The Tabula Rogeriana
1154 CE
The Tabula Rogeriana, created by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154 CE, was the most accurate world map of the medieval period. Compiled over 15 years at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, it incorporated knowledge from Islamic, Greek, and Norse sources. Notably, it was drawn with south at the top — a convention that persisted in Islamic cartography for centuries.