Mahmud ibn Hussayn ibn Muhammed al-Kashgari was an 11th-century Kara-Khanid (=ruling dynasty) scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar. He studied the Turkic languages of his time and in Baghdad he compiled the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, the Diwan Lughat al-Turk (Compendium of the languages of the Turks) in 1072. His book also included the first known map of the areas inhabited by Turkic peoples. Which is kept in Istanbul.
The map is different from other Islamic maps. It is a map of the world, centered on the Turkish-speaking areas of Central Asia, the area on the border between
Kyrghizstan (1) and Xinjang (2) province in China. The center of the map is off course his home-area in China . The scale is reduced as one gets nearer the edge of the map. The colors are
described in the original as gray for rivers, green for seas, light yellow for deserts, red for mountains, and yellow for cities and towns. (Like the squares in the center of the map are all
mountains.) The map is oriented with East at the top. The countries surrounding Bilad al Zanj are Yemen in the East; Habash in the South (right on the map); Uninhabited because of its extreme
heat in the North (left on the map) followed further north by Qayrawan (Tunesia) and the Ocean in the west. and the Ocean in the west. From this we can conclude that he did make mistakes and also that Bilad al Zanj includes most of
Black Africa. Also note the dot in the Bilad al Zanj this means a major city. Unfortunately no name is given. None of the neighboring countries has any cities.
The map is in the Millet Genel Kütüphanesi (the General National Library), Istanbul.
(1) Kyrghizstan: Kyrgyzstan, is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east.
(2) Xinjang province: an autonomous territory in northwest China.