Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri (? – 957) (the translation and notes come from Tarek Kahlaoui’s 2018 “Creating the Mediterranean: Maps and the Islamic Imagination”) mentions the Suavs as follows in his “Routes of the Realms” (Masālik al-Mamālik):
“As for those living in the eastern part [meaning southeast] of the Mediterranean (Bakr al-Rum) along the coast, they have brk [skin] (ta’luhum sumra), and they become darker the farther they are located to the east or to the south until they reach the territories of Sudan (sub-Saharan Africa), where the darkest of nations [lives]. As for those living in the wester part [meaning northwest] of the Mediterranean from Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) they have white [skin] and blue [eyes] (biz zurq), and the farther they are located to the west or to the north they become whiter throughout all the territories of the Run, up to those beyod the land of the Suavs (al-Saqaliba); the farther [east they live,] their [skin] becomes whiter, their [eyes] bluer, and their hair redder.”
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