ABSTRACT
The space of France was initially conceived by Al-Idrisi within the limits of the continent as Ptolemy had imagined it, but extended where the author's information would allow it. Al-Idrisi was indebted to the tradition of Arab geographers of the ninth and tenth centuries who passed on the idea of the itinerary as a way to articulate and structure space. As the information gathered by the author intersects with this grid of perception and exposition, he needed to enrich it with material as possible to cover the geographical area of France, drawn as a juxtaposition of provinces. Al-Idrisi treated the whole Ecumene in the same way, from sub-Saharan Africa to China, not just European territories where feudalism was practiced. In addition, we saw that the author employed conceptual and expressive tools developed long before him, and that he applied them everywhere, in proportion to the information gathered, so that his whole work gives us the perception of a polarized space.
