In 1330, he set off again, down the Red Sea to Aden and then to Tanzania. Sailing down the Red Sea to Mecca, Ibn Battuta initially crossed the vast Arabian Desert and travelled to Iraq and Iran. The narrative of his travels is a unique and indispensable account of Islamic and medieval history. He survived wars, shipwrecks, and rebellions. To reduce the risk of being attacked, he usually chose to join a caravan. His journeys were predominantly made over land. After the pilgrimage he decided to continue travelling. Leaving his home in 1325, when he was 21-years-old, Ibn Battuta first went to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage which took 16 months to complete. In the same vein, Ibn Battuta (Shams ad-Din) received an education in Islamic law but he instead chose to travel. He was commonly known as Shams ad-Din, and his family was of Berber origin who had a tradition of serving as judges. Ibn Battuta was born in Morocco in 1304 during the rule of the Marinid dynasty. The title of his book is a bit of a mouthful, so the text is generally just called Ibn Battuta's Rihla, meaning journey. And, today we can read the translations of that account, originally titled “Tuhfat al-anzar fi gharaaib al-amsar wa ajaaib al-asfar”, or “A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling”. Turning back home after 29 years, near the end of his life, Sultan Abu Inan who was the Sultan of Morocco, insisted that Ibn Battuta should write the story of his travels.
Route of Ibn Battuta, who travelled through most of the Muslim world and more between 13. Known as the greatest traveller of premodern times, Ibn Battuta travelled over sea, by camel caravan and on foot, venturing into over 40 present-day nations, often putting himself in extreme danger just to satisfy his wanderlust. The Moroccan’s jaunts covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic world, extending from present-day North and West Africa, to Pakistan, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and China, a distance readily outdoing that of his predecessor and near-contemporary, Marco Polo, by 15,000 miles (824,000 km). His travels, which spanned a period of nearly thirty years, covering some 73,000 miles (117,000 km), surpassed those of Marco Polo’s. While we all continue to dream of a future of unencumbered travel again, one historical figure comes to mind to serve as an inspiration.Īlthough most people mention Marco Polo when talking about famous explorers, the Muslim scholar, Ibn Battuta, should in fact be one of the first to come to mind. The pandemic has severely restricted travel, tourism and business trips all manner of plans have been put on hold for the foreseeable future. Ibn Battuta’s journeys lasted for a period of almost thirty years, covering most of the Muslim world and beyond.
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