of Jerusalem by exploring how it came into being and how it became s...

2: Clash of the Titans | The Crusades

2: Clash of the Titans | The Crusades

BBC HD | 2012 | 59'19''

Dr Thomas Asbridge examines the two figures who have come to embody Crusader war: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin.

2: Invasion, Invasion, Invasion | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

2: Invasion, Invasion, Invasion | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

BBC Four | 2011 | 58'59''

Simon Sebag Montefiore continues his history of Jerusalem by discovering the impact of Islam and the c...

2: The Cross and the Crescent | Africa's Great Civilisations

2: The Cross and the Crescent | Africa's Great Civilisations

BBC Four | 2018 | 52'38''

Henry Louis Gates Jr explores how the emergence of Christianity and Islam reshaped Africa over centuries.

24: 1979: God Fights Back | People's Century

24: 1979: God Fights Back | People's Century

BBC Two | 1997 | 53'22''

Religion makes a comeback into people's lives in the Islamic world and elsewhere, as people seek guidance and spiritual sustenan...

Al-Khwarizmi's digit and numerical system | Science and Islam

Al-Khwarizmi's digit and numerical system | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 3'40''

Jim Al-Khalili explains how our numerical system spread to Europe through the work of the Arabic mathematician ...

Algebra | Science and Islam

Algebra | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 5'52''

Jim Al-Khalili describes the invention of algebra by medieval Islamic mathematicians.

Arabic, the language of God | Science and Islam

Arabic, the language of God | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 5'36''

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how Islamic caliphs encouraged scientific research and made Arabic the official language of their vas...

Episode 1 | The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

Episode 1 | The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'16''

Rageh Omaar examines the history of the Ottoman empire. He starts by looking at the unlikely roots of the Ottomans, as nom...

Episode 2 | The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

Episode 2 | The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'18''

Rageh Omaar explores the contrasts between two very different Ottoman sultans, Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th centur...

Episode 3 | The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

Episode 3 | The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'12''

Rageh Omaar ends his series with a look at how the collapse of the Ottoman Empire created a legacy of tension and conflict...

Islamic Medicine | Science and Islam

Islamic Medicine | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 1'51''

Jim Al-Khalili explains the importance of medical knowledge to medieval Islam.

Medieval Islamic Compassion | Science and Islam

Medieval Islamic Compassion | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 2'15''

Jim Al-Khalili talks about the enduring legacies of medieval Islamic medicine.

Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

BBC Four | 2011 | 3'15''

Simon Sebag Montefiore investigates the extraordinary life of Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem.

Pact of Omar | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

Pact of Omar | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

BBC Four | 2011 | 3'46''

Simon Sebag Montefiore discusses the circumstances in which the Pact of Omar between Christian and Muslim rulers was nego...

Printing press | Science and Islam

Printing press | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 6'14''

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how the printing press shifted the centres of scientific research from East to West.

The Crusades

The Crusades

BBC HD | 2012 | 58'59''

Dr Thomas Asbridge re-examines the story of the Crusades. He traces the epic journey of the first crusaders as they marched from Europe to recapture the city of...

The first crusade | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

The first crusade | Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City

BBC Four | 2011 | 4'17''

Simon Sebag Montefiore discusses the events of the first crusade.

More from Jim Al-Khalili

1: Discovering the Elements | Chemistry: A Volatile History

1: Discovering the Elements | Chemistry: A Volatile History

BBC Four | 2010 | 58'53''

The story of how the elements were discovered and mapped begins with the alchemists who questioned that the world...

Einstein and the beetle | Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives

Einstein and the beetle | Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives

BBC Four | 2017 | 1'20''

Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains Einstein's analogy of gravity that he told his son to explain his...

Prof Jim Al Khalili goes inside Calder Hall for his first look inside the core of a nuclear reactor | Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield

Prof Jim Al Khalili goes inside Calder Hall for his first look inside the core of a nuclear reactor | Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield

BBC Four | 2015 | 3'20''

Nuclear physicist Professo...

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific

BBC Radio 4 | 2015 | 26'54''

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her research on the developing teenage brain.

The race to prove Maxwell's theory | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

The race to prove Maxwell's theory | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

BBC Four | 2011 | 5'11''

Jim Al-Khalili explains how physics professor Oliver Lodge proved Maxwell's theory that electrom...

Fukushima: Is Nuclear Power Safe? | Horizon

Fukushima: Is Nuclear Power Safe? | Horizon

BBC Two | 2011 | 57'29''

Six months after the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to discover whether nu...

Al-Khwarizmi's digit and numerical system | Science and Islam

Al-Khwarizmi's digit and numerical system | Science and Islam

BBC Four | 2009 | 3'40''

Jim Al-Khalili explains how our numerical system spread to Europe through the work of the Arabic mathematician ...

The big bang and the creation of hydrogen and helium | Atom

The big bang and the creation of hydrogen and helium | Atom

BBC Four | 2007 | 3'01''

George Gamow believed that helium existed in the universe before the sun and the stars were formed.

Electrolysis - Discovery of Potassium | Curriculum Bites

Electrolysis - Discovery of Potassium | Curriculum Bites

CBBC | 2003 | 3'06''

Spec references J248: C3.4b J250: C3.4b. Professor Jim Al-Khalili recreates the electrolysis experiment that lead to...