Spain
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Ibn al-Baytar (Diya al-Din al-Malaqi)
Malaga, Spain
Archival Overview
Greatest botanist and pharmacologist of the Middle Ages who cataloged 1,400 medicinal plants, foods, and drugs in his encyclopedic Compendium on Simple Medicaments and Foods.
Biographical Record
Diya al-Din Abu Muhammad Ibn al-Baytar (c. 1197–1248 CE), born in Malaga in Islamic Spain, studied botany under Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati in Seville before traveling across North Africa, Greece, Anatolia, and Syria collecting plant specimens. Appointed Chief Herbalist to Ayyubid Sultan al-Kamil in Cairo, he directed the botanical gardens of Egypt and Syria.
His botanical masterpiece, Kitab al-Jami' li-Mufradat al-Adwiya wa-al-Aghdhiya (*Compendium on Simple Medicaments and Foods*), contained detailed pharmacological descriptions of 1,400 plants, herbs, and minerals, introducing over 300 entirely new medicinal species to world science.
Key Life Milestones
Botanical Field Expeditions across Mediterranean
Traveled extensively through Anatolia, Greece, and Egypt recording thousands of living medicinal flora.
Publication of 'Kitab al-Jami'
Completed his comprehensive pharmaceutical encyclopedia cataloging 1,400 simple remedies and foods.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialDamascus, Syria