The seven climates

The seven climates are a division of the inhabited earth according to the astronomers, as reported by al-Masudi. Al-Muqaddasi departed from it and divided the lands of Islam in another way. ^{2 3}

Al-Masudi notes that, according to the astronomers, each quarter of the earth, northern and southern, contains seven climates. Inhabited land extends twenty-four degrees beyond the equator, and the rest is covered by the great sea. ²

The southern quarter is empty of people, ruined by intense heat. Habitation is impossible in places where the heat is excessive or the sun is too far, and there cold and ice prevail. The best inhabited land is the one on which the rays of the sun fall clear, which is the fourth climate; for this group it is Iraq. ^{2 4}

Al-Muqaddasi departed from this astronomical division and made the climates of Islam fourteen: six Arab ones, which are the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Aqur, Syria, Egypt, and the Maghrib, and eight non-Arab ones. He began each climate with its chief city, where the ruler resided and where the administrative offices were gathered. ³