An Historical Atlas of Islam is a collection of regional and topical maps from a variety of sources which illustrate the historical development and geographical spread of Islam. As an electronic resource, it provides a range of searching and image manipulation features. The library holds a copy of the second edition (Brill, 2002).
Getting started
HAI is a CD-ROM. It is available from staff in the Reading Room and can be used on any of the Reading Room Electronic Resources computers.
Place the CD-ROM in the computer CD tray and close the tray. The CD-ROM will start to run automatically. After a few seconds you will see an introductory animation – a map illustrating the historical spread of Islam. When this finished you will see the main menu screen, which displays a clickable map overview, a menu column with three tabs for three different menu lists, and a toolbar at the bottom of the page.
You can access the map collection via either the clickable map or any of the three menu lists: Alphabetic list of names, Section (topical arrangement grouping maps in relation to a specific period or geographical area), and City.
Clicking on a section of the map or on an entry in a menu list generates a more detailed list of relevant map options; clicking on one of these options opens up that particular map.
The menu bar at the bottom of the screen includes a central box which displays the title of the map currently shown on screen, together with a selection of icons at each side:
Globe – shortcut to the map overview (main menu screen)
Question mark – Quick link to a ‘Help’ section, ‘Legend’ explaining map features and ‘Preface’ with details of the history and composition of the map collection
Magnifying glass – zoom tool – allows you to zoom in on a section of a map by pointing and clicking with the mouse
Hand tool – enables you to move around maps and between different magnifications once you have zoomed in on a particular section
Red ‘X’ – exit button – click once to see the HAI credits and acknowledgements
Getting help
HAI includes a ‘Help’ section and a ‘Legend’ explaining features used on the maps. Both can be accessed via the question mark icon on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. You can ask a librarian in the Reading Room for further assistance.