Michal Biran. Abstract of the paper presented on the the conference Chinese and Asian Geographical and Cartographical Views on Central Asia (Bonn, January 10-11, 2014).
The paper reconstructs the scholarly map of Mongol Central Asia (ca. 1220-1370) as viewed in the biographical literature of the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517) in Egypt in Syria: it highlights the places in Central Asia that were known for their scholarly input and compares this mental map with the geographical knowledge that was available in the Sultanate about this region and with the scholarly maps of Mongol Central Asia that existed in the Ilkhanate and in Yuan China.