Ibn Battuta

Who is Ibn Battuta?

Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta was born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1304 into a family of Islamic legal scholars. In 1325, at the age of about 21, he set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca and continued travelling for roughly three decades, covering an estimated 117,000 kilometres across North and West Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, Southeast Asia and China. He served for years as a qadi (judge) in the Delhi Sultanate and was later sent as an envoy toward China. Upon returning to Morocco, the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Faris commissioned the scholar Ibn Juzayy to record his accounts, producing the travelogue known as the Rihla (A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling). His observations remain a vital source on the political, social and cultural life of the 14th-century Muslim world.

Sources: Ross E. Dunn, 'The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the 14th Century' (University of California Press, 1986; rev. 2012) · H.A.R. Gibb (trans.), 'The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325–1354' (Hakluyt Society, 1958–2000)