The Al-Masaalik Wa Al-Mamaalik, Istakhri’s invaluable work, is one of the most important geographical books from the 4th century AH/10 CE, which presents an accurate description of the then socio-economic, cultural and political conditions of the Islamic lands –from India to Africa- supplemented by maps. The oldest known manuscript of Al-Masaalik, in its Arabic original, is kept at the Gotha library and, its oldest Persian translation, at Iran’s National Museum.