The earliest surviving piece of Arabic literature which may fairly be described as an original geographical work is al-Masālik wa-ʾl-mamālik of Ibn Khurradādhbih, who was writing during the reign of the caliph āl-Muʿtamid (reigned 256–79/870–92). By this time half a century had elapsed since the death of the magnificent al-Maʾmūn who is generally credited with the generous encouragement of the arts and sciences, and more than two centuries since the Arabs had first had their eyes opened to the dazzling novelties of the world outside their arid and barren peninsula. Ibn Khurradādhbih's work describes a vast, well-organized and well-known empire and clearly it must have had some antecedents. Our knowledge of these, however, is extremely fragmentary.

As the Muslim empire grew and became increasingly difficult to administer, its leaders began to feel the need for recorded information about their territories, if only for fiscal and military purposes. It may be surmised that a great deal more information of this kind was written down than we have any knowledge of. There are a few scattered and uninformative hints as to this kind of activity, such as the caliph ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-Azīz's ordering his newly appointed governor of Spain, in 100/718, to send him a description of “al-Andalus and its rivers”, for he had it in mind to evacuate the Muslims from that remote and dangerous territory.