About the Author

John P. Cooper is an Arabist and maritime archaeologist specializing in the maritime landscapes of the medieval Islamic world. He is currently a lecturer at the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies of the University of Exeter.

Reviews

"A major contribution to our knowledge not only of the maritime dimensions of the Nile River, but also of the geography of medieval Egypt in general. The book is clearly a product of arduous research conducted over many years and Cooper manages to cover a wide array of disparate subjects in interdisciplinary fashion while retaining a tightly focused topical approach that is easy to follow. The text reads well and the work as a whole brings together so many sources and so much information that it is indispensable for anyone studying the material life of Egypt in any premodern interval."--Journal of Historical Geography"No student of Egyptian history can ignore The Medieval Nile, which also provides a model that no river historian can fail to consider for inspiration."--Lincoln Paine, The Northern Mariner"A volume that deserves to be read by all scholars of Egypt, regardless of the period they study, for the insights into the river and its people that it brings."--International Journal of Nautical Archaeology"An important contribution to the maritime perception of the Nile. . . . The combination of historical, geographic, meteorological and hydrological data draws a comprehensive picture of navigation and sailing conditions in the Nile during the medieval period."--Deborah Cvikel, The Mariner's Mirror