Mapping Medieval Egypt: Developing An Interactive Land Tenure Database For Medieval Egypt

Muhammad Hafez Shaaban, Queen Mary, University of London

This experimental presentation will explain the digital methods used in building ‘Mapping Mamlūk Egypt’ and how the resulting database helped answer questions about the area’s land tenure system. Using a web-based framework to utilize this database in realtime to create interactive visualizations, the presentation walks the audience through the methods used to digitize a medieval Arabic cadastral survey and map its contents. The presentation will then not only explain how the project was used to answer questions about the evolution of private property in medieval Egypt but also how the project provides useful tools for other researchers.